So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you.
James 4:7-8
What happens in your stomach when you hear the word obedience? If you're anything like me, things get to churning and unsettling! We start thinking about all the years of life where you were so far from obedience you couldn't even fathom what it was, and ultimately because of the fear of being completely wrong, we concoct our own idea of what obedience is. Obedience can eventually become out own little mix of this and that, as long as it's convenient to us.
The trouble with this is that obedience isn't convenient. Obedience requires decision making and it requires walking a path or ascending a mountain that is not naturally the way we want to go. But more importantly, the reward of obedience is the ascension to the top of a struggle or mountain, overcoming fears of failure and reaching a level of life where your sin nature isn't the first choice.
Think of it as rock climbing. It doesn't take experience to tell you that it's hard. You can look at anyone, including the woman in the photo and see the flush in her cheeks, the sweat on her brow, the soil, clay and debris on her hands and the flex in her muscles. What she is doing requires work. There is no big smile on her face, only a look of determination to get to the top, to overcome. But to me, she's not the reason I love this picture so much. There's two things that I love so much more about this picture. The first thing I love is that she is wearing safety equipment and the second thing I see and love is that there are other mountains behind and beneath her.
As the harness is essential to the rock climber's safety and success, the Holy Spirit is essential to our success and safety in obedience. Aren't you glad that you don't have to climb that struggle mountain alone?! The Holy Spirit is an ever present help for us, guiding us where we feel lost, holding us up securely when we feel unsteady and helping to pull us up as we climb in our good decision making and healthy habits, such as reading and meditating on The Word, praying daily and attending church regularly. You see the chalk on her hands? That chalk helps keep her hands dry for climbing and free from sweat that could cause the hands to slip. Though we can't see them in the picture, I'm sure that she's also wearing specific climbing shoes that help her feet grip the mountain well and keep them protected from the sharp edges of the rocks. She is literally surrounded in protection as she climbs. I am so glad that the Holy keeps us surrounded and protected in our obedience to help us to overcome those struggles that look like mountains in our way.
Speaking of mountains, you see those mountains in the background of that shot? They look so small and far away in comparison to the one she's currently on. But I'm sure those same mountains looked equally daunting from the ground. No matter how big or small a mountain may be, once you reach the top of it and look behind you, you'll be able to easily see all the other mountains that you've scaled and successfully overcome. There is nothing that motivates us more than our previous success! When you look at all the mountains that you've successfully overcome, all the times obedience helped you overcome a struggle in your life: maybe you stopped cursing at people and being disrespectful; maybe your mountain was lust and promiscuity and you're living a life of celibacy in anticipation of marriage; maybe your mountain that you overcame was healing from past trauma and abuse and moving forward in forgiveness. Whatever that mountain is, don't ever count it as small. It was still a mountain that you had to climb and one that needed to be overcome.
And maybe you're working on a huge Mount Everest right now. Maybe your hands are getting sweaty and you're afraid you're not gonna make it to the top. Look, you just might fall off the side of that mountain. But praise God for the harness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps to keep us upright and protects us from total destruction even if we fall. God's grace and mercy has redeemed us from wrath and destruction and his forgiveness gives us the stamina that we need to get right back to climbing. Ain't God good??!! I'm so glad to know that in the hard work of obedience, we are fully loved, seen, known and protected, even from our own slips and falls.
Don't get nervous when the time comes to choose obedience. There is never a time where we can look at our lives and say "I wish I hadn't been obedient to The Word." Obedience is our protection from an enemy whose only purpose is to steal, kill and destroy our destiny. Resist the urge in your flesh to follow sin and put one foot in front of the other on the path to obedience. The enemy will have to flee. As you climb and get closer to Christ, He promises to get even closer to you.
Love yall. Chat soon.
Marquita
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