In reading through Hebrews for the past few weeks, God is
reminding me that Jesus is the great High Priest that I can confidently
approach and ask for help, knowing that as a human, He was tempted in every way
that I am. And then yesterday, God spoke clearly to me through a book by Oswald
Chambers, So Send I You;
“If we know in
our own lives that God can do what Jesus Christ said He could, we can never be
put in the place where we will be discouraged.”
After letting this sink in, I got on my knees and begged God
for a transformation- a grateful heart that consistently and unconditionally
loves my children and my ministry as their mom. I left my closet and began to
resume straightening up the house to prepare for bedtime when Ruby asked if I’d
play a board game with her. I agreed (a little reluctantly wishing rather to
clean a sink of dishes or something that didn’t require interaction) and began
playing, realizing how much I have been missing of her adorable little self. In
the middle of the game, Tommy came in and asked if I could wash his feet- that
means help him dig the dirt out from under his toenails- (yuck, I know as it
was sweeter when he was 2 or 3 not 12). Again, not my favorite thing to do but
totally through the supernatural power of God, I agreed.
As he began to set up the wash basin, towel and soap
station, a line quickly formed, “me next?”. “Of course”, I thought, “everything
now is times 8”. After about the third, “can I go next?” I unlovingly answered
in frustration, “only if there is time.” As I scrubbed and dug, Tim was reading
out loud about a missionary in India, (Sundar Singh) who, for sharing the
gospel, was thrown into prison and forced to endure having all sorts of things
hurled at him, including leaches let loose on his back. In his torture, he
continued to preach the good news of Christ saving mankind from sin. If anyone
had reason to be discouraged, it was this man. Between the soaking, scrubbing,
and rubbing, I began to get the blessing of seeing my children so relaxed and
happy. It made me want to take my time in washing the feet of all eight of
them, so I did.
After putting them to bed, I opened a book I have been
reading lately, the one quoted from above, and began to cry when hearing again
from God:
John 13:14 “If I then,
your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet.”
Ministering as
opportunity surrounds does not mean selecting our surroundings, but being very
selectly God’s in any haphazard surroundings He may engineer for us. The
characteristics we exhibit in our immediate surroundings are an indication of
what we shall be like in other circumstances by and by. ‘Jesus, knowing that
the Father had given up all things into His hands, and that He had come from
God and was going to God’ (John 13:3). We might have expected the record to go
on, He was transfigured before them, but the next thing we read that our Lord
did was of the most menial, commonplace order. He ‘took a towel and girded
Himself…and began to wash the disciples’ feet’ (vv.4-5). Can we use a towel as
our Lord did? Towels and basins and feet and sandals, all the ordinary, sordid
things of our lives, reveal more quickly than anything what we are made of. It
is not the big occasions that reveal us, but the little occasions. It takes God
Incarnate to do the most menial commonplace things properly. ‘If I then, your
Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s
feet’ (v.14). Our Lord did not say, “I have the means of the salvation of
thousands, I have been the most successful in My service, now you go and do the
same thing.’ He said, ‘I have washed your feet; you go and wash one another’s
feet.’ We try to get out of it by washing the feet of those who do not belong
to our own set – we will wash the unbeliever’s feet, or feet in the slums, but
fancy washing my brother’s feet, my wife’s, my husband’s, (my children’s), the
feet of the minister of my church! Our Lord said – one another’s feet.”
No coincidence that this was what I opened to read last
night. The peace I felt just in knowing that God not only hears but answers me
in my distress tucked me into bed last night. Oh, Praise Him!
My reason for sharing this is not to bring glory to myself
in washing my children’s feet, in fact I hope I’ve left no question as to how
pitifully sinful and in need of a Savior I am. I share this to show how real
God is and how He speaks to us- even preparing us to listen. It is what helps
me believe in Him.
