This is a guest post by Glo Girl Lainie Magsarili.
Have you ever turned the crank of an old-fashioned well?
I thought about all the work it takes to lift a bucket of water up while gravity is pulling it down as I read the first part of James 4:8 which says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Drawing near to God, to the fountain of His Word, to His presence, and His grace, also requires effort because I am working against the pull of the world and the desires of my flesh.
The pull of the world is like gravity, which is normally unnoticeable to me and quite forgettable, until I lose my balance, stumble, and fall. I’ve had to learn the hard way that gravity shows no grace.
My parents have had a number of falls in the past few years and in an effort to be light-hearted my Dad referred to these falls as “gravity storms.” I’m thankful that I haven’t had a physical fall recently, but my soul feels like it’s been in a gravity storm.
Emotions pull me towards the earth and the world and soon my thoughts are filled with my circumstances, worries, or doubts. I have to remind myself that Jesus is the lifter of my head. Psalm 3 says that God hears me and I’m trusting this verse in James, that when I draw near to God and I “turn the crank of the well” in prayer, in reading His Word, and in seeking Him out, that I will be rewarded with the refreshment that comes from His Word and His presence alone.
Drawing near to God and Him drawing near to me sounded great, then I noticed the next part of this verse which says, “Cleanse your hands you sinners.” I remembered being thirsty while out hiking or camping but my hands were dirty. I wanted to cup my hands into a nearby stream in order to drink but, I needed my hands to be clean first!
In the stream of water, I washed my hands as that water moved and rushed all my dirt down stream. Then I dipped my clean hands into that same stream and drank. I thought, “How odd that the very thing that I needed to clean myself up for is the very thing that cleaned me.” I realized it was a wonderful picture of how God does it all for me–and you. He cleanses us and prepares us to receive more of Him. We could no more “clean” or sanctify ourselves than we could save ourselves from our sin.
He is that rushing or “living” stream of water that washes and refreshes.
I was reminded that I don’t clean up my act first and then come to God. Instead, it is by coming to Him that I am cleansed and purified then I am refreshed.
Lainie Magsarili would be aptly named miscel-Lainie-ous. She loves to knit, sew, read, write, and talk (just to name a few). She also makes yummy kale chips which are gobbled up by her husband, Karl, and their three home-educated children, ages 11,13, and 15. They reside in the Pacific Northwest where the grass is green, the rain is plentiful, and sunshiny days are precious and appreciated!