Footstool on the Enemy Footstool on the Enemy

…Take your throne at my right hand while I make your enemies your footstool.  Psalm 110:1

We had a dark green footstool in our living room when I was growing up and as I recall it had many functions.  My favorite memory of that footstool was the way my little brother used to fasten a bath towel around his neck like a super hero and jump off that footstool thinking it would boost him high enough that he could fly.  We did use it to rest feet on, especially when there was a story to be read or a baby to be rocked.  It was sturdy and comfortable and important.

I had to stretch a little and read this verse a time or two before it’s meaning really hit my heart.  When I read the word enemy, I immediately thought of a person.  I don’t have any human enemies so I moved on to a verse I thought had more meaning but something kept calling me back.  After I let it percolate in my mind and heart a few days, it came to me.  The enemy may not be a person at all.  The enemy could be anything preventing my pursuit of the Father's joy.  Lent is a great time to do some soul searching about enemies that might creep into our lives and try to distract us.

I was able to stick a label on my enemies rather quickly once I started thinking about it.  I would love to sit at God’s right hand and watch Him slap down a footstool on impatience or on judgmental thinking or on any other of the sinful areas of my life.  The beautiful part of this verse is the “at my right hand” part.  In order to have Him put those enemies under my feet, I have to be beside Him. He can’t help me if I’m a mile away, He needs me right there beside Him clinging to Him with childlike dependence.  Then and only then will the footstool slamming begin!

Just like my living room as a child, sometimes we had to move some stuff out of the way to get to the footstool, so it is with our need to move the barriers that are keeping us from the right hand of God so we can get near that footstool.  What’s in your way?

A Seed To Plant:   Carefully use this season of Lent to prayerfully consider what enemies you would like to see under your footstool and then reach for God’s hand.

Blessings on your day!

Copyright 2013 Sheri Wohlfert