The Thin Illusion of Strength
by Donavon L Riley
God, with His quiet and relentless mercy, works to yank back the veil over our eyes, to show us the truth of our own smallness. Yet we live wrapped in a strange illusion, believing ourselves to be strong, unshakable, as if something powerful runs through our veins. Each day reminds us, again and again, of our own cracks, yet we cling to this pride like it’s armor. This hidden sickness—this secret exaltation of the self—is, to God, a poison. It breeds every downfall we’ve ever known, every twisted desire, every moment we turned from Him. It shuts the gates of our spirit, sealing us off from the grace He aches to show us.
But God is not content to let us spiral into this foolishness. His grace is as rain to a desert, seeking a place to take root. And yet when we stand, puffed up with our own knowledge, our own hollow wisdom, we bar the door. How can grace enter a soul that claims to be full? How can light find a way into a mind that believes itself already enlightened?
God’s grace is a wild thing, meant to sweep us away in a flood, to shatter the vile power that holds us. But pride is a kind of blindness. The man who thinks he’s self-made has no room for God’s grace and no patience for the gift of humility. God knows that. He knows that pride was the ruin of Lucifer himself, and so He moves, quietly, patiently, to break through, to unhook the chains of this self-deception we wear.
God’s grace is fierce, determined. It won’t be boxed in or shut out forever. So let us ask Him to dismantle this fortress we’ve built around our hearts, to pull down the walls of self-reliance that keep His mercy at bay. It’s His hand that moves within us, His gracious touch that stirs us awake, shaking us out of our delirium into something richer, wilder, and more real than the thin illusion of strength we’ve wrapped ourselves in. He breaks that illusion, undoes the pride, until all that’s left is a heart hungry for His grace.