Rock, Paper, Scissors, Spock, Wall, Jesus

There’s a wall before you.

The wall is not your friend.

There’s no scaling this wall. No visible handholds. Not that that would help you. You haven’t the arm strength for a climb this steep. It’s a thick wall and it separates you

from the loved one who’s making damaging choices

from the dream you’ve labored long for and thought you would achieve

from the healing you crave with your entire being

from the freedom from the bondage you never intended to enter but now can’t escape

from the miracle your loved one needed yesterday.

Instead of a miracle, deliverance, healing, a realized dream, a reconciled loved one – instead of your hopes realized, you have a wall.

So, there it is, right? There’s no way round the wall. You’ve taken a run at it with the ramrod of practical solutions. You’ve hurled your faith at it like a boulder, even tried to catapult it over the top. Your faith landed back in your lap like a public humiliation, like a joke, like a sucker punch, and now you’re winded; staring up at the unbroken wall.

As you caught your breath, you built a Trojan horse, thinking to outsmart the wall, trick it into opening its secret door but the wall would not be fooled. So you murmured your open sesame prayers into the cold stone of the wall and stepped back, willing the prayers to reveal the secret passage. Waited with your Gandalf-stoked spirit for the hand of God to write on the wall “This is the way through.”

But the wall remained. Silent, cold, not even yielding the satisfaction of acknowledging your efforts. The wall is indifferent to you. You are small and insignificant in its shadow.

A crowd has gathered at your wall. They point, giving voice to the obstacle. “There’s no scaling that wall,” says one. “I’ve seen that wall before; you’re wasting your breath. It won’t move,” says another. “That’s a terrifying wall,” says another as the crowd nods offering minor worship and awe to the barrier before you. You feel yourself ready to join your own jeering crowd but then the final voice speaks, the voice that should send you to the mat. But the voice makes a fatal mistake. It speaks a lie. “No one defeats the wall.”

The others nod as the words bounce hard off the unshaken wall but while the wall didn’t move, your soul did. You recognize the lie for what it is. You know the ancient truth so while you’re thrown off by a wall, you won’t be defeated by a lie.

The ancient Israelites faced giants who built cities full of walls, scary walls, enemy walls. “But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky.” Deuteronomy 1:26-28a

Without the Lord, Israel would have remained on the wrong side of those walls. But for the God of Israel, walls are no barrier: “Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you.” Deuteronomy 9:1-3a

Here’s the thing we know from the historical account: Walls fall.

That’s right. Walls crack. They crumble. They can be toppled, crushed, and overcome. In fact, Jesus doesn’t even see walls as barriers. He walks right through. The only real wall is the wall of deception erected in your mind when you choose to see the Wall in your life as more real than the Jesus in your soul.

Stop throwing your works at the wall, instead, stand before the wall and trust the One reaching His hand through to lead you to the other side.

Is there a wall in your world? Would you like someone to stand beside you while you believe the truth of Jesus against your wall? Contact me. I’ll stand with you.