Vehicles are necessities in our society. It may be a bicycle or it might be a Lamborghini, but either way- we need a vehicle to take us from place to place. Any form of transportation is better than no transportation. Some have bells and whistles and some (like mine) may be getting near retirement age, but we sure would be in a pickle without them. They come in a wide range of sizes, colors, brands, and prices, but their purpose is all the same- transportation.
Merriam-Webster defines a vehicle as 1: a means of carrying or transporting something, and 2: an agent of transmission- a medium through which something is expressed or achieved. You may be asking, why the need for a definition? We all know what a vehicle is. We know we get in it and rely on it to take us where we’re going. Sometimes it takes us directly to our destination and sometimes it takes us through detours. Regardless, we don’t stay where we are once we get in.
Fair enough. We do know these things about our physical vehicles. But what about spiritual vehicles? What about emotional vehicles? Mental vehicles? Not the Fords and Ferraris, but the trials and tribulations. The diagnoses and the depression. The break ups and the breakdowns. The sorrow and the suffering. The pain and the pressures. Many of us likely see these things as obstacles and roadblocks… but what if they are actually vehicles? What if the things we endure in this life are a means of carrying us somewhere? What if they are an agent of transmission through which God wants to express or achieve something in our lives? Something like victory?
When we walk through difficult seasons in life, we often ask God to remove whatever the circumstance is, and to do so sooner rather than later. And that isn’t necessarily a wrong prayer to pray. Sometimes He does remove the cause of our angst. In my experience however, more often than not, He doesn’t swoop in and clean up the mess I find myself in. He doesn’t always answer my prayers with the suggestions I bring to Him. He doesn’t always take away whatever it is that is troubling me. But the overarching lesson of my life over the last 7 months has not been coming to know God through His rescuing abilities, though He does do that too. No, what I have come to see so clearly in this season is that whatever my burden is, however dark my days are, whichever particular struggle I’m facing- that very thing is a vehicle. That situation or trial or circumstance or emotion, is a vehicle. God beckons me to get in that vehicle, however uncomfortable, however heart wrenching, however fragile it seems, and to allow Him to take me somewhere. The difficulty itself is a means to an end, and that end is always, always knowing Him better, being more like Him, and trusting Him on deeper levels. He may not chang the vehicle or remove the vehicle, but when we allow Him, He will always, always get in with us.
When we go outside and get in our car, we believe that it’s purpose is to transport us, and we believe that it can accomplish that purpose. If we didn’t believe that, we’d be on the hunt for a new vehicle. Belief always leads to action. What we really believe about God and His goodness is often revealed in the times when we are tempted to trust Him the least. When the vehicle in front of us looks like illness, we must learn to trust that it will transport us to a place of knowing Him as Healer. When the vehicle looks like a broken heart, we must believe that He is beckoning us to trust Him as the One who restores our soul. When the vehicle of spiritual warfare pulls up, we must believe that He has given us authority over the enemy’s schemes. When the vehicle of death and decay arrives, we must trust that Heaven awaits and that the sting won’t last forever.
If we aren’t careful, we will miss opportunities for victory in our lives because it comes through a vehicle that we don’t want to ride in. It looks like it’s not going to be a comfortable ride, so we don’t get in. It looks like it may not get us where we want to go, so we opt out. It looks like it may leave us stranded on the side of the road, so we settle for another option that promises better results. When is the last time you trusted God enough to surrender what He’s trying to pry out of your hands? When is the last time that you allowed Him to get in the vehicle with you? In your shame? In your heartache? In your lack of understanding? On the days when the enemy is bombarding you? When you’re not sure you can take another step? Have you ever invited the Lord to get into those vehicles with you? Have you asked Him how He might want to use that very thing- that very vehicle- to achieve in you something you could never otherwise achieve?
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says this, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Friends, the vehicle is temporary, but the victory is eternal.
I say that as someone who has ridden in many of these vehicles I’ve mentioned, some even simultaneously. My personal experience with the Lord has not been one of rainbows and sunshine everyday… and I’m so grateful for that. We far too often paint an unrealistic picture of the Christian life and when our reality doesn’t match up to that, we think God has abandoned us or is not keeping His promises. The Lord has not ever promised once in His Word that we would have an easy experience of walking with Him. He has said quite the opposite, actually. We cannot submit our lives to a Savior who suffered and think that we will somehow escape it. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians, we are being renewed day by day. Sometimes that even feels moment by moment when you are in the depth of suffering. But while the weight of what we see bears down on us outwardly, that renewal is taking place inwardly. Vehicles are a means of transportation, but they are also a means by which something is expressed- the vehicle of our light and momentary affliction is working for us a FAR more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Life is hard, and rarely does the difficulty we face feel light or momentary as we’re walking through it, BUT in the grand scheme of eternity, our Iives here are but a vapor. (James 4:14)
The vehicle is seen, but the victory may not be. The vehicle may be suffering, but the victory is trusting God. The vehicle may be loneliness, but the victory is that He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. The vehicle may be a lack of understanding, but the victory is spiritual growth. The vehicle may seem completely incapable of taking you anywhere at all, but the victory has already been secured. And just like when we believe our cars will get us from point A to point B, when we trust that God truly does have our best interest in mind, that He truly does love us, and that He truly is working all things together for our good, we will get in the vehicle.
We may not choose the vehicle, but we always have a choice in whether or not we will surrender and obey. We can sit inside the vehicle of discomfort, confusion, and shame and refuse to allow it to take us somewhere, but that isn’t the purpose of a vehicle. God will not make us trust Him; He will always give us an option. Even the vehicles in our lives that we manufacture ourselves- He will transform us through those too if we let Him. Many of the vehicles in my life have been the result of my own choices, but that didn’t stop God from using them for my good.
We will not enjoy every vehicle we are faced with traveling in on this side of Heaven, but we will experience victory through those vehicles. He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)
2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.“
The vehicle is a trial, but the victory is His peace.
The vehicle is a storm, but the victory is His presence.
The vehicle is lack, but the victory is His provision.
The vehicle is suffering, but the victory is transformation.
The vehicle is temporary, but the victory is eternal.
Don’t miss the victory because it comes by means of a vehicle that you didn’t expect. ❤️
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