Hacking Through

Do you remember movies where the good guys "hacked their way through" some tough, unyielding jungle on the edge of nowhere? Films like that usually picture the soldiers as hot, thirsty to the point of dehydration and half-starved. The men were always a sad sort of bunch, and you never thought they'd make it out alive. Yet, right before you got up to turn off the TV because you thought it was the end of them...and you...the leader of this fledgling group of tired warriors hacked through the last vine and the last thicket of brush to find himself almost transported into a beautiful, breathtaking place. A place where birds flew over cascading waterfalls, the sweet smell of flowers filled the air, and an abundance of fish filled the bottom of a large pool that shone in clarity and purity. Against all odds, they'd made it. They'd traversed through the steaming hot, impassable jungle to find themselves standing at the valley of refreshment.

I've seen those movies, and I cringe every time a scene like that starts to take place. I never know what's going to happen, and I suffer with the weary ones the whole time they're hacking their way through. Maybe that's because I can identify with them. Hmmm...

Many times in my own life, I've found myself hacking through a jungle while living in the middle of a city...literally. Sometimes the jungles were physical. Sometimes, they were mental or spiritual nature, but no matter...they were jungles - and I had to hack through. I struggled through places of dryness, of heat, sometimes great pain and suffering. Many times I've cried out to God and said, "I don't want to do this anymore!" or "This is too hard!"

But you know what? Always...always at the end of my "hacking through," I found exactly what these men searched for in the movies. I found beautiful waterfalls and pools of refreshment, filled with something to satisfy my longings. I found fresh clean water just at the point when I thought my life was over. I found hacking through the jungle only made me appreciate the respite all the more. And I found Him - Jesus.

God says in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 not "to look on the things which are seen, but to look on the things that are unseen for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal." My friend, as you hack through this week, or this month, or even the next several years, don't look at what you can see around you. No matter how dark and dismal and scary the jungle you're trudging through may be, there IS a place of rest. There IS a place of refreshment, and it might be just beyond the next vine...the next thicket of brush. Don't stop and throw your gear down on the ground and give up trying to get through. God has something waiting for you, just beyond what you can see.

This life is temporary, along with everything in it. So, choose to look not on the things that dissolve, look to the eternal things. Look to what He's doing in you - drawing you closer to Him and making you more like Christ. Look to where He's wanting to take you in your life. Look to what He is doing in the lives of others because of your testimony in your jungle. Don't give up. Hack through, my friend. Hack through.

Jesus, help us fight today. Help us hack through the temporary things of this life, focusing our eyes and our attention on the eternal...on what You're doing in our lives and the lives of others around us. Don't let us grow heavy-hearted in this jungle, but instead, let us find new strength to hack through. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You.