Is your world crushing down on you?
I don’t want to be a Metal Sandwich.
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t do anything right? It seemed as that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t succeed at whatever you were trying to accomplish? Or, if you did have some success, it would not remain very long.
I was reading Leviticus 26 this morning. God was giving instructions to the Israelites. He was telling them how to please Him, and warning them not to adapt to the cultures of the other evil nations. God was sending the Israelites in to the Promise Land to destroy and remove these cursed nations and their evil practices from the promise land.
First God gives a promise of reward for God’s people (the Israelites) obeying His instructions. Then, God gives the warning of what will happen if they don’t obey. God’s character is so beautifully consistent throughout the Bible. God tells His people that IF they/we remain in Him, He will bless them/us. Our life will be fruitful. BUT, if we don’t, we will suffer loss and consequences. Sin always causes damage to our promise land living. That is why sin should be avoided. Not because Jesus gives up on us, but, because Jesus wants to live through us. His life is poorly reflected through a dirty, warped, cracked, sin damaged vessel. Our life is fruitful when Jesus radiates from us through joyful unity with His Holy Spirit.
So what’s with the metal sandwich? Verse 19 jumped out at me. Being a song writer, I always love abstract lyrics. God is the master with words and His lyrics play my soul like a harpist plays his strings. These words… “I will break your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.” (Deuteronomy 28:23 God uses this analogy as well, but only in reverse, the sky bronze and the ground iron.) Picture yourself between an iron sky and bronze ground. As your rebellion continues, the iron sky continues to lower. It also provides no rain or sunlight to water and feed the contaminated fruit in your life.
If life seems to be collapsing upon you, and nothing seems to be going your way; it may be your disobedience to God’s instruction. I’m not saying that it is definitely your disobedience, but if you are trusting God, and want His will for your life, God will always provide a way for you to escape, and stand up under the pressures of life.
God will break all the barriers between you and He if you let Him. He doesn’t want you to be crushed under the weight of life’s circumstances. He wants you to reach out to him for the escape route. That’s why He carried your cross. He bore the weight of all the sins of the world on His back. He can easily bust through the iron sky and allow the light and rain through. You will live and thrive once again.
Don’t be crushed by the elements of this world. The sin of the world will crush you if stand in your own strength and try to military press the descending iron sky. Surrender the struggle to God. He will shatter the impending weight of gray in your life and bring forth the light.
Peace, Chris Bonner