Hmmmmmmmmmm! What have I learned this week? Where have I seen and experienced God? What meaningful encounter has sat with me all week and caused me to reflect on things of eternal value? Deep questions that cause me to slow down and consider all that has occurred and the meaning it holds for me. I guess if I were to write about one thing from my week I would write about the Scriptures I read over the last few days. For devotion time, I have been reading from the One Year Chronological Bible and two stories have lingered with me as the week has drawn to a close.
Did you know several chapters in the Gospel talk about Jesus going up on a hill or mountainside and sitting down? He sat down! That just blows me away! I know, I know, I know, we all sit down. Being a chaplain though, I have learned the special significance of that act, drawing up a chair at the bedside of a patient or sitting down in the family room with a family member who is caring for their loved one who is dying. Sitting down is significant because the act of it makes a powerful statement. Have you ever gone somewhere with your spouse, and you're on a time crunch! There's a lot to do that day and not enough time to do it! So you get to the mall, the one place you dread going on the weekend because you know it is crazy busy. There are crowds everywhere and as you short-cut through the food court you both see someone you know. The plan is to say "hi/bye" as quickly as possible, after all, you have somewhere to be! But then....they begin talking and you know! There's no way to stop it! There he goes, your husband has pulled out the chair and sat down!!!!!! You may as well join him because you know the message he just gave, "We have time." That's what Jesus did everywhere he went, throughout his ministry, he is sitting down with someone. There was nothing more important to him than being present with those around him!
The other thing I noticed in the Scripture passages this week was about the blind man brought to him for healing. Before Jesus healed him, he took him by the hand and led him out of the village (Mt.16). Jesus could have just opened his eyes, instead...he took the blind man by the hand and walked with him, out of the village! What a powerful picture I found here too!!!!! Jesus held his hand and walked with him! How many times has God done that with me? To many to count to be sure!!!!! Even now, I see my current situation and know that it is God who has taken my hand and is walking me out of the mindsets I have lived with for so long, out of the village in which I have lived blind (so to speak). I rejoice in the man's healing! I am excited at the fact Jesus led him! But what really touches me is what I find to be consistently present in each of the Gospels when they describe Jesus...His most powerful ministry was the ministry of presence!
Wasn't that what salvation was about? Emmanual, God with us! Isn't that what is so overwhelming? There is someone NEVER LEAVES ME, He never abandons me! He is always WITH ME! While the Scriptures never say, "God inhabits the praises of His people," they do say, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel" (Ps.22:3). The word "inhabits" is significant because it comes from a Hebrew root word, Yashab, which means "to sit down". God dwelling in a location, in the Old Testament Hebrew, was the same as God sitting down. It meant He had the time and had taken up residence. The New Testament goes on with the same thing when Paul writes to the Ephesian church, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith..." (Eph.3:17) God took a seat in the center of my heart on the day I said YES!!!!! And He's never left!
On a side note...did you notice the first thing the blind man saw were people? What is significant about that you ask? When Jesus took a seat in me, he opened my eyes to notice the hurting people around me. I saw them as they really were, in pain, lost, confused, tormented, angry, bitter, and so much more! As I reflect back over my week, I can't help but see Jesus sitting in the center of it all, from the little old lady who needed to find family, to the doctor providing my own care! As I reflect back over my week, I can't help but feel my hand still in His, as He continues to lead me out of the village that I might see more clearly the authentic people around me, even as He sees them. I am so thankful for a God who has time to be "present" with me!!!!!
