Weekly Encouragement

Tachycardia

By: Hannah S. Hunter

Isaiah 52:11-12(NLT) “Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves, you who carry home the sacred objects of the Lord. You will not leave in a hurry, running for your lives. For the Lord will go ahead of you; yes, the God of Israel will protect you from behind.”

Remember the first time you felt your heart stir and respond to someone who drew your attention. Your face flushed, your heart leaped or skipped a beat, and your turned to observe and watch for more than a glance. It opened a whole new world and a new level of feelings and your view of life was forever changed.

If we could only fathom that if we just glance in the direction of God His heartbeat accelerates.  He loves us so radically. He has built a secret place and is always expanding and making it more attractive to draw us to that place. He longs for us. His breath is waiting to blow over us with a gentle refreshing breeze. Angels stand perplexed when we give a sideways fleeting glance and keep moving to our own agenda. They never cease crying, “Holy, holy, holy” for they are awestruck at His every move and action.

Tachycardia is a medical term meaning increase of heartrate. When in observed in a medical setting it can have many negative connotations. Generally, means restriction in vessels, other underlying diseases, or pain to name a few. Yet in this reference I see something caught our eye or attention and whether physically, soul, or in the spirit we began to pursue or run hard after something we wanted to overtake or get to know at greater lengths.

Seasonally where we are, we need to refocus hard on the object of our adoration and worship. Some of us need to revisit the vacation cabin or places we escaped in our youth, dust off the furniture, open the windows to air out mustiness and reassess.

However illegal or nonsensical these lockdowns and terror inducing thing that is gripping the globe we have a place He is preparing for us in the midst. I remember when 9/11 hit my land. I was about an hour from my family. My husband was up on a job near ground zero in NYC. My three sons were at three different schools. I had to retreat to my secret place inside myself while I cared for a critically ill child on life support.

In the evening we got to gather as a family unit. Tragically many did not have that luxury or blessing. We got our food and went into our underground basement and snuggled close-even though our sons were teens. In the circle of each other’s arms and palpable love we looked at the uncertainty and fear that our nation was in. Smoke and death accompanied the fear. A real scenario.

Faith and trust in the midst of our nation being torn asunder. Peace in the inner man and safe in our secret place while no understanding when the sun came up what would our physical nation look like.

Little did I know such a catastrophic situation would visit me almost twenty years later. Now a widow and living on the continent of Africa with nothing familiar nor anyone who looked like me in sight. Yet that secret place and faith was filled even more with the One whose heart longs for me. It was not just a vacation or place of escape it is now my main residence.

Now leave the captivity of the fear and muzzling of this crisis. Purify yourself of every putrid thing. Remember in you is deposited everything sacred and valuable to God. Do not be in a hurry. You do not have to flee or rush. Serve notice to our enemy that he must flee and he best hurry for the army of God has her orders and is mobilized. Took us a bit to awaken and form the ranks. The bugles are at the lips of the bugler.

He is our front and rear guard. Those angels who are waiting and know the weight and presence of all He is are ready to carry, run, and assist us. Rise with courage! When you hear the call go! All is well in the land of the living. It is finished!!!