Running Through Walls

A few lines from the Jimmy Buffett/Mac McAnally song "Coast of Carolina" declare, "And the walls that won’t come down/We can decorate or climb or find some way to get around/Cause I’m still on your side/From the bottom of my heart."

As I read Psalm 18, verse 29 stuck out to me with a similar thought. It says, "With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall" (Ps. 18:29). The footnote tells me that in the original language, the first part could be "With your help I can run through a barricade." I love that. We've all watched movie scenes in which a character tries to break down a stout door. Oftentimes, he can't do it, and yet, even when he can, it usually takes a few tries or a handy battering ram that is nearby. What if he just ran through it? With God, that is possible. And, recalling the story of Jericho, God has demonstrated that sometimes walls will fall just by yelling at them...in a God-prescribed fashion, of course.

Sometimes, though, the walls don't come down. Instead, God shows us how we can decorate them (accept them and find the good in the situation) or climb them (overcome our struggle with the circumstance) or get around them some way (find a resolution other than what you'd thought of originally). Why? Cause He's still on our side, and He loves us from the bottom of His heart.

Here are a few other verses I enjoyed in Psalm 18:

"The LORD is my Rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold" (Ps. 18:2). This morning I read a bit about the Scottish clan from whom my family comes. Descriptions of old castles and sites of battles peppered the narrations. A photo of Caithness, Scotland, showing the cliffs near the sea, captured my attention. If you want to see it, go to http://www.clangunn.us/. The cliffs look strong and immovable. They've been there for centuries. Yet God made them. And He is infinitely stronger than any rocky terrain.

"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters" (Ps. 18:16).

"[M]y God turns my darkness into light" (Ps. 18:28b).

"For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?" (Ps. 18:31).