Surrounded by Lines
We live in the mountains of North Georgia. The Appalachians fill the views outside our windows. Winding roads make their way through these hills with curves that lure cyclists and sports car enthusiasts. These switch-back mountain roads have intense shoulders, some with a harsh rock embankment on one side and a sharp cliff on the other. If a car doesn’t maintain its lane, death is ready to do its worst. So how does a vehicle know its lane? You know where I’m going, right? There are “lines”. Lines painted on the roads that dictate where to drive. Lines guide drivers safely through the curves and take them to gorgeous views along the way. But to enjoy the wide-open views of these beautiful mountains, motorists must honor the guidance of the lines.
A road near our home was recently resurfaced, we were thankful for the smooth roadway. However, the lines were not quickly repainted on that ribbon of black asphalt and it posed quite the challenge when meeting a car. The outside lines on a roadway are helpful to give a gauge on positioning our car with regards to the shoulder of the road. But it’s the lines down the middle of the road that are most crucial. When meeting a car on an unmarked road, it’s intimidating to assess if they are in their lane and we are in ours — when the lanes are unmarked the dark pavement feels more like a blur than a guide. Lines painted accurately on a roadway offer safe passage and save lives.
These roadway lines can be straight or curved; they will be the design needed for drivers to journey through safely. So the straightness of a line isn’t the key, it’s the clarity it brings that is most needed.
Roadway lines help in so many ways; dotted lines convey it’s safe to pass slow vehicles, solid lines warn that passing would be dangerous (and illegal). A double solid line reveals to everyone there is not enough time for anyone to pass slow drivers. Patience in maintaining their lane is a must. Anyone who ignores the solid lines in the middle of a road is willing to risk the lives of everyone around them. It’s a dangerous business to ignore the guidance of the middle lines, on any roadway, anywhere in the world.
Lines on a roadway help keep everyone safe.
This week’s writing brings the “line” closer in to our personal daily lives. It’s a fascinating meditation to grasp the guidance our Father gives us through the simplicity of a line. We grown-ups have become so accustomed to these lines of familiarity, we give no thought to them even as we adhere to their guidance. We work hard to help our children understand and respect these daily-guiding- lines around them as well.
As you read this, whatever piece of land you are sitting on, you can be guaranteed there are property lines that mark the boundary. Ignore those lines, build your new garage across that line, and phone calls will lead to conflict as fines will precede the removal of said garage. Let’s bring it in closer.
Consider a staircase. Every staircase has a beginning and a landing; each step designed with exact inches in depth, height and width. It’s a cascading presentation of lines upon lines. There is one way to ascend and descend the stairs; and it requires that the dimensions be honored. If I choose to ignore those lines, I — will — fall. Ignoring the lines will put me in harms way. To maintain safe passage, I simply must follow the guidance of the lines defined by each step. It’s a simple example, yet it can be deadly if ignored.
How about this, the windows and doors of your home, define a type of line that clarifies, “This is the inside of our home, and that is the outside of our home”. With windows and doors closed you are able to control not only the temperature of the inside of your home, but also the elements of rain, wind, snow, are not allowed to enter. They can deliver themselves to the line outside your door, but they are not allowed to cross into your living space — because their boundary line is clearly marked. Living in the mountains we are so thankful the deer, turkeys, foxes, opossums, bears, raccoons, and bobcats are held out by the line our door defines.
Imagine…
There are millions of unnoticed lines we adhere to everyday.
When you brush your teeth…you brush the gum line of each tooth, you do not brush your cheeks and ears.
When you finish brushing…you have a boundary line around the bathroom sink that marks where you will spit — you don’t spit in the floor or on the bed.
When you pour your coffee, tea, or morning drink of choice, you’ll honor the boundary line at the rim of the cup. If ignored, you’ll have a mess to clean up.
If you work in an office, you’ll arrive at your desk. Your desk has a designated space it occupies. It’s your work space and others know they must respect your space with its lines of boundary. Otherwise, orderliness is lost and confusion will meet you every morning when you arrive at work.
Gracious, even our dinner plates mark an unspoken but clear line of where food should be placed.
When you step into the shower, aren’t you glad the lines of boundary maintain where the water can (and can not) go.
Even our internal organs each have lines that clarify where the lungs begin and end, where the heart belongs, where the stomach is positioned which is thankfully just north of the intestines, and the diaphragm is a wildly important boundary line within each of us.
Scripture says it beautifully.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14
The consistency of our great Father-God is mesmerizing. Not only was He carefully intentional as he created all that we see and hear in the natural universe around us, but he was also intentional as he created you and me. We are a menagerie of wonder with each part defined by “lines” and each part having a defined purpose.
The enemy of God is ever and always at work to confuse the lines of creation. He began in the garden. God gave a boundary line to Adam and Eve. It was this boundary line the enemy marked as his first battle line…and he has not backed down since.
Let’s look together at the first boundary line God asked man to honor and really focus on the target the enemy placed on that line.
Genesis 3:1-6
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The first boundary line —— the first chance for obedience —— the first lie —— the first confusion —— the first disobedience —— the first sin…and death came with sin.
Why do you suppose the first boundary line compelled such turmoil and destruction from the enemy of God?
As you look around you today, do you see ways the enemy of God is still at work to bring confusion over “lines” put in place by God? Lines the enemy wants to confuse, lie about, and press anyone he can influence to disobey. God’s lines allow good things to grow; satan attacks them because he is bent on destruction. Satan works to eliminate lines and bring confusion.
Lines are not in place to limit us, they are in place to protect us and keep us safe. Doesn’t that simple statement make it woefully obvious what the enemy is up to when he works to remove “lines” and bring chaos?
The lines of creation and the boundary in the Garden of Eden were designed to protect. The lines surrounding us today still work to protect. From roadway lines to staircase lines, from commandment lines to creation lines, our Father longs to offer security for those who will honor the lines put in place for good purposes. It’s not about having control over us, it’s about protecting us and growing good things in and around us.
