My journey, lately, seems stalled. When questioning the Lord about this less than desirable predicament, I sensed God reply: “Be grateful and alert that I have you stalled. Satan wants you trapped.” Now, these words got me thinking!!!
Much of my pondering occurs while I walk. Thus, I laced up my athletic shoes and set out to seek not 10,000 steps but, rather, one stride of enlightenment. God stalls. Satan traps. Conversation with the Lord began.
OK, God, let’s sift deeper into the symbolism of the words you chose to share with me. Please, give me wisdom that I lack and acceptance that my mitts are not eagerly holding. God did just this.
There are times in life, when for our inner growth God has to outwardly stall us. This is not to stop us or end our journey but to rest us, revive us, newly direct our course and, most importantly, re-direct our purpose and deepen our dependence on waiting for Him to lead. At times, to do this, God sort of places us in SLOWsand. The significance is not that we are unable to move in any direction. It is that we are being prepared for the direction in which we are meant to journey. Maybe it is as simple as we need to be rested to withstand the journey, or maybe as complicated as needing to realize our strength is never enough; but God’s abundantly suffices. Possibly, we need to fathom that our timing is flawed, but God’s is perfect; or that our purpose is not our sole druthers but rather God’s soul calling. To bring this all about, God often places us in SLOWsand. “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)
In total contrast to God’s SLOWsand, Satan’s greatest trap is QUICKsand. QUICKsand swallows up its victims, rendering them incapable of fighting the good fight or escaping the bad fight. Nothing less than, or short of, complete destruction and suffocation of one’s inner soul is Lucifer’s QUICKsand. God uses SLOWsand as an antidote from fast paced, fleeting, worldly lifestyle in order to grow us into allowing Him to determine our steps. Satan relies on QUICKsand as a venom to destroy our faith and ability to sit at God’s feet and wait for Him to lead our course.
My walk now completed, I thanked God, not only, for all the hops, skips and jumps he interjects into my life, but also, for my current present of SLOWsand. My gratitude was followed by the imploration that God forever delivers me from Satan’s QUICKsand. Amen.
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 