I’ve realized since my last post that there is actually a third place that many people (including myself) operate from. Fear.
If you have watched The 100, you will remember a scene when some of the men are wandering through a desert in an attempt to reach this legendary place called the City of Light. They don’t know truly if the place actually exists, but because of previous situations, they don’t have really any other choice except to try to find it. So they are wandering in this wasteland when all of a sudden, an explosion, and they realize that this is no ordinary desert; it is a minefield. From there, they have a lot of decisions to make. Continue going or turn around and go back? Some opt for the second option and go back. Some opt to continue the journey, knowing that going back is not an option they can live with. From there, the going is slow. Throw a stick to make sure the path is safe then walk along only that path. Often sitting to rest. Discouragement plagues the men.
This is a great analogy for me of what it looks like to walk the middle ground with the Lord. Walking forward into this minefield of traps. I could have turned back and huddled in fear at the edge of the minefield. I could stop in the middle of it and cower in fear. But fear puts a halt to progress. The longer a person operates in fear, the longer the journey becomes. To sit down and say “No, this journey is too perilous and I can not do it anymore, but also I can not go backwards” is to doom yourself to dehydration and death in the desert. To run forward, without caution or concern for the mines is to doom yourself to death, because you will almost definitely fall victim to a trap. So, many times in this Christian walk, God calls us to difficult journeys and they don’t seem hopeful. But this is why God is vital to our journey. We have to let him walk ahead of us and show us the safe places to go. It is terrifying to us. It is slow. It is exhausting and painful as we suffer from the elements of the desert we are in. But in the end, if we “trust in the Lord with all our heart”, and do not leap forward into a sprint and do this “in our own understanding”, but instead “in all our ways acknowledge Him” and trust that He has already gone before us and knows the right way, then “He will make our path straight”. It is slow, but it is progress and we will get there.
Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21
Lord, I want to walk in the middle path, completley surrendered to you and trusting you, because You know the way and you love me. I know your way is best. I don’t want to sit down and hide in fear. I also don’t want to run blindly into the desert, thinking I can do this on my own. I don’t want to do this so that I can reach the promise. I want to do this because I trust you and your plan. Help me Lord to surrender to your plan and your control.
God you don’t need me, but somehow you want me. Oh how you love me and somehow that frees me to take my hands off of my life and the way it should go. Somehow that frees me to open my hands up and give you control. You’re behind and before me. Oh help me believe. The king of heaven wants me, so this world has lost its grip on me.
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