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Controlled
The engineering required to build skyscrapers, particularly the super tall skyscrapers, is quite a marvel, but what many of us do not know is the precision planning required for the demolition of a tall building is also quite an achievement. Experts say that when a skyscraper needs to be torn down, it is one of the most precisely planned, strategic, and delicately balanced engineering feats one will ever witness. One explosion after another occurs and large dust clouds form. It can seem like chaos and mass destruction. However, when all the dust settles, the evidence shows that it has been a very orderly process, and the surrounding buildings remain completely intact and unharmed. It is a controlled demolition. It is amazing that a building upwards of 45 stories can be torn down by a series of explosions without damaging the surrounding buildings. In fact, the tallest building ever imploded was 47 stories.
This is a lot like the Lord’s sanctifying work in our lives. Often the destruction of the old building is done to make room for something new. In Christ we are putting off the old and putting on the new. The Lord also does this in a very wise, very precise, and very pinpointed way so that even in the midst of destroying the old, He does not harm the new.
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Trials
Often times the Lord uses painful trials as part of the sanctification process in our lives—the controlled demolition project. When we are going through a series of trials, it can feel like the implosion of a building, like one explosion after another going off in our heart, leaving billows of dust. It can seem chaotic and be very painful and frightening. We might wonder why the Lord is allowing it to happen. We might even question whether there will be anything left when it’s done.
Many times, though, the Lord is using these trials to implode strongholds in our heart. He is very strategic, precise, and purposeful, even though the process can be painful and at times extremely confusing and frightening from our point of view. God has an incredibly beautiful way of destroying the old without harming the new and even growing, strengthening, and establishing us in the process. Even as we are in the midst of or healing from some of the destruction, we can rejoice over the new He is building!
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Areas
We will conclude this study with a time of reflection. Think about the questions that follow and how the Lord might be working in your life.
What are some areas where you feel the Lord may be working on a controlled demolition in your life? Have you been willingly working with Him, or do you find yourself fighting against the blasts?
What are some of the new structures that you see Him building into your soul? Is it greater love, compassion, or understanding for others? Is it a deeper willingness to listen to His voice and be obedient to His Word?
Even in the midst of the Lord’s demolition project, have you seen Him take pains to make sure nothing is destroyed except what needs to go? What might some examples be?
We can take comfort in the Lord’s precision work in our lives. In the hymn “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord,” the writer depicts God as saying to us: “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.” The Lord always has a good and loving purpose in every Divine Demolition.