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Friday, March 13, 2020

Dancing in Nakedness of Spirit


A Lutheran pastor, Richard Wurmbrand, wrote of his experience during fourteen years of imprisonment in the Soviet Union.
Alone in his cell,
stripped of all resources,
stripped of every vestige of human dignity,
and with a body and mind ravaged by the tortures to which he was subjected,
in the total nakedness of his humanity - he met God in a new way.

Neither his education, nor his church tradition, provided answers.
That which he had lost in the years of suffering
     left him devoid of strength of body and mind, 
          grasping to merely exist.  

With his mind crumbling,
     and falling apart,
          he wasn't sure of his sanity.
But he discovered that, beyond all the lacking resources,
     he could come to God and offer himself.

He saw that his broken body and mind were no impediment.
He found that even the mad had a voice,
     something to be expressed.
and there he worshiped in utter simplicity, 
     clumsily, dancing before the Lord.

It made me wonder, can we come to the place to which he came?
     Can we do as he did?
Do the things we possess, the things we "know,"
     the fears and traditions of our society,
          and our churches, hold us prisoner?
     Are we free enough to lay it all down when we come to God? 

I am sure that the pastor who came out of the years of imprisonment, 
was a different man than the one who entered the prison.
In losing everything  earthly he was set free,
and his eyes were opened to understand as he had never understood before.

In God we are all given freedom which is Absolute.
The only bonds which can bind the child of God are the bonds of his own making.
But having been set free it is so easy to return again to bondage.
Like Peter on the water, we look around and sink.

Someday in heaven there will be no covering veil,
no fetters upon our spirits.
In that day all those who are gathered there will release the infinite song of recognition of the One Who fills all in all.
In that day the heavens will ring with the sound of unfettered praise.

Why do we not rise up from the earthly, 
and taking our freedom, 
render a free response of all that we are 
to the One Who reigns forever and ever?

2 comments:

  1. Brother Paul,
    Your piece evokes deep emotion and rings loudly of the truth! To be sure, the barriers between ourselves and experiencing the full presence of God in our lives are solely of our own making because God, for His part, is willing. So many things in our lives are not within our control, such as the circumstances of our birth, our upbringing, societal norms and governmental restrictions. But, as you so rightly point out, each and every one of us are given the freedom to choose to lay everything down for Him and there is nothing to stop us from doing that, as evidenced by Mr. Wurmbrand's life and others in history. Although we don't pray for persecution, neither should we run from it or try to fight for our so-called American or unalienable rights that so many in the Church are trying to do today, leading only to spiritual frustration because their goal is not only incorrect but unattainable. The world will never look like the Kingdom of God until He comes to make all things right at some point in the future. The goal of the Christian should be to get as close to God as possible in this life, and anything else is not only a demonically-inspired distraction from a powerful relationship with the Almighty, but a colossal waste of precious time that is rapidly running out. In answer to your question, I don't know if American Christians can do it, as we are so used to 'having it all.' May God show us what it really means to 'have it all.'

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