Monday Musings ~ Broken Down Walls

Last week was so very busy.  I didn't stop long enough to put a good thought together to write down.  I'm happy to have a chance to sit down and look back over some of the things that the Lord has been teaching me.  I've been reading through Proverbs.  It is such a great collection of what I would refer to as "wisdom snippets."  In Proverbs 25, verse 28, it says,

Like a city that is broken into and without walls;

Is a man who has no control over his spirit.

So, as I usually do, I began to ask myself some questions about what this means!

What is a city without walls?  That is not a concept that has much meaning today, but when these words were written, it made perfect sense.  I began to think about the dismal state of Jerusalem when Nehemiah heard from the Lord about rebuilding the city.  The first thing they had to do was to rebuild the wall.

Without a wall, the city was open to looters and attacks by their enemies.  There was no defense without a secure perimeter with sentry positions.  The people has fled the city in mass numbers because they felt so insecure and unsafe.  The people left behind were hopeless and depressed.  It wasn't until they got a plan, got to work and returned to God that things turned around.

When we step away from God's Word, His church, community and accountability -- our spirit suffers.  The Holy Spirit in us is grieved.  We become susceptible to the attacks of the enemy.  That once strong and invincible wall begins to crack.  I would characterize those cracks as:

I'm busy

I'm tired

those people bother me

such hypocrites

I just need a break

I think I'll just visit around.

Those cracks, left unattended, 

can begin to crumble and 

before you know it, 

there is a gaping hole in the wall.

Satan comes to steal and to kill -- and we open up ourselves to his subtle and not so subtle attacks when our walls crumble.

How do we avoid this?

How do we keep our spirit strong?

How do we keep our spirit under God's control?

In simple terms, the opposite of how we get ourselves into trouble!  We choose to be in God's Word, to be in fellowship with His people, to serve in His church and to share our walk of faith with others who can help us grow.  We choose to lean into the Spirit so that our spirits will be strong and healthy.

We are desperately dependent on God - every single minute.  

Only in Him can we thrive and have the life He intends for each one of us.

Let's shore up our walls . . .