Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Barrel Bottoms

I don't like barrel bottoms. Have you ever looked at the bottom of a barrel? It's dark and gloomy. It's not the best place to be in life, but absolutely the best place to be concerning God.

Why? Because the only way to see a way out is to look up.


Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

Right now I'm at my own personal barrel bottom. I thought I hit it a few months back, but it seems this barrel has deeper levels.

How did I find those deeper levels?

I found a way to fix things where I didn't have to entirely depend on God to get me out of the barrel. So I went and 'fixed' what I thought I could repair, only to find out my wrench was really bubble gum and a band-aid. 

Even now my little mind schemes to find other ways of making life repairs; I hesitate to implement them because I know there are more barrel levels than a Mario Brothers game and I don't want to entrench myself deeper. And it seems every time I try to make things better, I find a new level of worse.

I know that isn't proper grammar, so put your red pens away Grammar Police. I'm making a point here.

Am I saying don't try at all? Nope. I'm saying keep on trying- just make God the main part of your efforts.

I've tried to solve everything through my own means. I'm tired, heart-worn, and frustrated. I don't care what Sinatra says- if I do it my way, it just isn't going to flourish. 

Why wouldn't I go to God in the first place? He has infinite resources and He's a lot more clever in using them than I could ever be. He has a way of sneaking in blessings before I know they're there, and the bounties of those blessings far outweigh anything I could ever do on my own. 

'Outweigh' as in I made myself a blessing like a grain of sand, and He's waiting with a blessing elephant. And a blessing whale. And a blessing universe. And here I sit with my sand grain blessing thinking I did something awesome all by myself.

Seems silly now, doesn't it?

God doesn't want us to sit in our own mess and pray for deliverance either. Don't get me wrong, prayer is great! I do it every day, several times a day. But He wants us to make an effort to clean up the messes we make as we're praying for help. Only then will He give us what we truly need- when we're ready for it, that is.

Honestly, I've sat in my messes waiting for God to do something without lifting a finger, and when I stopped waiting, I also stopped praying and depended on myself to get the job done. Neither works very well. I've proven that many times.

The lesson I learned from that was to do what we can in our own strength, all the while praying for more strength from Him and depending on Him to get us out of it in some wonderfully blessed way.

We're not always delivered from our barrel bottoms immediately. I don't always understand why during the struggle, but afterward, I can see He was using that time to make me grow as a believer. Hindsight is always 20/20, and we hardly ever see the long-term benefits when we're going through a hardship- that's a good thing to remember.

If you're facing your barrel bottom like me, I pray that you come out of it soon with an awesome perspective on life- and a greater love of God in your heart!

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