Opression
Opressive heat. The heat that enfolds you like a smothering blanket from which there is no escape, nowhere to turn. It builds up gradually. At first you close the doors and windows as the temperature rises, keeping the cool in during the heat of the day and opening up at night when it is safe again, bringing some small relief. But day after day it continues, getting hotter and hotter. Every day despite your best efforts the temperature goes up just a little bit more. The afternoon sun beats down upon the thick outside wall, battering away at its protection like a relentless siege on some medieval city. 
A siege that the defenders watch in despair, knowing that there is only one outcome, knowing that the enemy will eventually breach their sanctuary. Little by little the temperature rises, 1 degree today, 2 degrees the next until only the promise that it is so much worse outside keeps you huddled in your insufficient sanctuary with the fan that only just keeps pace. You sit within enfolded in the heat that won’t let you go, trapped somewhere that used to be a haven, soaked in a pool of sweat in the hot night, trying to get some sleep and praying for the change that seems so far away.
Opression, opression of the spirit and soul. Opression that causes you to shut yourself in behind a high thick wall of protection in a vain attempt to keep the enemy out.
God made us. He made the heat and the cold. They are part of His creation. When we allow ourselves to be shut away, hiding who we are, the siege of the enemy only gets tighter and more complete. Our God is an offensive God. A God who doesn’t huddle behind a thick wall of protection but rather takes the initiative, opens the gates and rides out to defeat the enemy. No longer do the inhabitants of the city have to despair alone because there is a powerful champion who will take the fight to the foe and bring deliverance.
May the champion Jesus dwell in your city and be with you to fight the forces that surround you.
