We were all captive to the power of Satan; in sin we walked and in death, we lived. We were captives in Adam and God appeared in the flesh, fighting our captors that enslaved us. As it says in Eph 4:8, Jesus led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.
God so loved the world he gave. And when God gives, the vessel in which he pours his blessing is always overwhelmed. That is how we became the friends of God, believers. That is how we came to be here today, we were overwhelmed by God’s grace. It was stronger than our sin. God’s mercy was more potent and powerful than our selfishness. God’s compassion was stronger than our feeble shield of self-righteousness. Our resistance of empty darkness was no match for God’s infinite light. And with joy and loving-kindness we were overpowered, disarmed, ruined – remade.
God overwhelms his enemies with blessing. He takes away and what he puts in its place is infinitely better. God restores mankind, lifts up the lowly, fills the empty and we are like those who dream. It staggers the mind.
God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. We are selfish and can’t imagine true selflessness and so when we do, it causes us to question reality. God’s goodness is so potent that when we experience it we stare in disbelief. Our imaginations are bound by limits, our eyes by what we see. Our thoughts are limited by our selfishness. Our hope is caged in sin.
God shatters all of that with His love. Jesus is indeed the strongman who came into the world and bound up sin and Satan and he bound them with ropes of pure light and drown them in rivers of his pure blood.
God takes empty vessels, cleanses them and fills them till they nearly shatter from his giving.
Locusts and Wild Honey 