Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
We love the idea of following God’s lead. We marvel at the changes a sovereign God brings. What isn’t so thrilling is when God—without warning—stretches us far beyond our capacity.
(Photo by Photodune)
One morning not long ago I simply rolled over in bed, and I felt a sharp POP in my back—followed by an excruciating current up my spine. I had thrown my back out just by rolling over in bed! I eased out of bed and literally had to crawl across the room.
A couple of days later at my physician’s office, he entered the room with my x-rays under his arm. “Your back is fine,” he said. “You’re real problem is something else.”
Hint: It’s the same problem in my spiritual life. (And yours.)
“You need to strengthen your core.”
“You mean,” I asked, “my back hurting has nothing to do with my back?” He nodded and prescribed me several appointments with a physical therapist who would teach me how to strengthen my core.
The first thing the physiotherapist did was lay me on a table, grab my straight leg, and proceed to fold my frame so that my knee touched my ear.
“Yee-ouch!” I howled.
“Congratulations,” the therapist said. “You win the inflexibility award.”
(Photo credit: Nicholas_T / Foter / CC BY)
As I lay there panting, a phrase came to mind I’ve heard many times:
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.
No, that’s not one of Jesus’ Beatitudes, but it is an attitude that makes all the difference in your emotional and spiritual health. Let me put you on that table for a moment. Are you a flexible person?
You see, spiritual flexibility often is nothing more than trusting God with the unexpected.
(Photo credit: laurabillings / Foter / CC BY-NC)
I left the physical therapist each day with a set of stretching exercises to strengthen my core. Spiritually speaking, we need to learn to respond well when God stretches us. Here are 3 mental exercises that may help:
You may not (read: will not) be able to control the details of your day. (Especially with a sovereign God stretching you.) But you can control how you respond to the unpredictability of your day.
God stretches us beyond our capacity to strengthen the core of our lives—our trust in Him.
“Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.”
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