Cobwebs.

I woke up tired, and now I'm waiting for the sleep cobwebs to dissipate. The heaviness of these particular cobwebs today seem overwhelmingly numerous and extra dense. You know what I'm talking about. Some cobwebs are light and airy, easy to brush away. Other cobwebs, like those of a very old garden shed left to natures mercy for a couple of decades now strewn thickly with crisscrossing strands of web that the many spiders spun over those decades and have long since vacated. Their sticky home, no longer very sticky because of the heavy coating of dust caught upon the webbing, yet even the sight of their abandoned nests is quite impressive. Yes, I have the old garden shed, sleep cobwebs, festooned in my head today and frankly rather than sweeping them out I wish I could just go back to bed.

Why am I telling you this? Because today I feel the weight of an unseen oppression and I woke up this way. My bible tells me this--

'We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.'   2Co 4:8-18

What does that have to do with my sleep cobwebs? I'm troubled by them, a bit perplexed, and I feel somewhat afflicted because I have such a fuzzy, depressing brain today.  So while maybe the above verses aren't strictly speaking about sleep cobwebs, but they are speaking about life.

My troubles, your troubles, we all have troubles and not all of them are the same. We have afflictions, persecutions that are unique to us and not all of them are physical- a lot of them are spiritual. Just because I'm not being hunted by Christian persecutors (and many sadly are in this world of ours), doesn't mean I'm not being hunted by spiritual demons intent on bringing my life with Christ following to an end by constant bombardment with spiritual explosives.

I can be troubled and when I am troubled and faced with the daunting task of a shed full of icky cobwebs, I don’t have to let that trouble distress me like it intends to.  I can be perplexed with my current existence on many levels, yet not despairing of the lack of comprehension. I may be spiritually persecuted but that doesn’t mean I'm forsaken by my Savior. I could even be cast down but that doesn't mean I'm destroyed! I KNOW my Savior died for me. I KNOW my Savior suffered unimaginably, in ways I'll never fully understand because I will never be a GOD who took on frail, sin degraded, human flesh and endured the agony of such. My Savior suffered and told me I would suffer too, and for me to think it should be otherwise is me living a devil inspired lie. We suffer, and we JOY in that suffering, with the JOY that is this knowledge of a slain Savior who rose from death's deepest sleep and gained salvation for me, no matter what happens to me mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually- I have the hope that is Jesus Christ!

I THANK GOD for all things He guides me through in my life. Each and every day, even when garden shed cobwebs threaten to  overwhelm me, I thank GOD, because I know my affliction is only temporary! Even if my affliction lasts fifty years, it's still temporary! All my deepest longings are eternal treasures in heaven and they are not temporary. The cobwebs are temporary even if I face them again tomorrow and the shed grows bigger with millions more vacated spider webs. I may have to endure the shed but I can endure it knowing my Redeemer endure His own cobweb shed and came out on the other side into an everlasting life cobweb free.  All glory, praise, and honor, all thanksgiving and love for our Savior, our God, and the Holy Spirit!