Psalm 3:6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

I watched my disciple play an overwhelming game of chess one day. She took off every piece of her opponent’s army, so that nothing was left but the King. The game ended in a draw because she failed to place her opponent in checkmate.

I had taught her mate in two. I had taught her mate in three, four, five, even up to seven. The principles of chess she understood. The swindle, the trap and the poison pawn where all taught and learned well.

She got obsessed with the power game. She loved to humiliate her opponents but failed to learn the lessons of the primary goal, checkmate.

So how does that relate to Christianity?

The primary goal of Christianity is salvation.

Surrounding a person and taking away every option to escape your onslaught does not win them to Christ.

Matthew 28:19 a Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, (ESV)

We can teach them all things but they have to learn for themselves the art of the surrender.

You cannot recognize how checkmate works until you have first surrendered yourself to Christ.

John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

I am subject to the human condition just as are we all. Things are not perfect all the time. In the midst of my troubled mind I cry out, “Help me Lord.” I have nowhere else to go.

Psalm 139:5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

I couldn’t go back even if I wanted. I do not want to relive the pain of the past, those lost moments that haunt my memories. I cannot say I am thrilled at what I see ahead either. The end goal seems so far away. My final joy is my hope, my strength, my motivation to go on, but here I sit, immobile.

Everything God does, He does with purpose, with a plan, with a will that is unshakeable. His will does not move out of my way just because I am not ready for it. It is now, in this moment, His purpose, that His hand is upon me and I have no idea what He is doing in me. Yet I believe He is doing something.

Romans 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

In this I believe, even if I am not yet fully prepared, even if I do not fully understand, even if His will is not revealed until the very last second. Even if I do not understand this moment, I have to believe that it too is serving God’s will and will accomplish exactly what He has set His hand upon me to do.

I’ve got nowhere else to go.