Sacred Mundane: The Blog

But they were filled with fury.

Luke 6:11

I can’t imagine going through life with only one hand. Every day both hands are full, wiping counters, noses and bottoms, writing and folding and creating and holding. I can’t imagine doing life one-handed.

But that’s exactly what the man in Luke 6 had done. Lived one-handed. His other hand was withered. But then one glorious Saturday enters a synagogue and finds Jesus. Jesus catches his eyes and holds his gaze intently. Then speaks:

“Come and stand here.”  

The man, perhaps startled, goes and stands by Jesus. Jesus says something to the people around, then turns again to the man.

“Stretch out your hand.” And the man did so, and his hand was restored.

Wonderful! What great news! A handicapped man has just been physical healed, miraculously healed! Let’s celebrate, we’ve just witnessed God Himself revealed in the natural world. We’ve just seen God’s power. Everyone is cheering!

Not everyone. The very next line reads:

“But they were filled with fury…”

Who?

The scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees had been watching the whole scene unfold. They knew what day it was–the Sabbath–and they knew that Jesus’ miracle was deliberate. They were furious.

Why? Because Jesus’ miracle interfered with their already-established way of life. Jesus’ intervention on behalf of this man wounded their egos and crushed their pride. It showed that God was doing something that they were not part of. All that they found their worth and value in — honoring the Sabbath and keeping the Law — was blown away like dust as Jesus breathed healing life into this man.

Silly Pharisees, we say.

Oops, that’s us. 

Let’s paint it in a nice fictitious way. Sarah and Kelly both have small groups. Both are excited to serve God and see Him move powerfully. Kelly puts the time in week after week, praying and faithfully serving, but her group remains small. As the weeks go on, Sarah’s group grows and grows. More and more women keep coming. They are seeing God move in amazing ways. Women’s marriages are healed, addictions are being broken, a few unbelievers show up and get saved! It’s amazing. Hallelujah! Let’s celebrate the work of God! Everyone’s cheering!

Is Kelly cheering?

No. Kelly is furious. Oh not outwardly, of course not. She can’t believe the thoughts she’s having, like a jealous middle-schooler. But deep down, everytime she hears another miraculous Jesus-encounter from Sarah’s group, deep down she’s furious.

Have you ever been there? (of course not!)

Another church is blessed. Or, God speaks powerfully through a sermon, everyone is amazed at the work of God, but you feel like the sermon was directed right at you, pointing you out, and you’re furious. 

God’s miraculous work is cause for rejoice, but sadly, I have sometimes seen God’s hand working and deep down felt a little furious because it interfered with my already-established way of life. Or it showed that God was moving and I wasn’t in the middle of it. Or His activity wounded my ego or crushed my pride.

Sadly, we can actually find ourselves furious at the miraculous work of God. 

The children’s song comes to mind, “I don’t want to be a Pharisee…”

I don’t want to be a Pharisee.  I don’t think you do either.

Let’s ask God to give us hearts free from the burden of prideful religion. Hearts so genuinely caught up in God’s glory that we truly rejoice whenever we see Him lift up. Hearts genuinely caught up in loving others that we truly rejoice whenever we see them benefit.

Cheering a sister on when her withered hand is healed. Or when her kid gets the scholarship instead of yours. Or when she loses 10 lbs. and you don’t. Or when her Bible study flourishes. Or when she gets promoted.

When God moves, however it may be …

let’s just cheer.

{Thanks, sisters (and brothers!), for reading.}

I recently had a victory. Can I get a Halelujah!? And it reminded me of this …

—

Satan attacks at our broken places.

Usually the enemy doesn’t even use bad things necessarily to attack or tempt me.  He’s too smart for that.  What he uses are subtle situations that take advantage of some weak place.  A broken place.

Think of an enemy seeking to conquer a walled city. Of course the plan of attack would be to break in wherever the wall is broken, where it is weak, where the coverage isn’t great. Wherever there is a crack of brokenness, the enemy will press on that place to seek to conquer.

I recently experienced one of these attacks. Again, it was not a huge deal, or even a bad thing. But it so triggered an emotional response that I realized, “I have a broken place.”

I had a place in my heart that had somehow believed a lie, or had not been made whole by God’s work and love, and had therefore been allowed to remain in a state of brokenness, a state of weakness.  Like that wall. A place of vulnerability to attack.

A broken place is somewhere in our hearts that God has not yet made whole.

This is why at times we can face the fiercest opposition and remain absolutely confident, cool, joyful, steadfast. And then at other times the smallest of circumstances can send us into a heap of tears, cowering, ready to abandon whatever mission God has called us to carry out.  We’re ready to quit, because the enemy has discovered our broken place.

But there is good news.

Everything Satan means for harm, God means for good.

Everything.

That means that when Satan discovers the broken place, and calls forth an all-out attack on that vulnerable spot, we can rejoice because he’s just done us a favor–he’s shown us the area that God wants to rebuild.

Last night as I was sharing with Jeff my struggle, I came to a point in my story and, almost to my surprise, my broken cracked with such emotion that I could not speak.  And that is the most helpful revelation of all, because it reveals exactly where the broken spot is located.

That crack in my voice revealed the crack in my heart.

And that crack in my heart is exactly what God wants to make whole. Where He wants to touch. Where He wants to bring His soothing, healing, balm. To heal. To restore.

That is hope. And hope never disappoints.

Nothing is more satisfying than seeing an attack turned on its head and used for our good.  For God’s good. That is victory, girls.

Let’s take our broken places to God.  He wants to make them whole.

—

My “broken place” is usually the lie that “I’m not good at parenting.” There. I said it. But recently Satan wanted to come knocking on my door and drag me into the gutter with it. Guess what? I didn’t go down! God’s grace is changing us and making us new. We CAN experience victory, and we do well to celebrate when we do. He is good! He is able! He is faithful. Where is your broken place and how can you believe God to make it whole today? Thanks for reading…