BY HIS POWER

Zechariah 10:1-11:17; Revelation 18:1-24; Psalm 146:1-10; Proverbs 30:33

“By my power I will make my people strong, and by my authority they will go wherever they wish. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

‘Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. She glorified herself and lived in luxury so match it now with torment and sorrow.”

“Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.”

“As the beating of cream yields butter and striking the nose causes bleeding, so stirring up anger causes quarrels.”

If I remember only one thing from this year, I hope it will be that my strength truly does come from the Lord. That is not intuitive for me. I am not one who naturally depends on others, even when the “other” is Jesus Christ. However, somewhere along this journey, I have gained a sense of how much time I waste with worry and anxiety over things that have not happened yet, and ultimately never do occur. I see far more clearly how easy it is to exhaust myself with busywork just to fuel my sense of personal worth, and how tenuous that feeling is outside the influence of the Holy Spirit. I’ve also come to recognize that, when it comes to “works,” I tend to set the bar higher than the Father does, and I confess I do so, both consciously and subconsciously, in what is easily identifiable in retrospect as an obvious attempt to claim some of the glory for myself. (Of course, with such an attitude, there is little glory to be had at all.) That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I’m beginning to really understand that constant striving – even after excellence – is not the way God would have us live our lives. Remarkable as it sounds, Jehovah designed life, first and foremost, for His children to enjoy. The Lord wants us to be friends, have fun together, celebrate and be joyful. To do so, we have to let go of our obsessive compulsions. And that’s OK, because when we do, we are offered a whole new value system that begins with the fundamental premise that we do not have to prove a thing to God. He already knows us inside and out better than we know ourselves. He knows our doubts and concerns, and He knows the sources of our happiness. But most important, He knows our tolerances and our capacity. He understands we can never be truly joyful as long as we persist in trying to live beyond or outside the potential and capabilities of the people He created us to be. He just wants us to recognize that as clearly as He does.

This is almost certainly why the Lord allows us to fail so freely. Once we understand and experience our limitations, we are usually far more willing to look outside ourselves for the additional wisdom, experience, gifts and talents we need. The relevant Christian cliché goes something like this: we are never more victorious (or stronger, I forget which, but it works either way) than when we have been driven to our knees. Our loving Father longs to lift us high, but as long as we think we are standing on our own two feet and by our own power, we don’t often allow Him a good grip. It’s not usually until life has knocked us down that we allow Jesus to pick us up.

Oh, but the best news is that it does not have to be that way. Christ is at all times ready to stand beside and support us in grace, power and love. Even in situations where we don’t think we need Him, His desire is to show us there is an easier way to live. There is simply no logical reason – aside from egoism – for any of us to stubbornly insist on living life on our own, or limited to our own strength. The Lord is just waiting for us to make the first move by asking Him to share His Power with us.

Which brings us back to humility and which, in turn, clarifies an awful lot of things. No matter how I slice it or try to dress it up, my stubborn independence is really nothing more than pride. I don’t know how I got it in my mind that I could do anything better on my own than my Creator could do with and through me. Time and again, though, I find my main problem in life is denying the Holy Spirit the chance to use me as He sees fit. I rebel at the very thought of allowing Him sovereignty over my life, ignoring that, as Creator, He not only deserves it but should have it. We were designed to work best only one way: His. Like a car driven on kerosene, we may be able to move ahead a little under our own power, but never as efficiently, effectively or as smoothly as when we are fueled and inspired by the Spirit.

I’m tired of driving over the rough spots in the road of life under my own power. The older I get, the more disruptive I find the potholes. I am sure, now, that Christ knows a smoother road. The problem is, it’s really narrow. I have no hope of staying on it on my own. I’ve got to give the steering wheel to Him. But that is a long way from becoming a bump on a log myself. Christ does not take us where He wants us just so we can stand there and enjoy the view. Whatever His ultimate destination for us may be, no doubt, He’ll make a lot of stops along the way to let us get out and stretch our legs and maybe even pick up some extra passengers. It’s the ultimate Road Trip. Living in the Power of the Spirit is not about becoming His pawn. It’s about becoming His friend.