Handling the Tension - Encouragement Café - May 5, 2016

Handling the Tension by Dawn Aldrich

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope…

Zechariah 9:12 NIV

It's invisible, yet palpable.  One moment we stand empowered and motivated, then collapse deflated and defeated the next.  Our God-sized dream meets reality and somewhere in between, tension builds and plays tug of war with our hearts and minds. 

That tension showed up, forty feet high on the tapered pamper pole.  Climbing was the easy part.  Fully harnessed and tethered to my husband and trusted friends, my hands and feet grasped steel pegs all the way up.  But once at the top, I had to let go; tension grew thick between me and the hanging trapeze just beyond my reach.

My reality – I stood swaying on a two-foot square platform atop a forty-foot high tapered telephone pole, with only two ways down.  

One way: admit defeat and climb backwards.

The second: trust my friends, leap forward, grab the trapeze and swing down to a secured platform only a few short feet away.

My perspective deemed the leap impossible, even dangerous.  The trapeze?  Beyond my reach.  The longer I waited, the stronger tension mounted and climbing backwards became a welcomed choice.

Abraham knew this tension well—promised offspring more numerous than all the stars, but his reality shouted, Impossible!  Seventy-five years old, Abraham and his wife Sarah, partnered with God to transform this reality.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.  This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”  Romans 4:18-22 NIV

Abraham knew the facts: Twenty-five years had passed since God first spoke His promise and nothing had happened.  His body and Sarah's were as good as dead—childbearing an impossibility.  And even if the impossible became possible, fathering many nations was beyond his reach.

And still, Abraham believed.

Fully persuaded, Abraham believed God had the power to do exactly what He promised.  He would father many nations.

Scared and paralyzed from fear, I stood swaying atop that pamper pole.  Finally, I focused on my husband's words,

I won't let you fall.  I've got you!  Trust me.  Just reach out and jump.  Don't think.  Just do it.

I jumped and obviously lived to tell about it!

When our God-sized dream tarries and reality shouts, Impossible! we must return to our fortress—God’s promise.  We must focus on His words alone and anchor our God-sized dreams in the reality of God's power and nurture hope.

Father, when our faith waivers in the waiting, make us more like Abraham—a man of unwavering faith.  When we tire in our journey and we come to a screeching halt, remind us to keep our eyes fixed on You, Lord.  Make our paths straight and encourage our hearts and our feet to keep going, for Your Word is truth.  Amen.

© 2016 by Dawn Aldrich.  All rights reserved.

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