The Cart Rope
“Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 44:18-20
Temptations are everywhere. Even here, right now, while you read, temptation is there lurking and waiting for your mind to turn to it. You can’t escape the test. Your next move will either be victory over sin, or you will be defeated by sin.
If we could always see what sin brought with it, we’d never turn towards it.
If alcohol were always sold by a family-less, homeless, poverty stricken drunk smelling of days without a bath – we’d never buy it. So instead it’s sold it with beautiful women dressed seductively in exotic places or watching sports.
If extramarital affairs were shown to us with pictures of children hurt by divorce, tears, depression, counseling, and property stripped from our hands, we’d never go near it. Instead, that stuff stays buried beneath the sheets until it’s too late.
If lies were shown to us with broken friendships, broken trust, and loss of companionship, we’d walk through life with our mouths shut for days rather than go near one.
If cigarettes were sold from a cancer stricken person lying in a bed hooked to tubes and suffering through chemo treatments, we’d run from even second-hand smoke.
But we’re only shown the cart rope – what satan wants us to see of the sin. We don’t see the cart. It stays buried in the sand, waiting for us to pull it out. But we start pulling the cart rope, and little by little the cart comes into view and we can’t put down the rope. Our spirit is week, and the Holy Spirit in us is anorexic. We’ve taken the cart too far down the road to let go. Our lives have stopped circling around Him and started circling the cart. Then satan steps out, waves his banner of victory over us, and we fall in defeat.
Our only way to not pick up the cart rope is to keep our eyes off of it. We have to focus on something else – something that is more appealing to the Spirit that lives within us. That is who we are. Sin will quench the Holy Spirit in you faster than water on a flame. There’s an old Indian saying that what you feed grows, and what you don’t feed starves. If you feed your soul the Word of God, the Holy Spirit in your will be strengthened, and the temptations of this world will starve.
Light and darkness cannot co-exist. Light will always overpower darkness. In that same way God’s word will always overpower sin. Pull that rope – the one that holds onto God. Let go of the cart rope before the cart comes home.
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