September 17, 2010 - Hebrews 12:12,13 - Courage

"Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed."

God is not a marionette master. He will not lift our drooping hands for us. We need to find, somewhere deep in our spirits, the will to lift our hands and reach for help. When one is sunk in the mire, usually of our own doing, it is not easy to put out a hand and ask for help. Reaching the bottom of our misery is the first step towards climbing out of the pit.

I find it interesting that the first step towards standing upright is to fall to our knees first. Isn't that what happens when we are babies? We don't usually just stand up and start walking. No, we have to crawl first, or scoot on our bellies. Then we find a sturdy table or chair or person, and hoist ourselves up. Then we take those first little steps, and before you know it, we're off and running and forget how to crawl.

I think maybe it's that way in our spiritual life too. I think maybe we get cocky. We're solid Bible readers. We attend church every Sunday. We go to Evening Prayer, or Bible study. We may give alms to the homeless guy on the corner, or serve at the soup kitchen and feel pretty darn good about ourselves. But somewhere in there, we forget how to crawl. We forget to go back to the beginning. We find ourselves stuck in the mire and wonder just how in the heck we got there, and we have to put out our own drooping hands and reach for help. We have to drop to our knees so that we can rise again with new determination. We have to realize that what is lame cannot be healed unless we recognize that we have become lame.

The good news is that no matter how far down in the pit we have fallen, God is right there, with His hand out, just waiting for us to lift our dropping hands and grasp His. If God has seemed very far away, it is not because He has moved, but because we have put blinders on our own eyes and refused to see that He is closer than the skin that covers our innards.

So, today, if you are in the bottom of the pit, open your eyes and see that God is waiting for you to reach out your hand. God is waiting to help you see the straight path before you. God is wanting to heal your lameness and make you whole once more.

Blessings, Phoenix