Principalities of Darkness

To Donald Miller, again from Searching For God Knows What, I am lying here realizing again (I've thought this before, just haven't really written it out yet) that Death, the shadow I was referring to below, can be used by both God and the Devil.

God uses Death to get us to heaven, to break Time's trap and somehow help our souls travel from Time's dimension into Eternity's, but the Devil uses is for... whatever, something, who am I to know what really happens? But the Devil also uses Death to instill a dread in us, a fear, and not God's fear, while God uses it to instill hope. This Shadow though, that is walking towards me, I am beginning to think it is less the Death God knows and more the Death the Devil knows. The Principalities of Darkness (Ephesians 6) are using this shadow to instill dread in me (and probably all of us for that matter-how quickly we forget Psalm 23 and Psalm 91:1).

There is no fear, not here in this valley, not in this shadow. This dread and fear is replaced with the hope of having all we need, of napping in a bed of fluffy memory-foam-type green, near gentle waters quiet enough so we can hear God whispering Truth in our ears (will we have ears? The things I think about, eh?), of a restored soul, of a limitless Never-Never Land-type feast at His table, of something about oil which doesn't sound all that appealing to me but to each his own (maybe a Bath and Body Works equivalent), and overflowing cups (I like virgin strawberry daiquiris, but I think He is talking about living water) (23). . .

May God teach me and help me to remember Death can and should instill hope as well as a God-type fear...remind me, oh Lord, the Sun is still there and will shine warmly on my face and whole inside and outside of me so very soon! I can't wait to "dwell" in Your shadow forever! (91:1)