Tearing the Roof Off

Have you ever been so discouraged that you found it impossible to believe good news when it came? In Exodus 6:9, Yahweh tells Moses to go announce his wonderful deeds to the Israelites. He was the God of their fathers, who had remembered his covenant with their fathers and he was going to do great and mighty deeds to lead them out of captivity into the Promised Land. Moses goes and tells them, but "they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery." (Exo. 6:9) They were so beaten down that they couldn't believe.

Here's what's encouraging about this passage, though. A few verses later, in verse 13, it says the LORD charged Moses and Aaron "to bring the people out of slavery." In other words, it didn't matter that they were too broken to believe. God was going to deliver them anyway. In fact, his people were already working on it.

If you are a believer in Jesus today with a "broken spirit," be encouraged today: that doesn't prevent God from saving you anyway. He's probably got people working for your good right now. The Bible says that Jesus is in heaven interceding for you. The Holy Spirit is inside you and intercedes for you. Sometimes, though, we're not even sure that they're real. In those moments, we need the church. There's a great story in the Gospels about four men who tore the roof off a house just to put their crippled friend in front of Jesus despite massive crowds. When we don't have the strength to get to Jesus, we need friends who will tear the roof in our prayer until we can believe for ourselves.

Who are your "tear-the-roof-off" friends? And if you're OK, who can you tear the roof off for?