"I Am the Narrows and I Am the Way Through."
Feel like you're in a narrow place? Straining to get through?
Take a breath.
True enough, we're in a time traditionally called 'the Dire Straits.' A 3 week window framed by biblical bookends of Israel's disastrous decisions (and their consequences.)
Bookend One: Israel gets tired of waiting for Moses and reverts to an old worship pattern: The gold calf.
Bookend Two: The nation bends to the ten (spies) and refuses to move forward into the Promised Land.
A refusal to wait on one side and a refusal to advance on the other: Consequences follow - short term and long.
So what?
These frame this time of 'the straits' - the narrow place - and we do well to attend how that manifests in us.
In a recent struggle with my own 'narrows' place I heard Him say,
"I Am the Narrows and I Am the way through. Do you think that I am so unengaged from your well being that I would remove my hand from you? I will not abandon you...ever. I set my hand heavily upon you rather than allow you to remain in bondage to that which seeks to kill you. I have arranged for this time of narrows so that you will be lighter on the way out the other side. I am the Narrows and I will lighten your load and press you through..."
Any 'birth process' typically involves going through the narrows.
Messy. Uncomfortable. Painful. And...
Necessary.
We want what's 'on the other side,' but we resist the process to get there.
So, choose: Be passively upset or actively engage and embrace the journey by remembering this,
He's in it.
He's got you.
He'll bring you through.
He'll lighten your load as you go.
It is necessary to attend to your part.
2 Kings 3 - 5 has great examples: God takes different people into different narrows.
Each act of obedience was different, simple, and mandatory:
Troughs, pots, plunges; different strokes for different folks.
Simple acts but the hand of God shoots them through the narrows.
There's much more on the replay.
In YOUR narrows right now - seek, hear, respond.
Then hear Him say, 'Now...watch...this!'
Brace yourself as you accelerate through the narrows to a broad place on the other side.
Stephen
Full replay of the teaching from The Deck, click here. Facebook.com/TheFreedomOutpost Go to the YouTube Channel for The Freedom Outpost for all Deck replays and to subscribe to updates/new videos as they are available.
