Bent

Summer is coming and already some of the family have been to the beach.  But it has to be a hot day or the water has to be warm before I'll go in the water. I'll go in ankle-deep if it’s cold, up to my knees to help the grandchildren swim but to go past my waist and swim is another thing.  The Bible is full of journeys and progressions and in one, Ezekiel is taken on a four-part journey down a river for over 4000 cubits. It seems that swimming in the river is the ultimate goal.  After the first 1000 cubits, he takes Ezekiel through waters up to his ankles.  " And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles' (Eze 47:3)  This pictures the first stage of the walk the Lord invites us on.  First, He touches our ankles and the way we walk is changed.   When the river of the Holy Spirit began to flow at Pentecost, the first miracle was the healing of a man's ankles.  A man who had been born lame and who had never walked in his life was healed.  (Acts 3:1-16) This pictures of all of us crippled by sin and walking in darkness.  But when the Water of life that flowed from Jesus side touched our ankles, it changed the way we walked. We walked out of the darkness into the light.  The water set us on our feet and gave us a message for the rest of the crippled world. It makes every Christian a missionary and everyone else a mission-field.

But then the man took Ezekiel further. " Again the man measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees" (Eze 47:4).   In this journey towards the fourth measure, the water is to next touch our knees. When Jesus came as King to the earth, people wanted His gifts of healing, deliverance and even his fish sandwiches but in the end, most didn't want Him to rule over them. He made them stand but they couldn't kneel.  Today, some people have had their ankles healed but their knees are still stiff.  So He leads us beside the still waters of lordship, which we can choose to enter. "Lord, You decide what I do with my early mornings and my evenings and may your river touch my knees.   Sometimes our church singing is way ahead of our reality. We sing "break my heart for what breaks yours" but is our heart any more broken and has our request for His heart, actually changed the time and way we pray.

Friend, are we following the Man on His journey down the river? Has the water reached our knees? Is our prayer life getting stronger?  Six months ago my wife broke her kneecap and although she is recovering, her knee-joint is still weak from lack of use.  May our knees not be feeble from lack of bending.