Rachel Whisman

BANG! BANG! BANG!…

The sound jolts me out of my reading time with my warm cup of coffee next to me.

BANG! BANG! BANG!…

The sound continues and joins the sunrises as it pierces through my window. The sound is repetitive and loud. My apartment even shakes a little. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!… 

The sound does not go away. More noises of drilling and hammers continue to distract me. I didn’t know when they were going to start working in the morning, but I quickly found out. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!…

The siding of my apartment is being replaced. It looks ugly outside. Rotten panels are on the ground, sawdust mingles with the air, and I have to watch my step because nails are littered throughout discretely. 

I look up to see the progress and it just looks unattractive. The siding is ripped off, the colors don’t match, ladders are everywhere, and it looks like a hot mess. Before, the paneling wasn’t pristine, it had aged, but it was alright. It did it’s job. 

I go back inside and the noises still bother me. How am I suppose to get work done under these conditions? There’s too much noise to concentrate. My apartment is shaking a little bit. There are workers surrounding the outside of my apartment and the secludedness has dissolved. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!…

My apartment is me. A living example of the sanctification that is happening in my life. When we become believers in Christ, sanctification begins. The chiseling, hammering, breaking down, and renovating of our souls to be “set apart” and “to be made into the image of Christ.” 

Progressive sanctification, which is the continuing process of becoming more like Christ does not stop until our glorification when we are in heaven with Christ. Are we given a new heart, yes for it states in Ezekiel 36:26, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” New not dead. A new heart and new desires and the good news that “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life,” (Romans 6:23). Sin is no longer our condemning master, but still present and in need of being put to death by the working of God in us as we obey Him in what He has commanded to do by faith.  

Sometimes we experience the demolition going on around us firsthand and ask the Lord, “What are you doing?” What was there seemed to be doing the job just fine. It wasn’t perfect nor the most beautiful, but it seemed to be going alright. Why are you taking this apart? Why are you removing this person, relationship, or job from me? 

Then, events happen to us that rattle us and shake us and we are confused. God allowed this to happen. Why? What is the point of all of this? I seem off balance. 

Other times we finally see the sin of the idolatry of our hearts first hand and it is unattractive, ugly, and corroded. It’s on the ground with the rest of the materials ready to be thrown into the dumpster. 

Also, there are pressures in life. The secludedness has evaporated and I am in a pressure cooker. The real desires of what I want are revealed. The pressures outside didn’t force me to do anything but only exposed what was already inside. 

The demolition, events, idolatry, and pressures are all things God is at work to renovate. He is a skilled craftsman. He knows me better than myself. He is the one who has perfect wisdom. He knows what He is doing. Just as Job cries out, “The Lord gives and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Since He is all these things, then the Lord is going to do whatever it will take for us to become more like Christ. Sometimes we are going to look around and be confused at what we see going on in and around us. It will hurt at times. A hammer to the heart is painful, but He is our healer. He knows what He is doing and we can trust Him. He made us, does He not know what is best for us? “If you who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask?” (Matthew 6:11). 

Yet, we can have confidence in this that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6). As well as 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.”. 
The noises outside still ring in my ear. The apartment moves a little with all the pounding. The debris is still on the ground. It is not finished. I am not finished. The siding will be done soon and the task will be complete. I am still young and the task will not be complete until glorification in heaven. Praise God we do get to see the changes though as…

“We all will unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirt,” (2 Corinthians 3:18).