Bow Your Knees

Today… is a new day. As I sit here in a coffee shop, my heart burns to know my Father more, to see something new in Him. Or, rather, to be able to express what it is He has been doing in my soul. So many things have brought encouragement to my heart over the last few days, not the least of which have been His Word and fellowship with believers. It always seems like a wasted opportunity when God works in my heart and I feel like I am unable to express what exactly it is He has been doing. The past few days have been calm in the midst of a storm. They have been reassuring, though so many situations and circumstances have been overwhelming. I wonder why it is that I can’t just say, I’m doing great! when people ask me how I’m doing. My mind is still stuck in the worldly way of thinking—thinking that the circumstances of the flesh hold more weight than those of the spirit. I remember talking about this with my roommate Laura last semester at Bible college—about this—dare I say need—humans feel to give the greater priority to the flesh. And I guess that makes sense—the Bible says just as much, after all. Romans alone addresses the topic of flesh versus spirit in great depth. And yet, my soul yearns. My soul yearns to be heard first, to be addressed first and treated as the more important element it is. Not to say that the flesh isn’t important; but rather, that we must first listen to the desires of our (redeemed) souls before we can listen to those of the body. That, in fact, the soul must be the means by which we address the flesh, and not the other way around. Maybe that is why this verse in Ephesians 3 has been rocking my world lately. Paul writes, “For this reason I bow my knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Syntactically (grammatically?) speaking, the “for this reason” could refer to either what Paul has just written or what he is about to write. But either way, I think the Christian today can take that text and apply it to his or her life. What is your reason? In light of what do you need to bow your knees to God? Is it a relationship in which you’re struggling to love? Is it a class that you’re trying to pass, or a test that you feel hopeless studying for? Is it bitterness and hurt from your past that still haunts you today? Is it anxiety and/or uncertainty about the future? For this reason—because of the very thing that is weighing you down—you are called to bow your knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If our flesh were to react first, we would do anything but stop and bow our knees—we would be busy trying to love, trying to help, trying to fix the problems that we are in. But we live not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. And the Holy Spirit says to us, “I see what you are going through. I see what you are struggling in. But I care for you. You can come to Me and I will give you rest from Your burdens. I see that you think your life is spiraling out of control. But, in reality, I know the plans I have for you, and these circumstances are not outside of them, for I am working all things together for Your good.” As Oswald Chambers wrote, “Paul says that [the love of God] is the reason we are more than conquerors in all these things [i.e. trials], super-victors, with a joy we would not have but for the very things which look as if they are going to overwhelm us.” What a way to look at it! The flesh sees the waves of trial bearing down on it, and despairs. But the soul—the soul sees the waves as a springboard by which to get nearer to the Father. I can’t explain how it works, other than to use the image employed by Oswald Chambers. It is the difference between an individual in the waves of an ocean with and without a board. Those without the board, without a firm surface to stand upon, will sink underneath the load of the wave. But those with the board, with a firm surface to stand upon, will rise above the wave, and rather than it being a burden, that wave will become a catalyst for exhilaration. In the same way, the Word of God and its promises through the blood of Christ to the believer becomes a board upon which we can stand during the waves of trial. Somehow, the Word transforms our experiences from natural into supernatural ones, and changes the results from disastrous to uplifting, from destructive to life-building. It still amazes me, that the very same situation can be so different depending on what you’re standing on. But Jesus changes everything without changing anything, as Jeff Stewart said. I think I’m finally understanding how it is we can rejoice in our sufferings. It seems so contrary to nature, and I suppose that is because it is contrary to nature—to human, fleshly nature at least. But what is most contrary to the flesh is exactly what we should seek in the Spirit. My mind still doesn’t want to wrap around the concept, but that is why it is according to faith ☺ This isn’t something that can be understood by the logic of the human mind—it must be seen and accepted and believed according to spiritual eyes. I pray that if you are in the midst of trial or suffering, that God would open the eyes of your spiritual understanding to see that His grip on you is tighter and stronger than the hold of any other circumstance, and that He will never let you fall. He does not grow weary or faint, and it in the very circumstances that weary and tire you that He meets you and lifts you up on wings as eagles. Praise God for His all-sufficient, all-encompassing grace!