Letting it all fall down to Jesus

Letting it all fall down to Jesus 

"What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my days?" Job 6:11

I am weary with trying to hold up the weight of the world single-handedly.
Trying to keep it all together
trying to avert looming disaster at every turn 

I have no strength left, and hope takes strength

It is only an illusion that I have any real power
any power to uphold the sky
like some kind of deluded Atlas

my world is crashing anyway
for all my best efforts, hard work and sacrifice

the truth:
I am the impotent man
paralyzed
immovable
powerless
unable to do or change even the slightest detail of my life
or who I am

I know where Jesus is today but I cannot get to him on my own
I need help
I need to be carried there

borne aloft

borne of four

I am too great a burden for one alone to carry, or even two

and even when we have traversed and arrived
so many people
so many walls between me and Jesus
we can never get through
I cannot even see him
but I hear his voice

maybe it is impossible
maybe we should just give up and trudge back home in defeat
I cannot even see him
but I hear his voice

suddenly, I am lurched from my repose
up the stairs I am bumped and brought
tearing up the roof?
are you mad?

what will the owner of this house say?
how will this hole be repaired?
this impertinent act of violence to his dwelling place?

Cries of annoyance and anger rise up from below
What are you doing?
Stop! or the roof will fall in on us!
Don't you care?
Who do you people think you are anyway?

But Jesus is calm and the angry crowd quiets

I find myself being squeezed through this rough opening
dropping steadily down
letting gravity do its work

more groans and sighs of exasperation as I arrive to the lowest point

But He is there
looking at me with love in his eyes
smiling
glad to see me
glad that I have come
glad for those that were willing to bear me
glad for our persistence and desire
glad for our faith and hope
longing to bring healing home to me
bringing me home to Him

He speaks the words I most need to hear
"Son, your sins have been forgiven you"

How my heart leaps for joy and praise!
but then...

"¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Mark 2:10 -11

And then I know it
I know it

I can get up from this mat
I am no longer helpless
powerless
limp and impotent

I am leaping and walking and running and jumping
and PRAISING GOD!!!!


So many times we think of prayer as lifting our burdens up to God
God who is powerful and over all 
But in this case, the man was lowered down to Jesus

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: "I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. Isaiah 57:15 New Living Translation (2007)

stop trying to hold it all up
my family is a mess, I am a mess, my life is a gordian knot
put it all on the mat, don't try to fix it anymore
let the weight pull it all down
lay the burden down

Jesus is waiting there
at my lowest point
waiting with a smile and love in his eyes

"Casting all your care upon him, because he cares for you" 1 Peter 5:7

Sometimes the image given of prayer is lifting all our cares up to God 
It is a beautiful picture
but here the picture is of a helpless man being lowered down to the waiting Jesus
when I am too exhausted to try to lift up to God
He is waiting at my lowest point
grace seeks out the lowest place to fill

I am not god

I am not god

you are God

you are God

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

^28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

2 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”  Mark 2:1-12 NIV