The Load Bearing Column

Picture a large, beautiful southern plantation home with massive columns on the huge front porch. One, or at most a few, of these are LOAD-BEARING COLUMNS. The others are, well…. decorative,… and therefore, have no bearing on the sustainability and power of the structure as carrying the weight.

The analogy is this: The load-bearing column is Christ in us! He IS our load-bearer. He is our strength… our support.. tied directly into our foundation and sustainer of function and life. The decorative columns are things in our life that we hold dear.. important? yes. Valuable? yes. Special and endearing? yes. These things in life may be different “ornaments” for each of us, and yet some may overlap. These columns could be a good marriage, health, kids following Christ, a job, a job that you love, close friendships, planning for a baby, dreams of grandchildren, happy family, desire to be married, your husband is your best friend, finally in your dream home, money for vacations, or insert your own “treasures” here..   Ttese columns, you see, could be anything. What are those columns in your life? They are all decorative – not the load-bearing column. Any of those things can be taken away. Any decorative columns can be shattered, crushed, and left in broken pieces. The load-bearing column is still there and is THE strength.

See the book of Job, in the Bible, for a deep lesson about things being taken away. As the reader we, unlike Job, get to see that God had a conversation with Satan and actually ALLOWED this suffering, permitting him to take away everything except Job’s very life. God knew the end picture of Job’s walk through suffering and the unknown. He knew the transformation in Job’s heart that would take place, the dependence he would have on God to be his very source of strength, He knew that Job would cry out to Him for his every need. He was up to an amazing work in Job’s heart and life, knew the whole picture and how it would bring glory to Himself, and knew that Job’s life (and the journey through darkness) would be used for others. In this story of Job’s painful, dark journey, in which he was STRUGGLING TO BREATHE, living only minute by minute, nearly ALL his “decorative” columns were shattered.

But the LOAD-BEARING column remained, standing firm.

Certainly nothing good could come from this.

But so much did!

And, God did the SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE .

It’s recorded at the end of the book of Job. You really need to read the whole book. It’s just incredible.

God DOUBLED all that Job had lost.

Job’s story certainly has been used as a foundation for me understanding His sovereignty- that God IS aware of our situations and even that He ALLOWED it. Therefore, I want to fight to endure and know Him better through it, and be a life whose heart is continually transforming into His likeness.

Now back to us – storms are coming.

And, if you’ve just been through one, there’s not a quota that’s been met.

Our own decorative, non-load bearing columns could come crashing down.

It may be one..

or it may be many…

breaking into pieces, upsetting our whole world as we now know it

And yet.. THE load-bearing column REMAINS..

strong, ready to absorb all the weight that we have and carry it for us. .This is Christ and our foundation in Him. He is our all in all. He will be with us through anything that happens – even whatever thing you and I are afraid to even utter aloud.. as in, our secret, worst fear. Even if we faced that situation, we could know Him as ROCK, as FORTRESS, as ALMIGHTY God. Therefore, we can lay down every worry, every fear, every emotion that grips us. We can walk through battles with a quiet, confident trust… even a joy (maybe not laughter yet…but that will come with healing) amidst the storm.. but only when we experience the depth and full meaning that HE IS SOVEREIGN. He has allowed the individual journey for us to know Him, to be changed for good, to turn ashes into beauty. He is the great creator, after all, and knows the work He is doing – the masterpiece underway… even when we can only take one step at a time. And He will use our journey to proclaim His glory and use it to help others who are hurting. (if we let Him and are willing vessels to share with others) Don’t waste a crisis. You have an opportunity to KNOW Christ.. to see HIS sweetness meet you in your suffering. .. or you could do what most do, just try to get out of it as fast as you can, maybe complaining and kicking and screaming the whole way, or becoming bitter, blaming everyone else for all components of your dire situation, or even holding it all in, not releasing your feelings to the very creator of your life who longs to commune with you and change you into His likeness and be your all in all. Don’t you want to accept this, find the supernatural peace amidst the storm – you can … “as a deer pants for water, so my soul THIRSTS for you, Oh Lord.”

Seek Him will all diligence. He is there. You will understand the joy of a deep, intimate walk with Him.

 He is THE  load-bearing column..

He is YOUR load-bearing column.

  Rhonda livedthroughthismyself.PraiseHisHolyName ellis