Friday, February 20, 2009

Swinging and Singing From Strength to Strength



Ps 84:7 They go from strength to strength...

Tarzan, just learning the ropes, or in this case, the vines, is getting the "hang" of things as he swings on a vine, then another vine just happens to be there to receive him. He lets go of the first so the second one may deliver him to the third. He makes a trade and picks up some speed. High off the forest floor the monkey man traverses the jungle. Like a circus pro, he manipulates nature's super highway. Suddenly, oops! He hits a clearing and no new vine awaits him. He must descend his vine and walk for a while. Well, it was fun while it lasted!

Tarzan's jungle junket is not unlike our Christian journey. God allows us to negotiate our jungle of life going from strength to strength, as Mr. Loin Cloth went from vine to vine.

Strength here, speaks of power, might or substance. It is that which gives us the ability to progress. One day it might be the joy of the Lord, another, dependence upon a promise of the Word. Then we may pick up a vine of fellowship in which God's people encourage us to go on. At our next vine, we find God's outright goodness to us keeps us aloft, then His mercy bears us to blessings, which carry us to a blessed truth, followed by the Holy Spirit's leading, then a song, hymn or spiritual song carries us along to thanksgiving. Suddenly, oops! We get our eyes off of the Lord like Peter on the stormy sea and we find ourselves grounded. Fear, frustration, flesh, a falter, something has got us punching through thick undergrowth when we were sailing high off the forest floor.

Maybe today, this is your plight. You have gone from strength to strength in the past, but now it is your strength and not His. Get into the Word and find a promise, win a soul, ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit, give thanks, fellowship with a sister in the Lord, soon you will find yourself aloft once again. Soon you will be swinging and singing, going from strength to strength on your journey to the Promised Land.

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