My sweet friend, Rhonda, and I once attended a community seminar on healthy eating for the digestive system. The zealous woman in charge (bless her heart) was passionate about her subject. Anytime she made a statement she wanted us to absorb, she would suddenly stop, gaze above our heads and say with a tinge of awe at her own sagacity, "Let's be with that a minute." Silence. Crickets chirp. Just as suddenly, she resumed her animated speech on fiber and regularity.
We still say "Let's be with that a minute," when topics become awkward or uncomfortable, or when we're not sure how to respond to what other people (bless their hearts) say that makes no sense to us.
God, passionate about His Son, basically said, "Let's be with that a minute" to Peter, James and John after they witnessed Jesus' transfiguration on top of a mountain. Peter, stunned by seeing Jesus in His glory and talking with Elijah and Moses (didn't they die?) began babbling about building three tabernacles. God stilled Peter's mouth and hands by enveloping the group in a bright cloud: "This is my Son, Whom I have chosen; listen to Him." (Luke 9:35) Then, according to Luke, they took more than a minute to process this revelation: "The next day, when they came down from the mountain, . . ." (Luke 9:37).
Reading the print on Bible page doesn't let the Word sink in deep where we need it. Repeating prayers doesn't do it either. However, God's Word transforms our hearts and transfigures our lives when we take time to open ourselves and fully absorb His revelation and His voice. Jesus and the three disciples were praying when heaven opened; they were prepared and in the right posture. They stayed put to process God's Words and the hope of resurrection they saw in Elijah and Moses briefly appearing on earth. Peter later wrote:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you." 1 Peter 1:3-4
Ah, Peter, you got it! Let's be with that a minute.
"Father, our culture teaches us to rush and do and we burn out quickly. Guide our prayers to prepare our hearts and minds for Your revelations. Still and shush us to listen to Your Voice and to process what You're teaching us.Sometimes, we run down the mountain with a little knowledge and do more harm than good. Transform and renew our minds, hearts and mouths. May we swim upstream and refuse to be swept away by the rush of bits and pieces of Truth.
In the Name of Jesus, Who prayed and Who fully pleases His Father.
Picture the fishermen disciples in their fishing boat facing a strength-gaining storm. They've used up all their ideas, their knowledge, their prowess, their skill to solve the problem, but even 2,000 years later we don't know how to stop a storm. Then lightning reveals a figure walking calmly toward them on the water. Jesus.
Feel the heat as Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego are hustled closer to the fiery furnace and see soldiers ahead of them fall dead from the intensity of the blaze. A quick, hard push and the flames lick impotently at their tender flesh. And Who stands waiting for them? God In Flesh - the Fourth Man in the fiery furnace - Jesus.
Nowhere in Scripture does it say "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Nor was Christ a proponent of "self-made men." These ideas drip off proud human tongues. God installs the furnaces, throws down challenges and commissions us to helpless positions for one reason: to reveal Himself as our shelter, our asbestos, our Hope, our Friend and our God.
Paul learned to see his weakness as a God-gift and found Christ walking with him in his own storms and furnaces.
Notice the phrase "the gift of a handicap."
Because of the extravagance of those revelations,
and so I wouldn’t get a big head,
I was given the gift of a handicap
to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.
Satan’s angel did his best to get me down;
what he in fact did was push me to my knees.
No danger then of walking around high and mighty!
At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it.
Three times I did that, and then He told me,
'My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.'
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.
I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.
It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.
Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer,
these limitations that cut me down to size—
abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.
I just let Christ take over!
And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (The Message - italics are mine)
I can't. You can't. We all can't.
God can.
When it's all too much, too big, too intense, too rocky, too sticky, too uncertain - remember our weaknesses are Grace-gifts. Praise God, He's about to reveal Himself through our humble obedience.
Lord, help us stop focusing on our handicaps, comparing our strengths, and expecting ourselves to be anything but limited humans. You designed us to be needy and weak so we would run to You. May we be like the three who faced the furnace, allowing You to reveal Yourself through our obedience. Guide us not to turn molehills into mountains (and many of our "crises" are molehills) but help us stand down as You move the mountains.
In the Name of Jesus Who revealed Your Glory through His obedience
