Psalm 81:16 "But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
"Between a rock and a hard place."
A cliche to describe a difficult situation in which, any decision one makes brings along with it some sort of discomfort or struggle.
I would just call it a desert. A season, where, with every step, barrenness, solitude, and that awful dry feeling in your eyes and mouth seems to never end. Whether it's a literal desert or one of the heart and mind it leaves that same dry feeling. And sometimes, these deserts are surrounded by high, immovable, walls of rock.
Caught right between a rock and a hard place.
Not too long ago I had an interesting conversation. It was with a dear friend of mine and somehow the topic of difficult life seasons came up. She told me that she had decided that the best year of her life, to date, is also that same year of her life that we have discussed on many occasions as her most difficult year yet. As we talked, I also began to realize that when I look back over my (yes, granted, relatively short) life, the times I was in the most emotional agony and frustration with God where also some of the best times when I remember the intense honesty of my prayers and the very clear ways that God came and spoke to me.
There are times when I feel completely smothered and claustrophobic because of life. These decisions needed to be made yesterday already, that relationship needs reconciliation, this job or schooling is stressing me out, that ministry is in desperate need of God to intervene, this person needs a relationship with Jesus, that person is driving you crazy...and on and on and on. (It's especially fun when all these things are taking place at once). When I begin to feel that everything in my life has built it's own little fortress around me and I can't even live, eat or sleep without my mind being in a constant state of processing--that's a rock and a hard place. Perhaps we should call it a life "cave."
The interesting thing is about caves, is that they provide the best atmosphere for echos. Sound travels and bounces exceedingly well off the hard surface of stone. I was in a cave once (listening to a monastic choir in France, in fact) and the acoustics were incredible. Though just a few men sang, it sounded like a full church choir!
Could this be part of the reason why God often speaks so clearly to us in these spaces?
But remember, caves also cause echos. If all I am doing is constantly, constantly thinking and worrying and talking about my problems and concerns and heartaches all the time, I will never get the chance to "hear" about anything else. It's all going to keep bouncing off the walls of my "cave" and all I will hear is the endless echo of my thoughts and my feelings.
Until I finally shut up.
When I shut up and stand still, even though all around me is rock and granite that I cannot seem to penetrate and I am stiff from being boxed in by my uncertainties and questions, that is when God's voice can finally break into my thoughts, my frustrations, my fears and everything else. Finally, God's voice can be the one to resonate against the cold, stiff walls on either side. Somehow, despite my frustration and pain, his voice is the clearest I have ever heard it.
"Between a rock and a hard place."
A cliche to describe a difficult situation in which, any decision one makes brings along with it some sort of discomfort or struggle.
I would just call it a desert. A season, where, with every step, barrenness, solitude, and that awful dry feeling in your eyes and mouth seems to never end. Whether it's a literal desert or one of the heart and mind it leaves that same dry feeling. And sometimes, these deserts are surrounded by high, immovable, walls of rock.
Caught right between a rock and a hard place.
Not too long ago I had an interesting conversation. It was with a dear friend of mine and somehow the topic of difficult life seasons came up. She told me that she had decided that the best year of her life, to date, is also that same year of her life that we have discussed on many occasions as her most difficult year yet. As we talked, I also began to realize that when I look back over my (yes, granted, relatively short) life, the times I was in the most emotional agony and frustration with God where also some of the best times when I remember the intense honesty of my prayers and the very clear ways that God came and spoke to me.
There are times when I feel completely smothered and claustrophobic because of life. These decisions needed to be made yesterday already, that relationship needs reconciliation, this job or schooling is stressing me out, that ministry is in desperate need of God to intervene, this person needs a relationship with Jesus, that person is driving you crazy...and on and on and on. (It's especially fun when all these things are taking place at once). When I begin to feel that everything in my life has built it's own little fortress around me and I can't even live, eat or sleep without my mind being in a constant state of processing--that's a rock and a hard place. Perhaps we should call it a life "cave."
The interesting thing is about caves, is that they provide the best atmosphere for echos. Sound travels and bounces exceedingly well off the hard surface of stone. I was in a cave once (listening to a monastic choir in France, in fact) and the acoustics were incredible. Though just a few men sang, it sounded like a full church choir!
Could this be part of the reason why God often speaks so clearly to us in these spaces?
But remember, caves also cause echos. If all I am doing is constantly, constantly thinking and worrying and talking about my problems and concerns and heartaches all the time, I will never get the chance to "hear" about anything else. It's all going to keep bouncing off the walls of my "cave" and all I will hear is the endless echo of my thoughts and my feelings.
Until I finally shut up.
When I shut up and stand still, even though all around me is rock and granite that I cannot seem to penetrate and I am stiff from being boxed in by my uncertainties and questions, that is when God's voice can finally break into my thoughts, my frustrations, my fears and everything else. Finally, God's voice can be the one to resonate against the cold, stiff walls on either side. Somehow, despite my frustration and pain, his voice is the clearest I have ever heard it.
I find it interesting that the verse in Psalm 81:16 says "honey from the rock." Honey doesn't come from rocks. We all know this. But could it be saying that Jesus wants to make something sweet from our hard place?
God once gave me a picture about a person who had many walls built all around them. These may have been walls placed there by life circumstances or their own choices, it doesn't really matter. But what God showed me next was powerful. In the picture, He caused the walls to come tumbling down, quite literally crushing the person inside. Graphic though this may be, he spoke to me powerfully: "Sometimes I need to completely break a person to be able to piece them back together again." It is sweet to be gently remade by Jesus. He is the Potter, we are the clay (Jeremiah 18:6).
Between a rock and a hard place, but oh so sweet when God has His way. How is God going to use the walls around you? Will he need to break you? Or will you stop to listen first?
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