Fortresses

Colton Dixon has a popular new song out which begins, I've made my castle tall. I've built up every wall. (The rest of the song, called More of You, is good, too. I recommend it.) 

But the point is that we all have our castles, we all have our walls. Some of our walls are taller and stronger than others. Some of us have moats around our walls, and alligators in our moats. We truly live in fortresses, shielding ourselves from the world or perhaps, shielding the world from ourselves.

And there comes a point in each of our lives when these fortresses come under attack. Someone, or something, lays siege to them and threatens the very security we rely on to make it day-to-day. It's scary. Here you are surrounded by the best protection your wounded spirit can come up with, and all of a sudden, something's shaking. The noise outside is thunderous. Arrows start flying fast overhead, each one coming closer to piercing your heart. You can feel it; something's going to break.

It might be you.

Everything you are, everything you've have, everything you've worked so hard to protect is about to be exposed. Stripped bare. Laid open before the world. 

You retreat into the deepest reaches of your soul, climb into your tallest tower, curl into the corner as the structure all around you starts to shake more and more violently. The arrows have found you; they know you're in there, and they're coming. You can't figure out what this world wants from you, why it can't just leave you alone.

It's not the world, child. It's your God coming after you.

You can tell because this world is methodical when it lays siege. It slowly builds up ramps to takes it armies over the walls. It comes after you in stealth and finds you, then takes you prisoner and parades you through your own walls to expose you to the world.

God isn't so cunning; He's passionate. He doesn't just sneak in; He's coming after you. With purpose. And He's not to be deterred by any foolish walls you might have made.

His name is the Lord. He destroys strongholds and ruins fortresses. (Amos 5:8-9) He knocks down walls to get to you. He reduces them to rubble so they don't stand in His way....or yours. He breaks straight through, not worried about ramps or sieges; He's coming after you. Not to take you prisoner, but to set you free.

And like any good knight in shining armor, like any good Prince of Peace, He knows where to find you. How do you think the arrows got so close? Look again. These are not the arrows of a warrior; they are the spears of a lover, sent to pierce you heart. He climbs to the highest room in the tallest tower and finds you there. He wraps you up in His loving arms and starts to carry you to the place where you can set your feet. To a place where you can stand. Where the dust is settling and the world is wide open.

It's hard to believe all that. It's hard to trust that that's the case. Because right now, all you know is that something's shaking. The noise outside is thunderous. Something, for sure, is about to break.

It might be you. 

And that's scary. But it's also okay.

That's just the noise of your God coming after you. Coming to set you free.