Just Get Me To Jesus!
I have been struggling recently. A real crisis of faith. Relational discord in my family has really been weighing on me. I’m working so hard Jesus! Why isn’t anything changing?!?! Why won’t You DO something?!?!
Kept trying to connect with Jesus, but couldn’t do it. He felt distant, unrelatable, unreliable, unreal…Has all of this hard work been for nothing? Is it real?
Talked to a friend who did a good job of attuning for a minute or so. But that only could be sustained for a moment before they began to “help”. Suggest ideas, “fix”, offer counsel, instruct, theologize…That sure didn’t help…
Talked to another friend who couldn’t even begin to attune but instead turned the focus onto themselves. “You think you got it bad? Let me tell you what I had happen to me…” That definitely didn’t help.
Then I talked to a friend who simply asked if I would be willing to take a minute and look for Jesus with me. I sure didn’t feel like doing that in the moment. “No thanks, I’d rather just wallow here in my pit of miry clay.”
But I tried…At first I saw Jesus standing across the room. As I looked at Him, I noticed His arms crossed, fingers tapping, impatient look on His face…That was definitely not Jesus. But probably how I expected Him to look and act towards me.
So, true Lord Jesus, where are You with me here? He was standing behind me. Hand on my shoulder. I noticed that He had this incredible look on His face that combined peace, compassion, understanding, care, concern, and acceptance. He seemed pleased to be there with me. He seemed pleased with me?…How could that be?
Then I noticed how it felt to have His hand on my shoulder. Earlier I had felt His hand on my shoulder, but it felt like the hand was pushing / holding me down. I realized in this moment that His hand was actually holding me up. He was lifting me up. Later on I thought of Psalm 40. “He lifted me up out of the pit, out of the miry clay.” It felt like He was lifting my feet off of the ground. I had been plodding along. Heavy. Weighed down. When I saw and felt Him lifting me, I felt lighter. The heavy load I had been carrying was less.
The moral of the story is, friends, when someone in your life is down, your words aren’t the answer. The best thing you can do for them is to get them to the true Lord Jesus and let Him bring the help. He knows exactly what they need!