I’m very thankful for sledgehammers. I’m not just referring the kinds they sale at the hardware store. I’m talking about the metaphorical figurative ones.
Back in the day, our youth leaders used hammers for an illustration of proper Christian behavior. Eloquently, they explained hammers have a side for building up and a claw to tear down. “Christians should be in the building up business.” I’ve never forgotten the truths in this lesson.
Over the years, I’ve discoveredafew more, harder learned
truths. The truth about the Truth is one of those.
truths. The truth about the Truth is one of those.
The world would have us believe every word must be co mmunicated in a fluffy coating of powdered sugary sweetness. Never mind it might be dripping from the tongue of the devil himself. Truth is, you can deliver truth, nice and sweet, only to have, those who don’t want it, claim you sent it laced with poison and delivered it on a wrecking ball.
Christians should be good hammers. We should build up people, but building takes time. Construction is often painful sometimes even deadly. It is a labor intensive cooperative affair .
During construction, it’s incredible how much tearing apart, and breaking down, goes into building something.
No matter if we remodel or began a new construction, the greater the building, the more tearing down will be involved in the process. The builder will pick up a sledgehammer and separate the useless pieces of the design to carry the project forward. Occasionally, he will break away concrete to correct the problems buried beneath the hard exterior. Eventually, much as the artist breaks stone, he will reveal the finished work.
God said to Jeremiah
"Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a hammer which shatters a rock? (23:29)
God sometimes uses people as sledgehammers. A great example is Peter’s reaction to Simon the Sorcerer.
Trust me, Peter was all out of powered sugar that day.
He was a sledgehammer.
God’s sledgehammers tear down walls.
Once torn down, it reveals a separation of the beautiful truth of His Word from the hideous truth of man’s destructive damnable faith in themselves. Once out of the way, the construction can proceed.
Christ would be broken, so we might build upon a firm foundation.
While the foundation is perfect, as we who are not, work together, let us encourage those laborors,
who focus on the finished product, rather than how dirty the process can be.
So the craftsman encourages the smelter, And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, Saying of the soldering, "It is good"; And he fastens it with nails, So that it will not totter.
Isaiah 41:7
Construction isn’t something most would want to listen to.
Sledgehammers breaking things into pieces
doesn’t sound anything like Beethoven’s 9th in D minor ( Ode to Joy) Then again, Ludwig wasn’t in the construction business. Construction is the culmination of unpleasant sounds to produce a complicated structures, built to endure the world’s harsh elements.
doesn’t sound anything like Beethoven’s 9th in D minor ( Ode to Joy) Then again, Ludwig wasn’t in the construction business. Construction is the culmination of unpleasant sounds to produce a complicated structures, built to endure the world’s harsh elements.
God has shown me to trust His process and His truth, regardless of unique and sometimes unpleasant tone, He created His messengers to deliver it with.
I’m indebted to those, Who were bold enough, to chip away the stones with ultimate truth of His Word and continue to do so.
A word that reminds me
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 27:6
With this truth in mind,
Occasionally, reluctantly, I’ve been the sledgehammer.
Being an instrument of truth doesn’t offer instant gratification. To be honest, Most truth doesn’t offer any.
Often, it’s a source of depression. Just like no one want to use a sledgehammer, no child of God enjoys being one. Occasionally, someone will come and thank you for allowing God to use you in breaking down their walls. You’ll tearfully recollect the pain you underwent doing the unpleasant job you know God called you to do, but rejoice when you see the finished work of the changed lives. You’ll recall a moment, when God punched a hole in your wall, with someone and it came down and changed your life for the better. And then you’ll praise God for His Sledgehammers.
Has God ever called you to be a Sledgehammer?
Who has been your Sledgehammer?