Tension
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily, because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked; for they bring down trouble upon me, and in wrath they hate me. My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. … As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me. God will hear, and afflict them, even He who abides from of old Selah because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God. … Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You. Psalm 55:1-23
Knowing you are going to get somewhere doesn't make getting there any easier.
Knowing you will have a great view at the end of a climb doesn’t make the difficulty of the climb go away. Knowing you will be released from prison doesn’t make staying in prison more comfortable (especially if you are Simeon and have to wait almost 2 years for your brothers). Knowing that there was a joy set before Him, didn't make the pain of the cross go away. You still have to endure the struggles of life even though you know you know that you have been delivered from the power of death. The oppressions of the wicked (Ephesians 6:12) cause us to cry out day and night for deliverance (Romans 8:22) even though we know that God sustains us and will deliver us. God will be with you, and you can win the battle that the enemy wages against you. Don’t give up in the heat of battle, even when you know you’ve won; keep pressing against the enemy until God says it's over.
Sometimes the tension in your life is what keeps you moving forward.
A sailboat needs the rope on the sail to be tense for it to catch the wind and propel the boat forward. A kite needs the string to be taut to remain in the air and connected to the person on the ground. Sometimes tension in your life shows that you are connected to God in the unseen places while still being connected to the person on the ground. Sometimes you blow in a certain direction as you direct the tension to drive you forward. Other times, you may feel like you are spinning in circles as you hold on to the tension of the movements in two different domains. When you connect the movements in the air with the movements on the ground (Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven), you begin to make sense of the tension, but the tension still remains. Don’t let go of the tension, figure out how to use it.
Through the dust of defeat, through the cold and the heat, you are learning to depend on God.
God will not let the righteous be moved. The Lord will save and sustain those who trust in Him. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men bring the terrors of death against you because they are unwilling to move and change. When you hold on to your trust in God and allow the movements in the heavenly places to move you, you will not be moved. Allowing yourself to be moved by an unmoving God gives your life the most stability. The cold and the heat come and go but as you trust God through the various phases of life, He shows you how to let go of yourself and hold on to Him.