Living in the matrix

Just yesterday I watched one of my favorite science fiction movies--“Matrix”.  In that movie the main character, a software engineer Thomas (Neo) Anderson, receives a cryptic message on his computer instructing him to “follow the white rabbit”.  This contact begins a series of events which culminates in a meeting with an individual named Morpheus.  During his meeting with Morpheus, Neo is asked if he wants to know what the matrix is.  He is then told that “It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth”.  Morpheus then gives him two pills.  Neo is informed that if he takes the blue pill, he “will forget everything that transpired and go back to life as normal.  However, if he takes the red pill, “you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”  After choosing to take the red pill, Neo finds out that there is a war that has been going on for thousands of years that he was completely unaware of.  He learns that his world is actually a wasteland devastated by an ancient war between humanity and machines.  The truth of that reality however had been concealed behind an elaborate façade created by malevolent cyber intelligence. 

    Have you ever felt like you might be living in a matrix?  That there is a reality behind the scenes that is far different than what you are currently experiencing?  I came to that realization myself just 18 months ago.  My “red pill” was going through the trauma of seeing the unwanted dissolution of my 25 year marriage combined with losing my home, my family’s business (Havilah’s Boutique) and my financial security.  Being in that place of desperation however often enables a person to see clearly what God is doing in and around them.  In my case that hardship caused me to fervently seek God in a way I never had before.  I discovered, just like Neo, there is a battle going on all around me that I had been unaware of.  We are in a battle that began long before we were born with an adversary much more sinister than the machines from the matrix.  This battle however is a spiritual one and our enemy and his forces are ever present whether we choose to acknowledge them or not.  I also became aware that my view of God’s desire to interact with me was flawed.  Our heavenly father isn’t satisfied only being involved with us on Sunday from 0930 to 1100 and he also isn’t a powerless deity content to sit on the sidelines.  If you are Christ follower going through hardship and what you are facing seems overwhelming, keep in mind that we serve a God, so powerful, that He created everything with just a spoken word.  We serve a God that isn’t bound by any law of science and can intervene in the natural world at will.  Our God can stop the rotation of the earth, part the seas, and even has dominion over life and death.  And that omniscient and omnipotent creator loves us profoundly and wants to partner with us in bringing his kingdom to earth.  We live in a magical world concealed behind a mask of normalcy to blind us from the truth.  To break out of it however all we need to do is know our true identity as princes and princesses in the kingdom, Know who our father is and have eyes to see what our father is doing.  So are you ready to take the red pill?

  

Ephesians 6:11-12  - “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Romans 8:38-39, " For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Psalm 91:1-16, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.