Ever try sitting on an air mattress or other bag full of air? Everywhere you press it, other parts arise. Deflating a mattress is like deflating yourself, it ain’t easy. You roll on it, press it down. Might as well herd cats with a vacuum cleaner.
Imagine you know God and are laid atop him. He is the rock beneath you. However, if any burden rests on you, any air still inside of you (self importance, belief in one’s personal strength to overcome your demons, fear of being alone, pride, fear, doubt) puts pressure you. You take the brunt of the weight, which increases pressure. It increases your chances of popping, of being injured, or being overcome with life’s stresses.
Now, the rest of the gasbags around us keep telling us that we’re supposed to be full of air, to the brink. That such inflation is what makes us better bags. Well, those most full of are really just full of hot air.
God tells us to do it differently.
He wants us to surrender, let all the air out of our sails, to be completely pliable to his hands. No resistance, obfuscation or otherwise trying to do it our own way. That seems counter to society, since everyone else is filling themselves with air, but what if we were never meant to be a balloon? Maybe we’re supposed to be a belt, or a rubber tip, or stretched to be a sail … anything where substance might be stretched and plied?
Now imagine you’re deflated and instead of taking all the weight of all those objects onto of you like you would if inflated, you let that which you lay upon (your foundation) take the weight. It would be very little pressure on you, and would have no fear of popping under strain. That’s because as pliable as you are, it means that which handles you (God) takes all the weight. God’s hands take all of your burden through you.
If you’re fighting to hold your own, all you really have to use is air. Deflate yourself, surrender all your strength, and smarts, and skills and become ultimately pliable. Don’t fight, don’t try to reserve some for yourself. Let God be the power through you. His wisdom is superior, his power, his understanding.
The hard part is learning that surrendering requires a fire. You have to continually keep pushing air out of yourself. We’re naturally inclined to inflate ourselves as puffed up zip locks who believe our girth has anything to do with our ability. Saran wrap is useless if you can’t lay it over the surface as required, whatever the shape.
You have to fight to surrender, and you are your own biggest enemy. You have to fight to keep yourself from getting in the way. You have to push the air back out and remain humble, pliable, open for use.
Don’t worry about fighting to overcome your situation. You’re a plastic bag — you’re born weak. You have a limited amount of strength. Deflate your ego, your pride, and let God use you as He sees fit. He designed you for a specific purpose, and needs you to trust him to that purpose.
