"My heart is not proud, O Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me."
--Psalm 131

In a great cathedral is a statue of Christ. If you were to enter the cathedral and stand before that statue you would think that the sculptor surely made a mistake. It seems to be a repulsive and ugly representation of Jesus. But when you come closer you can see an inscription on the statue that reads: “Kneel down and look up.” You kneel down and look up, and lo, everything about it is different. The repulsiveness is replaced by a wonderful attractiveness. The face of Christ is gentle and loving. What makes the difference? It is the position of the observer; standing versus kneeling down and looking up.

What a wonderful teaching. The sculpture has helped us to see that only in the position of true humility before Jesus are we able to see His beauty. The psalmist in the 131st Psalm had understood this truth. He had come to know that only when he let God be God that peace was able to come into his life. It comes only to those who submit before God humbly letting God be the Lord of their universe.

One of my favorite true stories about this comes from a lady who told of growing up very poor, but she married a man who had money. She said, “He took me to a place where I had flowers, gardens, and grass. It was wonderful. And we had children. Then suddenly I became physically sick. I went to the hospital, and the doctors ran all sorts of tests, and one night a doctor came to my room with a long look on his face and said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you this but your liver has stopped working. We’ve done everything we can to start it.’ And He walked out. I knew I was dying. I was so weak I had too feel my way along the corridor down to the chapel of the hospital. I wanted to tell God off. I wanted to tell God, ‘You are a shyster! You’ve been passing yourself off as a loving God for two thousand years, but every time anyone begins to get a little bit happy you pull the rug out.’ I wanted this to be a face to face telling God off.”

“And just as I got to the center aisle of the chapel, I tripped, I swooned, I fainted. And I looked up, and there stenciled along the step into the sanctuary, where the altar is, I saw these words: LORD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER. I Know God spoke to me that night. I know He did.”

She didn’t say how God communicated this to her, but what God said was, ‘You know what this is all about. It’s about the moment of surrender; it’s about bringing you to that moment when you will surrender everything to me. These doctors, they do the best they can, but they only treat. I’m the only one that can cure you.’ “With my head down on my folded arms in the center of the chapel, I began to repeat, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I surrendered to God. I found my way back to my hospital bed, weak as I was. The next morning, after the doctor ran some more tests he said, ‘Your liver has started working again. We don’t know why.’ And I said in my heart, But I know. Oh but I know. God has brought me to the brink of disaster, just to get me to turn my life over to Him.”

Letting God be God can bring such power, peace, and strength into our lives. Maybe God doesn’t always take away the sickness or the circumstance like He did for this lady, but His mercy and His grace will always be sufficient for all our needs!

Rev. Dennis Bailey