Sometimes we’re the punching bag.
A good psychologist will tell us that’s not true. We only feel like we’re the punching bag. There are always others out there with worse situations, and people aren’t picking on us especially. It’s just that life has its rough places, and we have to navigate them carefully…
Forget all that. We’re bruised, hurting, and unable to comprehend why we’re at the center of each punch that comes our way.
We’re the punching bag, and no one can tell us differently.
Genesis 3:15 lays it out in black and white.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Who is the “he” this verse talks about? The snake in the Garden. Satan. The world. Everything out there that’s not of God.
The world has made us its punching bag. We are at the center of every punch that comes our way. When financial hits make us reel, it’s not our imagination or that the world’s a rough place for us to navigate.
Our daughter, killed in a freak car accident. Bam, right in the eye. We take a punch, and groan with the pain.
Our marriage, we watch it crumble, unable to put it back together again, and we feel the repeated jabs of a devil that is determined to bring us to our knees.
Isaiah 7:14 gives us a clue that we don’t have to take it anymore.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
That’s our hand up, our encouragement that God is making a way. He’s got an exercise regime in place, and he’s building us a practice gym so we can increase our strength in him.
Romans 5:21 is our fist in the air, because we don’t have to be a punching bag any longer.
“So that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Bible brings us better news than any psychologist ever could. The educated doctors of this world are excellent, but they can only tell us how the world is. God is more excellent. He tells us what we can be when we place our faith in him.
In summary, when we work out with God, we become his fist, fighting back against the sin in the world.
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Code: FGO.H.08.15.vp.esv