STRAIGHTEN UP!
Our grandchildren never fail to make us smile but the other day I was in hysterics with Alice who will be 2 next week. She was re-enacting the actions to The Grand Old Duke of York. Why it was funnier than usual was the fact that this time she simply did every move as though the ten thousand men were neither up nor down! Alice’s half way up was her literally bent over whilst stomping up and down the front room. I couldn’t help but laugh because she was also making Simon take part in her performance so now I had two people walking around whom really needed to straighten up!
The more I watched them both, the more I was reminded of the story of Jesus healing a crippled woman. The story is found in Luke 13 verses 10-17 which tells us that the woman had been bent over for 18 years! I paused for a moment as I tried to imagine the pain of being bent over (some accounts even say bent over double); I also thought about the restrictions that she must have faced in life and the stigma placed on her by others.
I became incredibly overwhelmed by this beautiful story, even a little emotional that for nearly twenty years the woman in question would have endured so much hardship all laced with physical and emotional pain. There would have been so many limitations to what she could do and how she saw life as she could only see from the position her eyes were. I don’t mind saying that I had a bit of a moment and it was in that moment that I felt the Holy Spirit arrest my attention and gently whisper that I had been that woman and in many ways I was still that woman. Not in a physical way but spiritually! Wow, honestly just wow, that really did hit home with me!
It was one of those light bulb, hand on the head moments that we all have when we realise just how foolish we have been. It was like why have I never seen this before? It now seemed pretty ludicrous that for years and years I had allowed the challenges I faced in life, my own stupid actions of the past and other people’s opinions to bend me over spiritually. All these things had me doubled over resulting in my eyes being face down or at best a very limited forwards but for me to have the fullness of life that Jesus intended then my eyes needed to be up! A voice from within simply boomed the life giving words ‘straighten up’.
That same evening I re-read through the story found in Luke 13 a few times and then I pictured myself in the story as this always helps me to try and understand how the story played out in real time. This woman received freedom from the issues causing her to be bent over and for me to ‘straighten up’ then I needed freedom from my issues too.
Luke 13 v 10 - 13
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one 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
I love that the only thing that this woman did was interrupt Jesus! Jesus was teaching at the time and we now know from scripture that this is just before the crucifixion and therefore this would actually be the last time that Jesus would teach in a synagogue setting. The woman put herself in the way of Jesus so much so that He stopped what He was doing! The teaching that Jesus would have been bringing would have been important yet this story shows us that nothing is more important than the experience of Jesus!
This woman interrupted Jesus in such a way that all Jesus could do was show compassion to her. He saw it all, every bit of distress, every pain, every limitation, every tear she had cried and every feeling that burdened her with guilt & shame. She made it all visible to Him in that one interruption and by doing so she was set free from it all! Examining my own life, I think there are times when I simply try to hold it together rather than bring it all before Jesus. I am not sure if it is a pride thing that tells me that I should just rise above it all or that I think Jesus has more important things to be doing but I do know without doubt that these things spiritually bend me, often to the point that I am doubled over!
Jesus wants me and you to interrupt Him with everything that wilts us! He doesn’t shun us or tell us to wait, as He sees our issues laid bare before Him He stops everything and simply calls us forward to Him just like He did with the woman in the story. I am not sure what your issues are today but I do know that Jesus wants you to ‘straighten up’. He does not just want to be your Lord and Saviour when it comes to salvation, He wants to be your Liberator! The one who sets you free from the things that hold you back spiritually.
Today is the day He wants you to ‘straighten up’!
By Valda Rushton 29th March 2023
