Shake Off the Sleep

Despite my normal practice of waking and getting out of bed at 4:00 a.m. every morning, I am usually awake and alert with my daily cup of coffee and my Bible in my lap when I begin praying, but this morning, I was struggling to stay awake. I like to pray with my eyes closed - it helps me concentrate better - but this morning, I'd nod off every few minutes before I shook myself awake again. So I prayed with my eyes open today, and even then, I couldn't shake off the somnolence. 

It was so frustrating, because there's a battle happening all around us, and it's already intense and it's getting more intense, and I kept falling asleep! 

The Lord showed me that this is exactly what is happening with many people in the church right now. Many hear about the battle; many are even fighting in the battle. Many are geared and suited up with the armor of God... 

But we're tired. We've fought for a while, but there's such thick darkness to wade through, and I don't doubt for a minute that the enemy uses weariness as one of his most effective weapons. 

We must wake up! I just got done reading The Pilgrim's Progress to my kids again (not the original John Bunyan version, since that's extremely difficult to understand language-wise, but a more recent modern English version called 'The Little Pilgrim's Progress' that features Christian as a boy). Anyway, there are so many metaphorical allusions in the story with regard to walking the Christian faith, but there's specifically a part that stands out, where, after Christian and his friend Hopeful pass out of the city of Vanity Fair, they come to the Enchanted Ground. There, if they don't pass quickly through it, they will fall asleep, since there is a powerful spell over it that makes every true pilgrim sleepy.

Christian and Hopeful were warned to continue on, not to stop even to eat until they reached the other side, but they still struggled. Christian, despite the warning, couldn't think through his weary thoughts and wanted so badly to lie down and sleep, but Hopeful kept urging him on, despite being sleepy himself. 

How important it is to encourage each other through our weariness! Y'all, we're in this fight together, and we can't give up. Let's keep praying for each other, holding each other up so we are all effective. 

Isaiah 60:2-3 says: "See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." 

I thought it was interesting here that there's a delineation in verse 2 between the national/international and the personal, but in verse 3, the national/international notices the personal. I think about that a lot as I pray for revival in our nation and around the world. I wonder how much revival is happening in the hearts of people (individual revival), and how much I should be praying for an entire nation to turn around and see the Lord (corporate revival). 

There's no doubt about it: our nation, the United States of America, lies under a blanket of thick darkness. I'd say it applies to other nations as well, but I am really feeling it here because I'm in the thick of it. "But the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you." 

Moses, when he brought down the ten commandments of the Lord for the second time, was covered in the brilliant radiance of the Lord. Exodus 34:29 says: "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord." 

2 Corinthians 3:12-16 puts this story into the context of the New Covenant: "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." 

When we bathe ourselves in the presence of God, His glory shines through us. Light, by its very nature, pierces the darkness, because darkness cannot exist in light. How essential it is to daily, hourly, minutely kneel in God's presence, so that we are filled with His light that pierces the darkness around us, especially right now when there is increased intensity in the spiritual realms. 

In the book of Daniel, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand before the king and they can literally hear the roaring flames of the fire that is prepared for those who refuse to worship the idol, they have a choice.

1.) They can choose to let their weary selves relax beneath the pressure brought on them. How easy it would have been to wink at each other. "We won't really reject the God of heaven; all it takes is just a quick knee on the ground. We don't have to mean it at all." 

Or...

2.) They can allow the glory of the Lord, with Whom they have spent their days in worship, shine through them as a witness to everyone around them. They could choose to proclaim His Name as the only God, to stake their ground in enemy territory, and to make Him famous! 

Do we make God famous? Do we proclaim His name in enemy territory? Does the glory of God shine through us? Weary, tired, sore as we are? Perhaps especially because of how tired we are, God's power completes us, fills us up, seals the cracks, makes us powerful, through Him. 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego felt the flames that day; that is, they went through them, but God Himself walked in the flames with them, honoring their dedication to exalting His Name, even behind enemy lines. 

They lit up the world that day. They made the Lord known. Nebuchadnezzar, pagan king of the greatest nation on earth at the time, HAD to acknowledge this after this had happened. "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," he said in Daniel 3:28, "Who has sent His angel and rescued His servants! They trusted in Him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." 

Let's make God famous! Let's let His light shine through us to pierce the thick darkness around us. Let's encourage each other, weary as we are; let's pray for strength in this struggle. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). 

Let's not forget who the enemy really is. There's no room for hatred of people. No room for finger-pointing and blaming in the physical realm. The true enemy is spiritual, the root of the injustice and sin seen in the world. What do you do to remove a weed from your garden? 

You pull it out by the roots and toss it in the fire, so it doesn't grow again. 

Amen.