Skip to main content
Friday!
Proverbs!
A wise man scales the city of the mighty 
and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
Proverbs 21:22 ESV
We quite like this imagery of bringing down strongholds, of going up against the mighty.
In this proverb there's a city in which the mighty, the strong reside. 
And they must be doing something unjust for this wise person not to be able to just walk in.
They have their faith in something. 
A stronghold.
It's not a warrior going in all guns blazing with power and might and deal with what is at the heart of injustice, but this proverb speaks of another route.
Sending in a wise person.
What do you relate the "city of the mighty" to?
A country?
An institution?
A culture?
What if it's me.
There's things that I'm doing that are unjust, something that I'm relying on that I might not realise or see clearly.
But the wise person on the outside can, and scales my walls and brings down that stronghold that I trust in:
- that I'm not good enough for God.
- that I have to be able to do this on my own.
- that I'm a victim and I'm beyond healing 
- that change is not possible, not for me.
- that I am hope less.
What are strongholds that the truth of God's word, the whisper of the Spirit, the love of Jesus, would tear down today?
#jesusisscalingthewalls

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power. ... Who will bring me into the fortified city?  Who will bring me victory over Edom? Have you rejected us, O God?  Will you no longer march with our armies?Oh, please help us against our enemies,  for all human help is useless. With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes. Psalm 108 6, 10-13 NLT After the most beautiful and uplifting worshipful first half to this song, David takes us somewhere completely different in the second half.  It's all about victory, power, winning, it's all about him. The "mighty things" he wants God to do are all on the outside, all about power, and David's writing sounds like he's a bit lost in his quest to win. And I do the same thing. Praise God and ask him to fix my problems. Fix the classroom/online/workplace bully, fix my finances, fix my relationships, fix my problems. So as I sit with this psalm of 2 halves, its a bit of a mir...
Post a Comment
Read more
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,  "No eye has seen,  no ear has heard,  and no mind has imagined  what God  has prepared  for those  who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT Paul is explaining why the people who were running the world at the time were OK having Jesus put to death - because they didn't get it that there's more.  God is more. The future is more. More than we can grasp or imagine. Paul talks of the mystery of God, yet somehow we want God to be small enough to understand, to predict, to manage how we want or expect God to be.  But Paul reminds this church, and us, that He is More.  I wonder if Paul would ask us with all our wonderful technology if we're looking to that for answers to questions it cannot answer, that the "more" we need is found in the mystery of God and it's OK to not get it all, it's OK that He is beyond our grasp and understanding.  And. We have Jesus. Jesus is God confined and limited like ...
Post a Comment
Read more