I Need Longer Arms

“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life…” (Prov 13:14)

I need longer arms.

I have this spot in the center of my back that perpetually itches. And I can’t reach it. I know there are some who can but even when I distort and bend my body in most unnatural ways I just cannot reach that one spot! There are plenty of you out there who know exactly what I’m talking about here! So we resort to using door jams and chairs or those As Seen On TV back scratchers.

Or – we ask someone else to scratch that spot for us.

Sometimes that spot is so dry, so irritated, that what it really needs is a healing lotion applied. And I have not yet found a way to do that on my own.   I’ve tried, trust me – and it usually results in some kind of injury!

I think God fearfully and wonderfully formed our bodies with arms too short to reach the center of our backs for the specific purpose that in our very being we are reminded that we need others to reach those places we cannot.

This is a powerful spiritual truth when we pause just long enough to let that sink in.

We have things in our lives that are like the center of our backs. We have things going on in our lives that need attention, things that need some TLC, and they are just out of our reach. We have hurting places that we can’t quite seem to get that lotion on and need others to speak healing into. We have frustrations and issues and hard things going on that we contort ourselves all out of whack over and need others to speak truth into.

Oh we try to do it ourselves. What we find is that we just can’t quite reach that center spot by ourselves, no matter what we do. We need others in our lives to help us reach that place.

Now – it would be just plain weird to ask a stranger to scratch your back. It just would. We just wouldn’t do that.   We would look to a friend or a spouse or our mom – someone who knows us fairly well – because there is something just a little vulnerable, just a little intimate about the whole back scratching thing.

Life and heart hard-to-reach places are where we are vulnerable. They are places where we hurt. Places where we struggle. Places where we have questions and doubts. Places where our pride and ego are in charge. Places where we might just not be seeing too clearly and we need people in our lives we trust to bring wisdom to bear in our lives.

We don’t ask just anyone. That would be just as weird as asking a stranger to scratch your back! We need someone we can trust is spending time with the Lord and in His Word. If she is going to speak wisdom into our lives, we want her wisdom to be coming from the Giver of all Wisdom. When we know she is faithfully in the Word herself we can trust that what she speaks into our particular situation is coming through the lens of Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, is it the fountain of life.

This might be one person. You might be blessed with several wisdom bearers. Whoever they are, these are the people who can reach the hard places for us with God’s truth that brings healing, correcting, gentle admonishment, and encouragement.

Proverbs tells us that when we walk with the wise, we too will grow wise. When we let those who are wise speak into the hard places that we can’t quite reach, we will become wise in those hard places and they’ll become not-so-hard places. But if we try to reach those hard places by ourselves we’ll be like the companion of fools who suffers harm.

We don’t need longer arms. We need each other.

Love & blessings,

Denise

#LivingHoly

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