who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation.
God is a saving God for us;
the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death.
(Psalm 67 LXX)
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
"Woman, you are set free of your infirmity."
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
(Luke 13)
. . .
Standing up straight has never been my strong suit. Not because I can't, but because it requires an attention to my body, the was I carry myself, that I just haven't practiced. I suspect that standing erect came as a delight after eighteen years of stooping. The next day, though? How did she do? Did she stoop out of habit? That's what I find, at least, after moments of revelation, of healing: it's living out of the newness of life that's difficult. Habit pulls me in the opposite direction, and I stoop. I forget that the one who heals also remains; he 'bears our burdens' so that we can walk upright.
Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!
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