Another big question for week #4 of our “PAUSE: Make space for God” series! For this topic I’ve chosen to focus on the words “cooperation” and “respond”.
Although the infinite God of heaven and earth has many wonderful plans for us, He cannot bring those plans to fruition without our cooperation and response: “Every person on his part ought to draw near to God; and as far as man does draw near, God on His part enters into him.” (Swedenborg – True Christian Religion 126)
One of the reasons that I love this idea is because it puts the ball squarely in our court. The Lord is doing everything that He can and everything that He needs to do in order to lead us forward in our lives. The only question is, are we willing to cooperate with Him? Many times we will make excuses for why we can’t move forward, resolve a problem, or shun a certain evil. And yet, every moment of every day the Lord is giving us everything that we need to make changes and to move forward….IF we choose to. I was reflecting the other day on the fact that a huge part of faith is recognizing that you need to cooperating with the Lord AND that He is providing you with everything you need in order to do this. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we say in the Lord’s prayer. Do I really believe that the Lord is providing me right now, in this moment, with EVERYTHING that I need to move forward? Imagine how different my life would be and the things I could accomplish if I really did believed this!: “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:23)
One of the great stories in the New Testament to reflect on when it comes to our need to cooperate with the Lord and believe that He gives us what we need to move foward, is the story of the sick man and the pool of Bethesda (John 5). Occasionally an angel would come and stir the waters of this pool. The first person to get into the waters after they had been stirred would be healed of their sickness. One man had been sitting by this pool for thirty-eight years! He couldn’t walk, and every time the waters were stirred someone else got in before him. When the Lord found him by this pool He didn’t seem to have much sympathy for the predicament the sick man was in. The Lord simply asked the sick man, “Do you want to be made well?” And then told him to, “Arise, take up your cot and walk.” This is a great story because it encourages us all to reflect on why we may not be allowing the Lord to “heal” us of our many spiritual ailments. What habits have we gotten into and what excuses are we making for not getting into that pool and for not taking up our cot and walking? I’d encourage you to listen to the sermon I gave on this story last Sunday. It asks what I find to be a very interesting question – Why might you NOT be allowing the Lord to heal you? http://www.newchurchaudio.org/event/20223.html
So knowing that the Lord is always doing His part, perhaps a good question to ask yourself this week is, what do I need to do to better cooperate with the Lord? Do I really believe that the Lord has given me every tool I need to move forward? If you get a chance, I would be very interested to hear your thoughts about ways and reasons why we don’t always cooperate with the Lord. When what the Lord is offering us is so wonderful, why do we end up just sitting by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years, instead of getting up and walking?
I think part of the reason why we don’t use the tools that the Lord gives us is “Fear”, in whatever form it takes. I know in my life the Lord brings opportunities and sometimes I can see it clearly but I don’t act because of unhealthy old ways of thinking that emanates from the evil “IT” within me, created by me, which in-turn makes it/”me” fearful that the outcome will be something wonderful and as a result of the good outcome “it” will be in danger of being snuffed out by the Lord. This battle can be a quite painful process that is equal to the strength of the attachment one has to the unhealthy part of you that does not want to be snuffed out of existence and it will fight for its life to stay alive within you”!
Heavenly Peace,
P.J.
Thanks PJ. Fear is a huge thing. The more I reflect on it, the more I recognize how fearful I am! Having four children now, I’ve been struck resently about how fearlessly they live their lives. They certain have things that they are afraid of (like ghosts, getting lost, etc.), but what strikes me is how fearless they are of social failure. Unlike us adults, they just don’t care what people think of them in the same way. They don’t have “performance anxiety” and a need to impress people. Ahhhh, to be a child again! And actually I guess that IS what the goal is: “Therefore whoever humbels himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4)
It is such a good question – when we believe and, in fact, sense that the Lord is providing the tools to do our spiritual work for the day – yet we (no, I) just don’t use them. I equate that with my snow plowing situation over the years. I have a long and steeply graded drive that was for years, in gravel (my thinking being that gravel would provide better traction) and for which I used a large snow blower exclusively. The problem is that heavy wet snows, freezing rain, rocks and gravel caught in the blower shoot, and all related, did not succumb to the tools I had selected. After about 6 years of this and related shoulder and back problems, I paved the drive and bought a 4 wheeler with a plow to go with snow blowers. Though winter is no treat, it is now manageable. Further, I have decided that next year I will put a plow on my truck (though that presents some issues with space for such a rig but will dramatically improve the time and effort required each time it snows). It’s not been money or understanding of what would make this all go more easily, it’s just plain intransigence; BUT why? Or maybe better, when?
Is it possible that, for some of us, as in my wrestling with my winter driveway for years, the Lord’s tools aren’t taken up or, for that matter, rejected, until we, like the sick man at the pool for 38 years, have a seeming epiphany – are somehow, miraculously, ready to take them up. Is that the whole beauty of the Lord’s leading and the provision of the concept of time that He recognizes there are some of us who are just plain slow learners? AND that we have wonderful priests and ministers like you who keep stirring the pot!
Hi DJ. Thanks for the great post. Your comment about moments in life where we have epiphanies really got me thinking, and how we can all be slow learners! It makes me realize how important it is – and how wonderful it is – that we have a loving and patient God! I think about how easily frustrated I get with people who aren’t making the “obvious” choice or seeing the “obvious” solution. Luckily the Lord doesn’t treat me as I tend to treat others : ).
I suppose the word the Writing for the New Church use for this is “enlightenment.” If we’re able to cooperate with the Lord by letting go of our preconceived ideas and egos, we create a space for the Lord where He is able to give us the enlightenment we need to see the way forward. And as you point out, that way forward is often so simple….once we get out of the way and let the Lord show it to us.
The only think I might correct you on is your statement about us priests. Probably it’s usually despite us that people like you have these moments of inspiration ; ).
Interesting topic . . . the other side of this slippery slope of cooperation with the Lord is the idea that we somehow take merrit for our good deeds and our own salvation. A subtle but important concept that goes along with this is that while we are empowered / enabled to cooperate with the Lord and improve our lives, in the end, He still is in charge. Our duty is to prepare our mind and heart (like the ground in the Sewer parable) so that his Seeds of truth can take root. We then need to use these seeds (truths) in our daily life (let them grow into plants/trees) . . . at first perhaps through self-compulsion, but later from a love of doing good. As we go through that process, I think the Lord prepares and perhaps prompts us to make big changes in our life. The tools he gives us are the truths from his Word. As we build our life on these princples He can then work through us to accomplish positive change in the lives around us (the fruit), which in turn transforms our life. The miracle is the transformation he causes from within if we allow him.
The challenge is, in this day, where so many of us are far removed from the basic ideas of gardening, how does one cooperate in the nurturing of these truths? Preparing the soil, weeding the ground, ensuring plenty of sun and water, pruning along the way . . . these are the steps we need to apply and we’re given the tools to do it. . . . but it’s work that many of us (including me) aren’t so familiar with. Any words of wisdom on how to do the work? Use the tools?
Thanks for offering these inspiring thoughts.