MIRACLE RUB

Yesterday when i reached the end of my ride, i hopped off my bike and weaved my way through some trees to take a snapshot of my destination, a lake.  By the time i returned to my bike, my shirt, forearms and hands were all smeared with sap.  The trees, i guess, we’re in distress, and so was i, because everything i touched became gooey.  i carefully pocketed my phone and started heading back downhill, using only my pinky fingers to brake because the rest of my hands were sticky.
 
Fortunately, there was a campground nearby and its general store had rubbing alcohol, which i used to clear the sap off of myself and my bike.  The owner of the store had no idea rubbing alcohol worked that way, but maybe his wife did, because she did their ordering and had obviously chosen to stock it, even though it was a small store without a lot of stuff.
 
i was thinking about that owner today as i pondered my walk with God.  How often have i had the stuff i needed to get out of a jam, but not know what it’s purpose was or how i could apply it to move forward!  God began preparing me to think about that three days ago, when i drove seven hours roundtrip to get a faucet for a kitchen sink.  By the time i finally returned with the faucet, i was wreck.
 
i could point to a lot of things that wore on me that day, but when i crawled into bed Holy Spirit convicted me that my root problem was that i had pretty much driven the whole way by myself, rather than letting Jesus take the wheel.  Oh, i sang along to some praise songs i listened to on the way, but that’s not the same as surrendering to Him.  When i’m fully surrendered and abiding in Him driving isn’t a battle, no matter how bad the traffic is or how annoying the drivers might be.  When i’m fully abiding in Jesus i don’t get offended when other drivers act poorly, and i act kindly toward them no matter what they do to me, just like Jesus does.  So for the last couple of days i’ve been praying off and on, over and over, “Jesus, take the wheel!  Please help me fully abide in You.  i need to depend upon You, not only when i’m driving but for everything i’m doing every day!”
 
This morning God answered my prayer through a verse He’d already put on my calendar for today.
 
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:30-31
 
But i had no idea that God was helping me abide when i first read this verse.  “Say what?” was my first reaction.  “How does waiting on the Lord make me soar?”
 
Holy Spirit answered my question by reminding me of something Jesus had said to Martha, when she was grieving over the death of her brother Lazarus.
 
“I am the resurrection and the life.”  John 11:25
 
A lot of people look down on Martha because she seemed more inclined to work for Jesus than hang with Him.  But most of us are more like her than we’d like to admit.  Take me for example; i find religious tasks like reading my Bible, going to church and praying for people more easy to pull off than simply hanging with Jesus (or abiding in Him, which is the Biblical term for hanging).  i can usually pull off some measure of abiding while His Spirit and i are doing a task together, but when not much is happening, i act like a stray dog and start to wander.  Or if i get too focused on a nonreligious task, like finding a faucet, i tend to fall into “get ‘er done” mode and leave Jesus in the dust.
 
So like i said, Martha and i have a lot in common.  But that actually encourages me, because Jesus knew that Martha had similar tendencies - that she could disengage from Him even while He was standing right there looking at her, speaking to Her and preparing to do something amazing for her.  Even though she wasn’t anything like her sister Mary, Jesus didn’t compare her or judge her.  He knew what Martha needed and He helped her lay hold of it.
 
“If you believe,” He said, “you will see the glory of God.”  John 11:40
 
A lot of people saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, but only some of them saw the glory of God.  Jesus is the glory of God.  When people witness a miracle, they tend to focus on the work instead of the worker.  Jesus didn’t want Martha to get distracted by the miracle he was about to work, so He called her to believe what He’d already said, that He was the resurrection and the life.
 
When her brother Lazarus walked out of his tomb, he undoubtedly saw Jesus in an entirely new light.  Jesus wasn’t just some miracle-working shaman; Jesus was the reason Lazarus was alive!  Jesus truly was his resurrection and life!  Apart from Jesus he was dead but through Jesus He was alive!
 
And that was also true for Martha, even though she hadn’t physically died.  Without Jesus she was spiritually dead, yet Jesus was working to become the source and fulfillment of her life.  To the extent she believed it, she would experience it.  For that’s what Jesus came to do: not only resurrect her brother’s body or resurrect His own body, but resurrect Himself in her!
 
The life Jesus offered Martha was amazing, way beyond anything the world could offer or dream up.  But it’s a resurrected life and there’s no resurrection without death.  If Martha did the dying, Jesus would do the living.  The more Martha gave up her old task-centered life, the more that Jesus would become the center of her new Spirit-filled life.
 
And that’s what i also needed to realize today, to grasp how waiting on the Lord could make my Spirit-man soar.
 
i don’t like waiting because it crucifies my flesh.  Whenever i have to wait, i start getting fidgety, and the more i have to wait the more anxious i become.  i need patience, which my fleshly man doesn’t have.  To find patience, i must set aside whatever i’m longing for and turn to Jesus.  In Him i have all the patience i need. And not just patience, but love, joy, peace and all the other fruits of His Spirit!  Those aren’t just benefits of my abiding in Him; they’re all part of how Jesus lives in me.  He doesn’t just give me love, joy, peace and patience; He Himself is divine love, joy, peace and patience, incarnate in me!
 
But Jesus isn’t only heaven incarnate; He’s also the Christ.  For He says
 
Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.  Matthew 16:24-25
 
So the price of soaring with Him on wings like eagles is denying myself and exchanging my agenda for His.  He offers enormous blessing, but in His timing through His way, which usually involves finding my love, joy, peace and patience - indeed my entire life - in Him, instead of my circumstances.
 
i was pondering that today as i was preparing to cross a swollen stream.  That particular stream has several channels, and i can usually get across all of them by walking across logs, stepping on rocks or hopping from bank to bank without getting my feet wet.  Karen and i tried to cross the same stream three weeks ago but had to turn back because there was way too much water.  But now, because virtually all the snow had melted, i thought the spring runoff would have subsided.  But the stream was still raging!  There were obviously hidden storehouses God was still releasing, beyond the snowmelt.  So i had to give up my desire for dry feet to follow Jesus and reach my destination.
 
As i waded through the stream in my hiking boots, i noted that although the water was pristine, some of the rocks were slimy, and i saw that as a metaphor for walking with the Lord.  i can either hang onto my desires (in this case, for dry feet) and abandon Him, or surrender my desires and abide in Him.  Surrender is way better because His heart is so pristine, but i’m still going to end up wading through some slime.  It feels really personal, and if the enemy gets involved it can sometimes feel downright traumatic, but it’s really only my flesh that He is circumcising.  The things He is cutting off of me (in this case, my attachment to comfort) lightens my load and enables me to soar!
 
Which brings me back to the rubbing alcohol that works wonders.  There’s only a couple ways it’s going to do you any good.  Either you spend many years and lots of trial and error finding out that rubbing alcohol melts sap, or you learn that secret from someone else.
 
Waiting on the Lord is like that.  Either you spend many years and lots of trial and error learning that waiting actually makes your spirit soar, or you learn it from someone else.  Or read it in the Bible.  However you end up learning about it, do you actually believe it?  Or do you have to try it for yourself before you actually acknowledge that waiting on God isn’t just wishful thinking, but actually works?
 
If you’re like me and have to try things for yourself, you’ll probably discover that it takes lots and lots of waiting before your Spirit-man or woman finally becomes light enough to soar, even in your dreams.  But not to worry, as we learn to trust Jesus, He becomes our patience, as well as our resurrection and life.  After all, it’s not really any particular thing we’re waiting for Him to do; it’s just tapping into Who He already is in us.  Or will soon become, as we let Him rub Himself all the way into us, in the most miraculous of ways, as the Christ.