Happy New Year! 2020 has been a rocky road for us all. I pray you and your love ones have a prosperous and restorative 2021.
These past weeks have been troubling for the nation (let’s face it these past 4 years). I didn’t know what to think of what I saw. There were no words. Then I thought of another scenario and asked myself, would it have the same reaction? Would it have the same ending? I knew the answer to that one.
There is always a kingdom message for everything that is brought to our attention so I asked God, what is this about?
- I go to God when I have questions no one else can answer. And He gave me a parable.
This parable I dedicate to the marginalized, the misunderstood, the overlooked, the wandering, the questioning, those coming out of a complex and brutal past. God sees you, he calls you his own, he values you.
I present to you, Fortress of Clay, a parable for the times.
Abandoned. Without king nor government, they were left naked out in the open, visible for all enemies to see. They had no hiding place. They had no covering. The vicious elements of the sun and rain provided no shelter from their fury. Their weak and underfed bodies were knocked to and fro whatever the wind blew them there they went. So this varied and complex group, these cast aside people, searched lonesomely for home. The vulture snatched what they could cultivate and took it for its own. They picked up and continued their search.
Resilient. Their people were a remnant of an ancient time where they lived in wealth and abundance, which was no more. Those that walked beside one another dwindled as so many gave up hope for what lied ahead. Looking towards a promised land many perished on the journey. But some never gave up what they knew was drawing near. What their eyes couldn’t see yet what their faith could touch.
Just when their cries were merely grunts of survival there emerged a plateau and what sat upon it was a dwelling place made from the earth. The people had found their place. They regained strength fighting off the cobra and night prowlers to claim this palace of clay. When they entered in, the enclosure covered their nakedness, the elevated temperature warmed their deprived feet. As they looked back they noticed their location had turned their predators to flight.
There in the shadowed place peace replaced what was stolen. There amongst each other they witnessed the restoration that they had longed for.
And there the fortress of clay still stands welcoming any outsider, any outcast, all who are turned away, any one looked down upon, or underrepresented, undermined , looted of place , destiny and dignity. There is a fortress, an enclosed place of refuge where no predator can sneak into. This is the shelter of the Most High. When you are running empty, disillusioned and excommunicated this place is there, waiting for you. Back away from the hatred, pull away from the TV and news feed, pull away from the distraction. Let him be your covering. Leaders may mislead, family may not understand, people may shade but God wants to be your shelter, your hiding place, the place beyond the noise. He is saying call to me. I want to be sought by you.
He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalms 91
No matter what is going on in politics, no matter what toxicity is in the air or the White House you are loved by a sovereign who desires you. He wants to be your country and your crown. He wants to be your everything. So when you see atrocities’ you go to pray for answers instead of reacting. When you pray you enter a place above discrimination, above the polluted minds, above hatred, above bigotry and above LIES!
I am glad I found a place that will not strip me but cover me, not devalue me but value me, not leave me defenseless but defend me, a place where the God who became man; who is now sovereign is my eternal defense against the evils of this world.
Our ancestors prayed to this God and he set them free before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
Jewish people were free before Hitler took his life and Soviet forces liberated Auschwitz in January 1945.
We are liberated before the sitting President leaves office on….January 20, 2021.
Why? When we go to the secret place we have left our earthly troubles behind and feel God. We, who are broken and filled with decay become a fortress where the spirit of God dwells. We are that fortress of clay, the sooner we realize the sooner we will be there.
And this clay is only temporary.
This fortress of clay (point to self) will behold a heavenly body in a mansion decked out in gold one day.
Point of this parable: WE MATTER.
-The Parable Girl 2021
