God Speaking

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law….”
(Ephesians 2:14 – 15)

This week marks the 25^th anniversary of the decision to allow freedom of movement for citizens from East to West Berlin and open the Berlin wall. Eventually this hated barrier, this horrible restriction of freedom was demolished. We have watched several television programmes recently on the terrible effect this wall had on the people of Berlin, of how families were divided, of how desperate some became and tried to cross at whatever the cost, many losing their lives. This ugly wall overshadowed the lives of those trapped behind it, a constant reminder of a loss of freedom. I was thinking about these programmes we had been watching when I remembered Psalm 18 where David was struggling with overwhelming worries that seemed like giant walls surrounding him.

Certainly here in North America, we are not physically surrounded by walls that restrict our freedom, but we can experience the same terror of being over shadowed by circumstances that assume huge barriers in our lives, that imprison us, rob us of joy, and burden us to the point of feeling helpless about ever being able to move on. David was experiencing one of these low points in his life when he wrote this Psalm and knew he had to seek the Lord’s help to rise above his troubles.

“In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” (Psalm 18:6)

Once he remembered the Mighty God he served he was able to shake off the feeling of being helpless and cry out with joy;

“With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.” (Psalm 18:29)

Often these walls in our life are from events or happenings out of our control. Sometimes the walls are of our own making. It is so easy when someone hurts us to choose to hide behind an air of indifference, not realising that each time we mutter, “I don’t care” our wall becomes higher. Sometimes when someone we love betrays us, bitterness slowly surrounds us, blocking out light in our life keeping us trapped in our own misery. Sometimes we are the ones at fault, allowing our anger to rise to such levels it shuts everyone else out.

Dismantling these “walls” is very hard to do on our own. This is why David had to cry out to the Lord and then to say loudly, reminding himself, that with God’s help he could scale any wall that was blocking his way (Psalm 18:29). We too need to constantly remind ourselves of the mighty power we have when we call upon God for help.

Often we find that abolishing these barriers in our lives is a huge task and that is when we need to remember that walls can come down one brick at a time. Once we remove even a little of our despair/ bitterness/ sorrow/ anger etc., we glimpse light coming through the darkness. Several years ago I was lent a book about the walls that can creep into our lives little by little until they overshadow everything we do. One chapter described how others can help just by not judging, but acknowledging another’s pain and described it in this whimsically way of throwing a beautiful flower over the trapped person’s wall.

When we remember our Almighty God’s power no barrier is too high for him to dismantle. This song sums it up

Saviour, he can move the mountains.

My God is mighty to save

He is mighty to save.

Forever Author of salvation

He rose to conquer the grave

Jesus conquered the grave.

– Mighty to Save by Laura Story