Success and Failure Blog

Break Free from Bondage and Fly on the Promises

Life is a constant struggle. Some don’t like to use the word struggle in reference to life because it has such a negative connotation. By definition it is a forceful or violent effort to get free of restraint or resist attack. i would say that this is an accurate description of how life goes. For the majority of us, we are constantly trying to resist some kind of attack life throws at us. Whether it’s trying to shake poverty or a common cold, it seems that in every aspect of life we are struggling. But struggling isn’t always a bad thing. Struggling takes on a negative connotation when we repeatedly fight the same battles. In every struggle we should learn a lesson; if nothing else, we should know how to break free the next time we face that particular hurdle. When we learn from our struggles the very word takes on a totally different meaning. Frederick Douglass observed, “Without struggle, there is no progress.” If a slave could grasp this concept, so should we. What are you struggling with? What are you trying to get free of? What are you trying to resist attack from? Whatever it is, just know that there’s a blessing on the other side of the valley.

We must not pray that our struggles end, but we must pray for the strength, wisdom, and understanding of how to break free. We must trust that HE alone is the supply to all of our needs and wants. We must believe that HE is the orchestrator of what goes on in our lives, and when we struggle we must look for the lesson it brings.

Consider if you will the Israelites who were held captive by the Egyptian Pharaoh. GOD heard the cries of HIS people and called Moses to set them free. After initially resisting, the Pharaoh eventually decided to let the Israelites go. Once the Israelites were set free they went into the wilderness to commune with GOD. What was supposed to be a short journey to the Promised Land of Canaan quickly turned into forty years of wandering in the vast barren desert for nearly a half of century. Think about that. Talk about struggling. Millions of Israelites wandering around the desert for forty years, aimlessly, with nothing but the clothes on their backs is the very bottom of hardships. They were slaves and had no possessions. They neither had food nor water. But GOD provided like a father should. For forty years GOD sent Manna down from the Throne Room of Glory to feed HIS children. The Israelites’ needs were sufficient for each day. When some of them tried to gather and store the Manna it spoiled and turned into maggots. A clear revelation that all GOD wanted them to do was rely fully on HIM for their every need. Thousands of years later HE wants the same exact thing from us. HE wants us to have the faith to believe that HE will meet every one of our daily needs.

When we struggle it’s really the good Lord speaking to us. HE speaks to us the same way HE did the Israelites. Likewise, he made a promise to the Israelites, and as descendants of Abraham, HE has made that same promise to us: to inherit the Promised Land that flows with milk and honey. But for us to inherit this promise we must be faithful. We must be obedient to HIS Word and sensitive to what HE is trying to show us though our struggles. The reason the Israelites wandered around for forty years is because they didn’t fully rely on HIM, for they did not believe that HE would take care of them in such a difficult time. The Israelites only inherited the Promised Land when they fully believed that GOD was their sole provider. We too will inherit the Promised Land once we believe the same.

The Promised Land was a good and large land, flowing with milk and honey. Whenever the Bible talks about something being good it means perfect, for if GOD made something it couldn’t be any better. So the Promised Land was a perfect and large land, flowing with milk and honey. The milk symbolizes everything we need. Milk is a great source of essential nutrients; it makes us strong and can prevent osteoporosis; it has all the fat our brain needs to develop. For an entire year, my son only drank milk flowing from his mother’s bosom. So, in essence, all we really need to survive is milk. The symbolism here is remarkable. Generally speaking, human beings only need food, water, and shelter to survive. Well, the Promised Land has that, but there’s more. It also flows with honey. The honey symbolizes everything we ever wanted. Honey really has no nutritional value, but it’s delicious. Think about all the mouth-watering treats made with honey: Honey Combs, Honey Bar-b-cue Wings, Honey Nut Cheerios, Honey Mustard, Honey Baked Ham, Honey Butter from J. Alexander’s; I could go on and on, but I digress. In the present day, the honey GOD promised symbolizes the things we desire such as, bonuses on the job, nice vacations, big cars, big homes, 52-inch flat screens, etc. GOD wants us to have these things but we must obey HIM. We must realize that our profession is not the source of our supply, neither are our parents, or those fat refund checks, but GOD is. When we start to truly believe this we will inherit the Promised Land. GOD didn’t promise us a land that has milk and honey, but a land that flows with it, which means there is abundance, better yet, an unlimited supply of blessings.

The most important part of the story of Moses and the Israelites isn’t necessarily the Promised Land or wandering around in the wilderness, or the Manna that fell from the sky daily, but it’s about the process of how they got to the Promised Land. The very first, most important step in reaching the Promised Land was getting out of bondage. The Israelites had to get out of slavery before they could go anywhere. Likewise, this has to be our first step as well.

As slaves, we are not in a position to be blessed. To inherit the promises of GOD we must free ourselves from slavery, we cannot wait on Moses. The first step is to understand that we are indeed slaves. Many of the Israelites wanted to return to their former life of bondage because it was all they knew. They didn’t think being a slave was all that bad. In a way, they enjoyed being a slave, it was somewhat blissful. Harriet Tubman freed one thousand slaves and would’ve freed one thousand more had they knew they were slaves. As i look around i notice that most of us are slaves as well. Soon, we don’t even realize we’re slaves because we’ve been in bondage for so long. Some of us are slaves to money, others fear. As slaves to money it controls where we go, how we feel, what we think, and when we move, if we move at all. When we are slaves to fear on the other hand, it dictates our movements and impedes our progress. We fear the unknown so much that we don’t try anything new. We don’t grow because we are afraid to. Instead, we grow complacent and get comfortable. Then our lives fall into a thoughtless routine which ends in mediocrity.

All of us are slaves to sin. We are controlled by our selfish desires and if a change doesn’t occur we will burn in our own lust. Many of the Israelites were killed because they became slaves to sin, or wrongdoing after they were freed from physical bondage. The GOD inside us allows us to know right from wrong. It is up to us to do the right thing, for the sake of righteousness, for the sake of inheriting what GOD the Father promised us. And if we are too stuck in our ways to inherit what HE promised us, the very least we can do is head in the right direction so our children can inherit the land that flows with milk and honey.

“Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes but morning comes. Keep hope alive. Don’t you surrender!  Suffering breeds faith. In the end faith will not disappoint.”   –Jesse Jackson, American civil rights activist,minister

As you read the quote by Rev. Jesse Jackson keep these verses in mind from James 1:2-4,  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Let us take care, in times of trial, that patience, and not passion, is set to work in us: whatever is said or done, let patience have the saying and doing of it. When the work of patience is complete, it will furnish all that is necessary for our Christian race and warfare. We should not pray so much for the removal of affliction, as for wisdom to make a right use of it. Here is something in answer to every discouraging turn of the mind, when we go to God under a sense of our own weakness and folly. If, after all, any should say, This may be the case with some, but I fear I shall not succeed, the promise is, To any that asketh, it shall be given. No condition of life is such as to hinder rejoicing in God.

(bible verse notes taken from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Bible).

The following is a poem that I came across many years ago. Its seems just as appropriate today as it did back then. See if you remember hearing it, as well.

Don’t Quit by Edgar A. Lewis

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor’s cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–
It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

More bible commentary on James Chapter 1 can be found at Matthew Henry’s Commentary