Go Low to Fly High!

I wonder if there is anybody reading my column today who has had to battle internal issues for a long period of time. Maybe life feels like you are blatantly bleeding the best of your minutes away. You have made the appointments. You have spent the money. You have taken the medication. You have exhausted your human resources. And you believe your conclusion might be that there really is no human answer to your problem. All the professionals, all of the religious counselors, all of the experts, all of the contacts and all of the neighbors might agree with your diagnosis: You are stuck in the midst of an unfixable spot.  
Is there an area of your life hemorrhaging today? Is there an unresolved issue that has been infected by the world? You’re aching, hurting, discouraged and depressed. You’ve spent tons of money and tried every remedy and you are still in need of a rescue because nothing on earth has helped! Nobody helps you because they can’t help you and when they have tried and you have allowed it; you’re still worse off and not an iota better at all! 
What good is going to the doctor if you keep getting sicker? What good is going to church, if God seems further away than ever? Maybe you are attempting to fix horizontally that which can only be cured vertically. Maybe your answer isn’t an outside in solution but an inside out conversion. Maybe the one you seek to lead you to the land of the living is already in your corner. Could it be that Jesus is right smack in the midst of what you are going through? 
Desperate times don’t really follow protocol. When you are struggling at the end of a rope, you aren’t worried about the color of the twine. We only major on the minors when the stakes are low. But when it comes to matters of life and death, we rarely are willing to play dice with diamonds. If we are down to a matter of minutes, why are we wasting precious time? If we want to be lifted up, we might just have to begin by going low. Comfort and ease are not what we need to please the surging hunger in our souls. If salvation is a possibility, then why would we not do whatever it would take to secure our rescue? 
When God’s will is ready to be done, earthly time is no longer an issue! A physical healing is not enough to regenerate a spiritually suffering soul. If we want to be truly free, we need to make sure that we are subjecting our wills to a source that has the ability to deliver what we yearn for. Holding on to God isn’t just about begging him to provide all the items on your shopping list. It is about surrendering what you think is best to the Lord who only does what he does with complete perfection.
In the Bible, Matthew tells us the story about a very troubled woman. She had heard about Jesus and with just about every ounce of hope she could muster, she risked whatever ounce of dignity she had left to go low so she might be lifted high. Matthew 9:20-22 reads, “Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21 She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.’ 22 Jesus turned and saw her. ‘Take heart, daughter,’ he said, ‘your faith has healed you.’ And the woman was healed at that moment.” Matthew fills us in that this woman was so lonely and outcast that she took to talking to herself. The King James Bible translates her conversation like this: “If only I may touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole…”
Remember Matthew was writing primarily to the Jews. The Hebrews knew something about the hem of his garment. She didn’t say if I just touch him or get close to Him or accidentally bump into him I will get better. She said if I will touch the hem of His garment, I will be OK. On the four corners of a Jewish robe, there should be four tassels. At the four hems of the garment there would be a tassel of blue like graduates wear. They were to remind the people of God’s word, God’s commands, God’s rule and God’s ways. Our woman was specific in saying, “If I can just grab one of the tassels of the Teacher, I can be healed!” The tassel would be hanging at the bottom of the outfit. The tassel would not be on the shoulder of God but at His feet! In order for her to grab a tassel, she had to get on her hands and knees to reach the tassel of truth. You have to humble yourself to have any chance of grasping God’s word! 
If you are still proud and refuse to get on your knees, you will probably die on your feet because of your selfishness. If you will go low, you are ready to aim high! If you will shut your mouth and receive God’s word then there is always hope! Jewish men wore the tassels so they wouldn’t be tempted to trust and lean to their own understanding. If you long to walk in God’s way with his word as a light to your path and a lamp to your feet, you must evaluate all of your circumstances through the grid of God’s truth! 
If you have some issues going on and it’s been going on for far too long, have you grabbed for the written word from the living word? Or are you setting your reputation on the clamoring chaos from the crushing crowd? The crowd pressed in to try to squash Jesus.
The woman went low to worship Him in the midst of the clatter and clutter. If you have the written word with no Jesus, you have truth but no life. You have information without inspiration. If you have Jesus but have not hunkered down in His word, you have life with no truth. But with the Word of God combined with the Word from God, you have everything you could possibly need and more. This woman who had no way, grabbed the truth and experienced life! Your freedom today depends upon your dependence tomorrow totally upon what Jesus says. Go low and secure your place upon Heaven’s heights. It’s your move!
ED. NOTE: The author is senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Cape May Court House.