Don’t Touch My Pain

Spring weather has arrived and with it many afternoons spent playing outdoors. With five children, I always have the Band-Aids close by. There is always a scraped knee or scratched elbow from running, climbing trees, or riding bikes. Recently there have been a plethora of ticks also, so we have to carefully check for them and remove them to prevent disease.

With each scraped knee, splinter, or tick, my kiddos cry out for help and relief from the pain. I reach for the peroxide and the Neosporin, but they pull back away from me. They are afraid of the sting which I know will clean their wound and ensure that infection is kept at bay. The sting is just for a moment, but without it the pain of infection will be worse and longer lasting. But my kids don’t understand that.

Even though I coax and whisper sweetly that it will be alright, sometimes they don’t trust me enough to care for their wound. I know the pain will stop in a moment, but they only know the certainty of the sting and pain of the cleaners and cream.  They want me to fix it, but they don’t want me to touch it.

As I repeat this several times each week, I can’t help but notice the similarity to my own life. I experience a trial or difficulty and I cry out in pain for God to stop it, to heal my wound, to make it all better. I grip my bleeding, painful heart and scream that I can’t handle the pain. I plead with Him to help me, ,to remove the pain, and to wipe away my tears. And yet, when He comes to me with healing hands, I shrink back from what He is doing, afraid of any more sting and unwilling to have Him touch my open wound. The pain has blinded me. I don’t realize that He is working and purifying my life. I don’t feel His touch as tender because I can’t get my mind off the sting. I don’t see that He is preventing the infection of sin and worldliness because I only feel the fresh pain of the open wound or the tweezers removing the splinter.

Pain is purifying. It removes the dross. It cleanses away the weakness. It makes us stronger. It is not pleasant and I hate the feel of it. Sometimes I shrink away from what I know He must do in order to restore wholeness and holiness to my life, because it just hurts so much. But I must let the Great Physician work. He can see the wound with eyes that grasp the whole picture, not just the moment of pain. He knows the best medicine, and His skillful hands perform surgery with the highest success rating.  He is using this pain for my good.

Even in my pain, I must trust Him to touch. He can heal. He can hold me and bear the pain with me. He knows best.

The Scarlet Worm

As I came to verse 6 in my study of Psalm 22, I was very excited to find a parallel to Christ and the cross.  It seemed especially poignant to me as I studied tonight, on this eve of Resurrection Day. 

Psalm 22:6, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”

We know that much of Psalm 22 is prophetic to Christ and His suffering on the cross.  Some scholars say He was meditating on Psalm 22 as He suffered for our sin, and that is why He quotes from it on the cross.  I think this is certainly a possibility! 

While Jesus may be calling Himself a worm to signify the low point to which He had stooped, lower even than becoming a man, this worm has a definite picture for us!  The Hebrew word used here for worm is not the primary word for “worm” in the Old Testament.  In fact, it is usually translated scarlet, because this female worm was crushed to form a scarlet dye.   The reference to “worm” indicating specifically the female of a certain species of worm. This description from Henry Morris may help to explain why:

When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might ‘bring many sons unto glory’ (Heb. 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psalm 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ. (cf. Isaiah 1:18)” (Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p.73)

Truly this is a great picture/parallel of Christ shedding His crimson blood to wash our sins away!

Isaiah 1:18 – Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Don’t Be Content

A recent post on another “Christian” blog has had me thinking for a few days.  The author was making the point that Jesus found her where she was – a single mom, trying to finish college, hoping her skinny jeans would still fit, and trying not to have hurt feelings when all of her friends are dating and she isn’t.

I don’t want to disagree with the fact that Jesus came to her where she was.  That’s what He does – He meets us where we are, in all of our sin and rags, and He offers us an exchange.  His riches and life for our sin and shame.  The beauty of the Gospel is that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.  It doesn’t matter if you’re 5 or 60.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve been raised in a Christian home, or if you’ve been an alcoholic.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve lived a clean life, or messed up over and over again – Jesus offers the same free gift of salvation by grace through faith to each one of us.

However, we must not be content to stay in that spot where Jesus found us.  He never intended to leave us there.  He saved us to give us something better.  To move us on.  To make us like Him.

Psalm 40:2  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

He comes to us in our pit of sin & despair, our lack of faith, and stubborn rebellion. But He moves us out of the dirt and puts our feet on the solid Rock.

Ephesians 2:1-5  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. {desires: Gr. wills}  4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Jesus finds us in our trespasses and sins, but by His love He offers us mercy and grace.  He makes us alive and saves us, so that He can complete His work in our life (vs.10).

I don’t want to be content with the level of spirituality I have now.  I don’t want to just be happy that Jesus came and met me where I am.  I don’t want to “waste” His grace by not allowing it to complete the work of transforming into the likeness of Christ.  I want to keep on the ascending plane. 

Jesus doesn’t want to leave me or you in the same wrong choices and pathway that may have led to a life of single parenting in the first place.  Jesus doesn’t want us to stay in our skinny jeans. He wants to make us into modest ladies who are adorned by their inner spirit and not the clothes that they choose. He doesn’t want me to long for something that He has chosen to give to someone else.  He wants me to find His will for my life and “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

Scrub the Grout

Last week I finally took the time to scrub the grout and tiles in my bathtub/shower area.  It’s a job I should do more often, but I dislike it so I usually put it off.  I should tell you that we live in a house built in 1905.  We have a dumbwaiter in our bathtub.  Thing are not very modern or up-to-date, including the tiling and bathtub.  There are stains and molds that I just can’t scrub away, no matter how long or hard I try, or what type of cleanser I use.  And so, even when it is really clean it still looks dirty.  For this reason, I often don’t bother to scrub it very well at all.  But I knew it had a been a while, and so I decided to tackle the job – one of the most unpleasant parts about homemaking, right up there with changing a crib sheet.

As I was scrubbing I thought about how the tiles and grout are much like my own life.  Sometimes I get so tired of falling, of getting tripped up by the same sin or temptation, that I just decide to not try anymore.  Or I relax my standards too many times thinking “it’s just this once” and then I find myself in a habit of sin.

My mornings and quiet times with God have been like this summer.  I don’t like to admit it, but I have been…not diligent.  I stayed up too late.  I slept in.  I had an appointment.  I wanted to get to the park before it was too hot.  So I skipped my quiet time.  Or I put it off.  I didn’t make it a priority.  And before I knew it, the grout of my day – that which is holding all of the tiles in place – was dirty and disgusting.  I had a bad habit.  Now I have to try to break it.

I noticed little bits of dirt and “soap scum” creeping into others areas too.  I didn’t scrub them away fast enough, and before I knew it they had built up.  Now they will be harder to scrub off.  Things like watching movies at night.  We don’t watch anything even close to “bad.”  Try black and white reruns of McHales Navy or the Andy Griffith Show.  But they leave my head spinning when it’s time for bed, and then I don’t rest well.  I fare much better when I read part of a book before bed.  Something to encourage me, challenge me, help me to understand more about Christlikeness or how to parent my children in a godly fashion.

Song of Solomon 2:15 says it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine.  Those small things that we let slide, thinking they are no big deal.  But then they turn into really big deals.  So quickly and easily.

I don’t have kids in school, but I grateful for summer and all of its activities coming to a close so that I have no excuse but to get back on track.  To reform my morning habits and refocus my quiet times.  To evaluate my habits and my leisure times and make sure they are glorifying God.

How about you?  Do you need to scrub any grout in your life?

Just a Note on “Profanity”

I’ve been bothered a little bit lately by several people referring to God or His work in “everyday” type terminology.  The Bible calls this “profane”, that is, taking what is holy and making it common or base.

God is not common, nor base.  He is holy.  He is God.  He is separate from us and the world.

One writer referred to the new church her husband was planting and said that “this is God’s gig.”  I have often heard “God is my co-pilot” or people calling Him “Dad.”  I just think those terminologies are lowering God from who He is. 

God doesn’t have a “gig.”  He has a church, and it is amazing beyond anything that we could conceive or do.  We are privileged to be a part of it.  God isn’t my co-pilot – He is to be my pilot.  My Shepherd.  My Guide.  He doesn’t help me do things, He does them through me.  And while one of God’s names is Abba Father which could be translated as “Daddy,” I think that we should refrain from always viewing Him in that common of a relationship.  Sometimes it is very comforting to realize that God is as close as a Daddy would be, but He is so much more than that.

{I also realize that while Jesus Christ was on earth, He was made like man in every aspect, so that He can say He bore our infirmities.  There is nothing that I can experience with which He cannot empathize.  He has felt and experienced it all.  So He is like us in some respects, and that can also be a comforting fact.}

As I was meditating on this, the thought occurred to me that when we profane God by lowering Him to a common level, we are trying to make Him seem just like us.  We are trying to put God into our terms.  To confine Him in our box. 

Yet as an eternal being, God is beyond us, beyond what we can describe or define or package up.  God is trying to conform us into His image.  He is trying to make us like Himself.  Let’s stop trying to make Him seem more like us, and concentrate on becoming more like Him.

You in Christ and Christ in You

I think that if I condensed my spiritual year down to one lesson, it is that I have been learning to walk in the Spirit.  I grew up in church and I have heard preaching on this subject all my life, but I don’t think I ever really understood it.  The preacher always made it seem unattainable, hard to understand, maybe even “mystical”.  Like it was just this concept out there that no one could explain.

It is evident to me that my pastor here in Brooklyn walks in the Spirit on a daily basis.  He has been preaching on this topic, and victory, and union in Christ {they are all woven together} a lot.  I feel like things are clicking – making sense.  I am still learning, but I have seen the difference in my life when I walk in the Spirit.  And I have understood what I was doing, and when I was not doing it.

Yesterday in our Bible Study Pastor gave two Old Testament illustrations of “You in Christ” and “Christ in You.”  They helped to clarify the picture for me even further.

In Exodus 15:22-26 the children of Israel come to the bitter waters of Marah, after marching in the wilderness for three days and being in desperate need of water.  This pictures for us salvation – how we come to be in Christ. The waters were not drinkable and held only the prospect of certain death.  Everyone was thirsty.  Everyone would die without water.  Sin in a universal problem – just as the lack of water affected all of the Israelites.  But then the Lord showed Moses a tree which made the water sweet.  This is  picture of salvation.

The first tree was in the Garden of Eden, and when Adam chose to eat of it it brought sin and death. The second tree was called Calvary.  It is the tree of a second choice, and it brings life as salvation places us in Christ.

2 Kings 2:19-22 illustrates the Christ in You principle.  Shortly after Elijah’s translation to heaven, Elisha was brought to a city which appeared to be pleasant.  It looked good from the outside, but poor, stagnant, polluted water prevented the land from bringing a crop to harvest.  It was barren.  This city is a picture of the carnal Christian.  Everything looks fine.  They put on a great show at church. But inwardly they are living for self & sin, not walking in the victory provided by the Spirit.  There is nothing that says to others, “Christ lives in me.”

The burden of this city became so intolerable that they confessed their barren situation to the prophet.  They were moved to action.  Elisha threw salt in at the source of the water, and it was healed so that the city could be fruitful.  This is a picture of the life of Christ in me & you. 

Every believer has spiritual water in him.  But sometimes through self & sin our water becomes polluted.  We need to go to the Source of our water to be healed, so that we are restored to life-giving water.  The life of the Risen Christ within us heals the barrenness of the saint.  If we get “salt” in our “water” then the rivers of living water will flow to all of our other relationships.  When we have problems with “horizontal” relationships it is because we have not been pouring into our “vertical” or spiritual relationship. In reality, the only thing which can heal all other relationships is Christ in us.

In the first picture, the Tree heals the bitterness of sin. 

In the second picture, the life of the Risen Christ heals the barrenness of the saint.

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive…”  {John 7:38-39}

How are your waters today?

Lessons from the Sun

I use cloth diapers, and I like to hang them out on the clothesline to dry.  The sun’s rays are a natural way to kill bacteria, and bleach out any stains that there may be.  Recently, I was hanging the diapers out on the line and Elaine (2 years old) was “helping” me.  To answer her questions, I tried to make things as simple as possible.

“We put the diapers outside so the sun can make them all clean and white.”  That answer was good enough for Elaine!  As she repeated the words I had just said (she always repeats what we say), I was reminded of a simple but profound truth.  Something I already knew before.  Something I need to practice on a daily basis.

Just as the sun bleaches my diapers, killing the bad bacteria, and leaving them sparkling white, so the Son of God washes my heart.  He forgives and removes the sin, making me white as snow.

1 John 1:7-9  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 51:7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

I must come to the Son and let Him cleanse me and wash me from my sin.  I must do it every time I sin.  If I am to be a vessel fit for the Master’s use, I must be clean and sin-free.

2 Timothy 2:20-21  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.  21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.