"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in on of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, 'Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.' Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God." -Luke 13:10-13
This woman has been battered and literally beaten down by a crippling spirit for 18 years. That's a long time. For someone like me, who has know Jesus my entire life, I cannot imagine waiting for Him just to walk by for 18 years. Sometimes my challenges; physical, emotional, and spiritual tempt me to give up on God. But not this woman; she's still there, still praying for help. I wonder if I could do that. Could I be faithful? Could I keep hoping and praying for that long? Or would I grow bitter, cynical, and above all, angry at God?
As I ask myself these things I start to realize that this woman is not so different from myself or any other person who has ever struggled just to stand up and face the world. What weighs you down, bends you over, keeps you from standing up straight, looking people in the eye, and from believing in your own value? What has stolen your joy in Christ?
Imagine being that woman, standing up straight for the first time in 18 years. Picture her expression as she is finally able to look at someone directly and that someone is Jesus, her Jesus. Imagine as she straightens her back and raises her arms. The first thing she does is lift them in praise to God.
Thinking about this causes me to realize that I have lived as that woman, bent over and small. My challenges have caused me to become angry and to shut out God. In a way, I have taken the path of least resistance, not wanting to stand up and face Him because I am afraid. Doing so has kept me from realizing that God has given me every breath I have ever taken. It has kept me from standing up and praising God with my life. It has kept me from knowing that my struggles, both big and small, are not an experiment to find out what I'm like on the inside by some distant God but rather He is asking me to see what he already knows. That I am God's beloved child and that He would never hurt me.
Jesus, my Jesus, says to that woman, "You are set free." He sees our struggles, our sorrows, everything that drags us down. He wants to set us free. He will lift us up so can stand straight and praise Him with all of our strength.
"And then of her, and of every created thing I praise, I should say, 'In some way, in its unique way, like Him who made it.' Thus up from the garden to the Gardener, from the sword to the Smith. To the life-giving Life and the Beauty that makes beautiful." - C.S. Lewis A Grief Observed
- I wrote this little devotion a couple years ago but it is something I come back to again and again. It's such a little story in a very big book, but it has so much meaning.
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