05/26/2021
Many people come to know Jesus during a time in their lives when they are suffering through some affliction, and are made to feel the slightest breeze across their soar bodies and spirits. We call this having our hearts circumcised, and in this moment of wincing pain we become receptive to Christ’s message of redemption, healing, joy, and peace. When we look back on our personal moment of salvation can we relate to this? If not, then perhaps we can identify another time in our walk of faith when we were made tender to the touch of God… and felt the ever so slight brush of the Holy Spirit as He wafted about, and through us.
“And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 ESV
Some of us are so attuned to our spiritual selves that we quite naturally hear the slightest whisper of God, but others have been hardened by the world, and must have a blister rubbed on them so that they will be made sensitive to the Word, and keen to the voice of the Lord as He calls out to them. The ways, and sins, of the world can stiffen our necks over time, and make us unreceptive to God who is calling us to Christ… so it is that He must bring us to be circumcised and made sensitive to Him.
““You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.”
Acts 7:51 ESV
There is a pilgrimage route that, for over a thousand years, has led pilgrims from all across Europe, and beyond, to a cathedral in Spain that is believed to have the remains of St. James. This route is called the Camino de Santiago, and is a way of great faith for the believer who travels it, and often a way of great suffering as well. All along its length bodies and spirits alike are circumcised as God speaks through His Holy Spirit to hearts that have been prepared in various ways to receive Him. Knees give out, feet bleed and ooze painfully with each step, and hearts break as they cry out to God with the suffering of lives rasped raw by disappointment, torment, and mourning. All are seeking, and over the course of their journey, will come face to face with God through Jesus Christ. Along with traveling to Rome, and Jerusalem, this is one of the three great Christian pilgrimages, but the only one today that is routinely made on foot, and brings such suffering to the penitent, those who are casually curious about faith, and the true believers, each seekers of Christ. I note this because although some are brought to know Jesus by having been circumcised in some way, while many are circumcised as they go through the active process of seeking itself.
“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV
Have you ever watched as someone suffered through some terrible, or challenging life event, and then emerged from it a Saint, or greatly increased in their faith? Did it challenge your faith as you watched their suffering? Did it inspire you to see them persevere in their faith? Did it bring you to your knees when God spoke to them, or lifted them over their obstacle? You see, sometimes the process of a person’s circumcision isn’t all about them… or even about them. Sometimes they are like Jesus who suffered that the hearts of millions might be circumcised. If you are going through a valley, and keep asking “Why me Lord?” Then perhaps this is your answer… “You are my witness to the world!”
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,
which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”
2 Timothy 1:8, 12 ESV
Even those of us who suffer in order to circumcise the hearts of others are rewarded in our faith, and are meant to praise Him in the storms we find ourselves in. Our personal faith is tended to even as we are suffering for others.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4 ESV
So, whether our hearts are circumcised to bring us to that place where we will hear God’s saving voice, or we find ourselves rubbed raw so that we can hear Him better, there is purpose in it, and even if we see no sense in our trials we can’t fully understand the ways of God, and are meant to endure in complete faith… knowing He is good, and that He has a purpose in all He does.
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”
Psalm 57:2 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the hardships I encounter that circumcise my heart, and prepare me to hear you, obey your will, and to become a testimony to others. Thank you for this pilgrimage through life that I am on, and for each time that the storm clouds part to reveal the beautiful rays of your glorious light, and the rainbows of your promise. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who speaks to us from burning bushes, and who leaves us in spiritual awe when it is not consumed. Praised be your name for the fire in our lives that leave us with sore and tender blisters ready to feel the slightest breath you breathe. Merciful are you whose increase far outweighs the suffering we endure, and whose eternity outlives our momentary discomforts. Your grace abounds in Christ, and He pours it out upon us like a soothing salve to treat the stiff necks, calloused skin, and wounds of the world. Wash us clean in the blood of Christ, and find us worthy in Him, His suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, as we stand before you bearing the many marks of the lash, and the bruises of the cross we have carried so far. Lift us up Lord, and seat us at your table forevermore… feeding us your Word, and comforting us in the peace, and joy of your presence as you dry every tear from our face.
Rich Forbes