BEYOND OUR WOUNDS
Jeanne Stewart, Oklahoma
A winter storm last December was churning
through the states west of us and the meteorologists said it was going to be horrific.
Band after band of frozen rain was imminent. Little did we all know that those
next few days would make history as the worst ice storm of devastation ever in
Oklahoma. Power was completely out all over our small town of five thousand. No
business was open, making the buying of food, water and gasoline impossible.
Trapped in darkened homes of frigid air, dressed in layers of clothes and all
blankets being used, we waited for power to come back up in our community west
of Tulsa. There was no movement of life along the streets as fallen ice-covered
power lines and tree limbs spread across our city in a jumbled and eerie mass
of frozen and dreary grays. Days passed watching -- and nights hearing -- trees
crack and explode like cannons, sending ice whizzing to the frozen ground,
emitting sounds as of machine gun rounds, as storm after storm deepened the
battle zone in nature for three days.
After the fifth day, the power was restored
in our neighborhood and our house was connected again by the electric company.
Then the clean-up began. Looking out through the window into our once beautiful
garden-style backyard of trees and shrubbery, where the birds came to make
their homes and raise their young families, I wept. Our four cherry laurels
were broken or uprooted. In the front yard our tall oak tree looked ripped of
its beauty, missing strong branches it once extended in all spreading glory. As
I lingered at the window I pondered a thought: how the trees looked wounded and seemed to cry out from their
enduring combat of icy darkness. How could all the barren tree limbs ever be
complete with a sense of balance again from what was left standing?
The Holy Spirit began speaking to my heart
concerning battles we face on earth everyday of our lives. The unholy spirit of
darkness comes wounding the heart,
the root of God’s creation, man. Just as this ice-storm had broken and wounded
the tree branches of God’s creation in nature, we in righteousness are like
great oaks that the Lord planted for His own glory. (Isaiah 61:3) Taken by the unction of the Holy Spirit to the
references in the Word of God concerning trees, I found that a person is
symbolized as a covering as righteousness of strength. “Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him.
Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will
overflow with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7 NLT)
The Progress of Faith Deepens with Persistence ~
Our progress in faith consists of deepening
persistence, not a discarding of basic truths spoken by Christ Jesus. For the
wounds of this world come to destroy the basis of our being that builds upon
His foundation of truth in us. The hope and promise of renewal and restoration,
as in nature, is also within us as children of God. We see the hope of
something beyond where we are now as obtainable in this journey of life as
illuminated in verses 7 thru 9 of Job chapter 14. “Even a tree has more hope, if it is cut down, it will sprout again and
grow new branches. Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump
decays, at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new
seedling.”
From generation to generation there are
remnants of good and excellent people, who like these wounded trees, are rooted
and preserved. Their sayings, their writings, their illustrations of God’s
anointing that followed them still linger as motivation to those they leave
behind them. We then inherit the benefits of their influence, stimulating us to
continue moving deeper spiritually with a desire to go beyond where we are in
the ways of the Lord.
Elijah’s Last Miracle Becomes Elisha’s First ~
Let us consider the story of Elijah’s last
miracle, and Elisha’s first, in 2 Kings Chapter 2. As Elijah and Elisha were
traveling from Gilgal, we read the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven
in a whirlwind. Knowing it was time for the Lord to take his spiritual mentor
away, Elisha did not want to leave Elijah. Each place from Gilgal, to Bethel,
to Jericho, then to the Jordan River crossing, the persistence we see in Elisha
shows his desire to go beyond to obtain something more from his spiritual
father. Before Elijah’s ascent, Elisha’s reply in verse 6 gives us this clear desire
as Elijah tells him, “…stay here, for the
Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.” Elisha replies, “As surely as the Lord lives and you
yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they both went on together. It
was there at the crossing of the Jordan River Elijah finished his place as the
mentoring prophet. He folds his mantle together and striking the water with it,
the river divides and the two walk across on dry ground, symbolizing a new
covenant breaking forth out of the old.
Boundaries Broken of the Impossible ~
Coming to the other side of the Jordan River,
Elijah then asks Elisha what it is he desires for him to do for him before he
is taken away. The Jordan represents breaking the boundaries of the impossible,
or in other words, a death to one bringing life to another. In Elisha’s
persistence he did not leave his master’s side. His desire for the double
portion of the anointing upon Elijah moved Elisha beyond the Jordan to see
Elijah taken away to heaven. He had to persist before the mantle could be
inherited. Within itself the cloak was of little value, but what it represented
was the Spirit’s descent onto Elisha. Elisha had to step into God’s anointing
and take it up for himself to receive the fullness of double portion for the
battles ahead. Elijah, striking the Jordan now with his mantle of authority,
breaks the water to walk through to the other side as his last miracle. So
Elisha’s first miracle was striking the river and calling out upon the God of
Elijah. He then sees and knows that God is with him with a double portion as
the river separates and he walks across on dry land after Elijah’s ascent.
Regardless of the difficulties of life we
walk in, we must remember that we do not have to stay in the suffering of
uncertainty. All we have to do is perform what the Holy Spirit of Truth has
given us to pull down the strongholds of the world’s system of thought and
reasoning. Our strength is measured by how faithful we are in the midst of the
situation and trial. As we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us through the
circumstances, we will begin to see more and more victories of God’s power on
the path He has chosen for us to walk. We are given power over all the
influence of the enemy, over principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness
of this present world, spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12) Looking ahead, beyond the wounds, the battles we are
facing at the present, we keep our focus on Jesus as the Tree of Life. Rooted
and grounded in Jesus, we can do all things. (Philippians 4:13)
We leave a vestige of our roots to continue
bearing fruit in the lives around us, just as Elijah did when he left the
battles of prophetic ministry to Elisha before his catching away. Let us desire
today, before the return of the Lord, a double portion of God’s purpose in us.
Let us continue living on earth beyond
the wounds of the good fight of righteousness and shout the victories after
the storms of deliverance with the sweet dew of heaven’s glory.
