PODCAST
Message Like Arrows
August 22nd, 2018
Lamentations 3:4-18
I was in fifth grade, and on my first basketball team. One occasion, I found myself dribbling ahead of the pack towards the basket. The adrenaline rushed and I narrowed my focus on the target, causing me to block out the shouts from the stands. My coach was yelling at me. My dad was waving his hands. Messages, like arrows, were aimed directly at me, but I was oblivious to them.
As I drove in hard for the lay-up and missed, my team cheered. In the frenzy that followed, I learned that I was at the opponent’s basket, and that I had misinterpreted the shouts and waves as encouragement.
Just as there are two baskets on every basketball court, there are two spiritual directions each of us much choose between. If we go in the direction of holiness, we must interpret the stinging arrows of difficulty and discouragement as the flaming arrows of the evil one. If, however, we are facing rebellion and selfish-ambition, the piercing arrows are from the Holy Spirit trying to get our attention and turn us back towards the goal of God’s Glory.
Author: Judith Fetzer
