Into the Fire

Those pesky obstacles! You’re probably not like me in this, but I have an obstacle right now that’s keeping my idea for my new novel swirling inside the revolving door of my brain. I can’t put words down on “the page” until I resolve this wall in my way. I’ve got an inquiry out to a friend for some information I’m hoping will solve my problem. It’s probably my sequential personality. Can’t get to B without completing A. Why can’t I write around this obstacle?

I have shown remarkable progress in this “sequential” area, actually. I stopped the sequel to my first novel to write my second one. However, that was what the Lord intended, and I wrote three in a row that year. An interruption happened again working on number six. Got almost to the end after a multitude of pauses and frustrations and dumped it for number seven which I completed. Number six remains close to the end—without one. And number eight is the one I’m waiting for the obstacle to be removed because I have a lot of stuff going on in my head around that single event which is a very small part of the story.

Obstacles are funny things. Some are huge, others not so significant. Nevertheless, by their nature they block progress—regardless of whether or not progressing past them is a good thing. You have to admit some obstacles are good for us. The ones erected by God to keep us from sinful behavior: the check in our spirits as we’re about to dabble in an area hurtful to us and/or others. If we become calloused to those checks, trouble is sure to follow us as we tear and claw our way into those walls un-accepting of the pain, evil, and desecration waiting for us if we plunge ourselves through the gap we’ve created to get to the other side.

Then of course there are the enemy’s obstacles—the tricks, the deceptions, the attitudes, the depressions, the denials. Raised up in front of us to keep us from progressing, to hinder us from trusting our Lord, and to bewitch us into thinking we can’t do something God has made a way for us to do with His strength. Wish we plowed over those the way we sometimes mow down the ones God puts up to stop us.

One thing about obstacles: they’ll always be there. Not in everything, but they certainly appear often enough in this life. Discerning which obstacle should remain one and which one should be eradicated is the concern. Most of the time we know. Most of the time it’s obvious. It’s just those every now and then times when we tend to falter, weighing the alternative, counting the cost . . . those are the times when our character shows up.

Will we respect the obstacle of God’s provision, and will we destroy the enemy’s obstacle to our advancement in God’s kingdom in the Name and Authority of our Lord Jesus Christ?

God, I’ve plowed over enough of your obstacles in my time—to my shame. Help me to recognize the clever ploys and schemes of the enemy and do everything in your power to bring his efforts down to defeat. Thank you for the power of your Spirit in the Name and Authority of your Son Jesus Christ, Amen.