Have you ever awoken and felt yourself stirred by the unknown? Something happened in your sleep that left you totally baffled as to how it could have happened? Or have you awoken with a headache or painful shoulder, after wrestling with something unidentifiable, thinking that you ate too many of those onions or garlic that tasted so good on that extra helping of steak that you should not have eaten at supper the evening before? Have there been times when you have you woken up not quite knowing where you were, needing a few minutes to acquaint yourself again with your own bedroom, because everything seemed strange? Not knowing where you were, you had to sit a few minutes to gain your perspective again, as some people would say, find your bearings? Sometimes things like this happen. It is a normal occurrence that takes place especially if you are going through something heavy or are about to shift gears into something new. It deals with what psychology calls the 'change process'. I have named this, however, bouncing off a punch in the gut, because it causes us to bend over and either sack to the ground or come up bouncing off of what has happened to us or what is going on at that particular moment in our lives.
Ask Jacob. He experienced several punches in his gut during his lifetime. After robbing Esau of his blessing, he got scared. He knew if Esau caught him he would be a dead duck. And Esau, well, he was angry. He had already killed Jacob in his spirit, and was waiting for the proper time to bring it to fulfillment. Esau was waiting for the ideal time to stir up strife that would eventually lead to a showdown and thus to a killing of revenge liken unto what it says in the book of Proverbs "An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins".* Esau was patiently or impatiently biding the time until his father Issac would die, with murder on his mind. Even the mother of the twins, Rebekkah knew that boiling anger makes people do things that they would not normally do. So Jacob had to flee his homeland. Getting tired on the way, he decided to get some rest and after choosing a place to sleep, laid down. As he slept, he dreamt, and "he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its tops reaching to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it".* Eyes wide opened in his dream, Jacob saw someone above the stairway. For above it stood the LORD, seated high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.* God said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Issac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying".*
When God had finished talking to Jacob, he woke up thinking the LORD was in that place and because he was not aware of it, Jacob became afraid. The story continues with Jacob giving God words of praise. Jacob declares the place as Awesome; as the House of God; as the gate that leads to Heaven. However, Jacob did not stop there. Sure, he did not change immediately. But, he had just gotten punched in his gut by a dream from God and he was willing to bounce off. He was still Jacob the robber, the grabber, the liar, the cheater but he had not hesitated to make a vow. That vow would accompany him for the rest of his life.
So, the grabber, the cheater, the liar, the robber who was given the dream vowed that if the LORD would be with him , watch over his journey and give him food to eat and clothes to wear so that he could return safely to his father's house, that the LORD would be his God, that the stone he had set up would be God's house and that of all that God gave him, he would give him back the tenth.* Jacob had received a punch in his gut and he had the choice to bounce off or fall down acting like the world was against him, putting the guilt on Esau , jammering, saying woe is me, sinking into his own private self pity party. After all the LORD had given him a private audience. But as God punched him with that dream Jacob bounced off , made a vow t and took off.
How do we handle those punches that we receive? It does not have to be something as big as what happened to Jacob; although, I believe God still throws big punches to people's guts but many of us are unwilling to make the commitment for reasons known only to us. But that is another column, at another time.
Moving on, the punch could be about something very small. Something that we do not at first notice as one of those gut punches. Recently, I received one of these gut punches. As I woke up, I had the surprise of my life, I could barely hear! Everything was quiet, too quiet. There were no sounds of footsteps as I walk to the bathroom, no sound of running water, no creaking of the bedroom door as I closed it and no whistling of the teapot on the oven to let me know that the water was ready for me to make coffee. Everything was quiet around me because I could not hear. Suddenly those sounds that I have been used to for most of my life did not exist for me. Oh my, what a feeling. If I were not to admit that this was scary, I would be lying. I wanted to panic but could not. Everything within me wanted to cry out, "now what" but that spirit within me gave me a peace that quietly battled against all the ineptness of the thoughts that were coming at me.
There were no warning signs along the way. And yes, my ears were clean, it was not a build up of wax. (Ha Ha :-)). And to top it all off I was supposed to preach in our children's church.
What do you do when things like this happen? Do you take the punch in your gut and lay back down , turning over in your bed, you go back to sleep; or do you call and apologize for not being able to attend stating quite spiritually ,'I would if I could'; or do you let the punch become the catalyst for you to bounce off. The decision is always ours. God never takes over and do what we are supposed to do nor does He make the decisions that He expects us to make.
My punch had in it how I deal with my loyalty towards my commitments and How I prioritize my obligations. I know, obligation is a bad word that some of us christians do not want to hear. We like to think of ourselves as being led by the Holy Spirit to do whatever makes us feels good.
However, to feel obligated to preach,is not just a duty, it is the Holy Spirit in me saying that he wants to use me as his vessel to make things happen in people's lives. In this case, it was my priviliege to make things happen in the lives of the children at our church. To broaden their vision, to stretch their imaginations so that they could begin to imagine, to see that nothing is impossible with God. So, with my very limited hearing and I do mean limited, I bounced off by walking to my car and going to my commitment.
We bounce off when we let our dreams that keep appearing become a catalyst for us to get out and do something. We bounce off when that urge of desire to change something becomes a reality and we start changing the way we act towards our families, our friends and the way we react to those whom we have shown so little pity , understanding and compassion. We bounce off when we allow the whispering voice of the Holy Spirit within us to lead us out of the crowd to a willow path where very few have trodden and we start walking it, irrespective of what others think, say, or do.
Yes, we bounce off when we take the high road, even if it means taking it alone. No, it is not pretty, it is more than that. It is Glorious. If you do not believe me, then look at Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Deborah, Job, David, Esther, Daniel, Peter, Paul, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Mary Macleod Bethune John the Apostle, Derek Prince, Lydia Prince, Catheine Marshal, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, John Paul Murphy, James Weldon Johnson, Martin Luther King, J.J. Ealy, Moses Pierce, Johnathan Edwards, John Wesley, Watchman Nee, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Billy Graham, Robert H. Schuller, and many more. They bounced off, jumped high and landed in different places.
Rest assured Your feet will touch ground again, sometime in the future, maybe a day , a week, a month or years but it will not be the place where you started from. Things will have changed because you will have spiraled down like a falling leaf and landed on your feet walking out your journey. You will feel contentment, the satisfaction of knowing you have changed your position. A change will have come, and your desire will be fulfilled until you receive the next punch.
May the LORD who is near to all who call on Him;
Provide all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus;
May He soothe your aching hearts as you cast your cares upon Him;
May He brighten your paths in the midst of your darkest hour;
May His light shine upon you so that people will see your good works and give God the glory;
And may His peace ride within you like the wind that moves the leaves of the trees.
Forever yours,
Schalom,
Pat Garcia Schaack
All Scriptures quotations come from the Holy Bible, New International Version by Zondervan.
* Quoted Proverbs 29:22
* Quoted Genesis 28:12
* Quoted from Isaiah 6:1
* Quoted from Genesis 28:13
* Quoted from Genesis 28:20
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