One of the most beautiful things about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the unreal demonstration of balance and wholeness He exudes. There’s nothing skewed about The Christ. All we have in Christ is absolute wholesome wholeness!
His Holiness doesn’t prevent Him from eating with the sinners; His Anointing doesn’t deter Him from crying with His grieving friends; His laser focus on Ministry doesn’t stop Him from attending weddings; His Honour doesn’t shield Him from touching the Leper!
He is not of this world, yet He can be touched by the feelings of every ounce of our humane infirmities. What is it about this Jesus that makes Him so in touch with our humanity, yet so immune to its inherent weaknesses? That has to be what true power looks like. Enough contact to make an impact without contamination! It’s His ability to bring the Glory from the realm yonder, into the mundane realities of the mundane; such a High Priest! Such comfort it gives, to know that lofty as He is, He connects with the lowly!
Whilst we are all too familiar with how Holy, Righteous and Lofty God is; a number of us have not been introduced to The God who visits with us in the middle of the street whilst we’re dripping red in our own cold blood.
None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and THOU BECAMEST MINE. — Ezekiel 16:5-6, 8 KJV
Wow!
I became His, not when I acted my best, not when I kept a perfect track record of church attendance and tithe slips, not when I refrained from cuss words… I became His, while I was still in my blood. He came to me in my bloody mess! I was just as messy when He declared His ownership of me. My mess doesn’t scare Him, instead, He spreads His skirt over me and covers my nakedness with His righteousness. No one sees my nakedness anymore, but His Garment of righteousness wrapped around me, with golden ornaments of Grace decked on my neck.
Often times, we distance ourselves from His Glory, by the sheer acquaintance we have with our own humanity, weakness, and undeservedness. We believe His type shouldn’t “do” our type. It cannot be Him who would come down to us! But that’s exactly what He does. You see Him as the One you must reach up to, and you have tried all you can to do so but have failed! That’s because the distance doesn’t afford man the ability to reach for Him, but His Hands can reach man! His hands are not short, remember? We don’t get to reach Him if He doesn’t come down. Yes, His heights are far above the heavens, but neither is He alien to the earth!
His presence pierces through the earthly veil like the radiant Sun.
David attempted to test the ubiquity of God’s reach, and he thought, surely, God cannot be in hell! So he attempted to pitch his bed in hell… only to find God there, waiting for him! He is in the highest peaks and in the lowest abyss… all at the same time. Indeed, He is before all things, and by Him, all things consist!
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. — Psalm 139:7-8 KJV
For many people, hell may not be literal, but a place where all the consequences of your actions have led you. A place your own decisions have forged in folly! And sometimes you think, can God still make anything out of my life? Does He still have plans for me? Can His hands reach me? Haven’t I fallen too low?
I have a “too-good-to-be -true” news for you…
The eternal God is thy refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms: — Deuteronomy 33:27a KJV
I really like the fact that God The Father isn’t just far above in Heaven, waiting to judge and reprimand every erring son, but The Father’s Hands are equally underneath me! It means I can never fall beneath His reach! I cannot stray beyond His beckon! It doesn’t matter how dark it is, when I look further down, I see a Hand bearing me up. Even when you think you’ve just hit the rock bottom, realise, that He just might be that Rock in the bottom!
Friends, this is revolutionary!
That even while we feel at our lowest, God’s everlasting arms are just beneath us. When we’re having our worst days, God’s very best tugs at us, right underneath! Not below, but beneath! “Below” can be any distance under, beneath is almost skin to skin under. No space in between… Underneath me, right now, are His everlasting arms! Whoosh! And if His hands are underneath me, there is only one direction left to go… Forward and Upward forever!!
Yes, God is into the far aboves, but He is also into the far beneaths! He rescues those far beneath and sets them far above!
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes, And to make them inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, And he hath set the world upon them. — 1 Samuel 2:8 KJV
Was so tempted to add… “to breeeaath”, right after “dunghill”… lol
There’s nobody who is far above, who wasn’t brought from far beneath! We rejoice in the truth that God’s Hands are never too far out for our lowly estates. No man can rise, unassisted by God’s mighty Hands! He is the reason we can all claim to have a goodly heritage!
Here’s an encouragement to you; never write yourself off because of how far you think you have fallen. You may even be in a metaphorical hell right now, but make no mistake to assume God isn’t somewhere around the corner. What do you think God is doing in hell anyway? He’s there for the chance of you looking in His direction in hope of a homecoming! It is so that, should you ever attempt a comeback, a look to Him would suffice as an invitation.
David visited hell, when he sinned against The Lord with Bathsheba, then, to his surprise, he met God there! God didn’t keep him there. He doesn’t leave people in hell…
Today, simply look beneath!
God bless your heart.
Dami Oguntunde