Numb

Scripture

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” –Luke 19:40 (NIV)

Thoughts

Two days ago, I woke up in excruciating back pain. As the day progressed, my left arm went numb. I could still tell my arm was there, however, it was difficult to move– almost as if it were frozen. It was NOT a great feeling!

In life, pain will come. But what do we do with the pain? How do we handle it? Often, we try to numb ourselves from the pain. We try to pull the covers over our heads, yet the blanket is too short. We even tell ourselves that we are okay when we really are not. By doing this, we become comfortably numb.

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” –Francis Bacon

Numbness can cause us to die to the things around us. We shut ourselves off or put up walls to the things around us. We feel that if nothing can get in, nothing can hurt us. At this point we can become lost, like sailing aimlessly on the endless sea. If we get so wrapped up in being comfortable, especially to the point of numbness, it can rob us of something bigger. If you try to numb the pain or disregard it by not letting anything in, then you’re not letting anything else in as well – no healing, no love, no purpose, no renewal – nothing.

“Some days the gales are howling. Some days the sea is still as glass. You’re a lost sailor. You’ve been too long at sea.” –Lost Sailor, The Grateful Dead

Without God, we’re all lost. We’re like a ship at sea without a compass. We’re like a ship approaching land in the dark without a lighthouse. We’re like sheep without a shepherd.

Comfort can be a kind of numbness that we don’t realize is keeping us from bigger things. Is it possible to become so comfortable that we find ourselves in a vegetative state or on autopilot flying dangerously low? Is this what we see in each other as we go through the motions of everyday life?

Icarus’ father Daedalus, who was a master craftsman, was hired by the king in order to build a labyrinth under his castle to protect the king. After it’s construction, the king imprisoned both Icarus and Daedalus in the highest tower of his castle, in order to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe. In other words, Icarus and his father were the only people who knew how to get out of the labyrinth, and he didn’t want that secret leaked. Daedalus would often look out the window and study the birds. After observing them for some time, he gathered up feathers that he found and made wings by fastening them down to a strap with wax. The wings were to be used to escape from the tower. After months of training, they were ready to set out over the sea. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sea, or the spray would wash the wax off. He also warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, for it would melt the wax. Icarus didn’t listen and got carried away thinking he was like a god. He flew too close to the sun. All of his feathers became loose and his wings were destroyed. He fell and drowned in the sea while his father flew on alone, crying.

Who, or what, do we worship? Worship the wrong thing and it could lead you to great pain.

“We don’t need to see worship itself redefined as much as we need to change how we approach it.” –The Art of Helping Others

The place that is supposed to help us conquer pain and keep us from getting too comfortable is the church. We go to church and we sit in nice comfy seats. Many churches even try to make themselves more attractive by making its services, programs and classes more and more comfortable. By doing this, do we honestly make it more about us, or the Creator?

“One possible solution to our underwhelming spiritual slumber might be to lock ourselves out of the church. Not permanently; maybe every other week or so. What if we spent our ‘spiritual time’ on people who are actually looking for something more?” –The Art of Helping Others

When you become comfortably numb, you can fall into the shadows where the real you is ignored or unknown to others.

Or are you?

“Irish homes are heated in only one room. Other rooms are so cold you can see you breath. The old Victorian-era windows frost over on the inside. Like these old windows, we to have allow ourselves to grow cold and become frost-covered.” –The Art of Helping Others

Luke 19:40 says how easy it is to fall into the trap of withdrawing to a secluded place of being comfortable within a controlled environment, not being creatively engaging with one another. When we do this as believers, the gospel becomes very small. God doesn’t want us to be so comfortable because if this happens, we will no longer need Him as our All in All.

You are known to God, even when the real you is ignored or unknown to others. When you allow yourself to become numb, the greatest things about you go numb as well. God doesn’t want this for you. You, and those around you, need the real you to surface, to step out of your comfort zone, to force the numbness to go away. Yes, that means some pain will find its way in. But– you are never alone in facing that pain and the victories you’ll experience will make the pain feel … numb.

Just as my arm regained feeling and strength, so can you by accepting God’s grace and living in His Truth.

Imagery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7EpSirtf_E

Don’t allow yourself get to this point.

Stop feeling like you’re lost when in reality, you’re never alone.

Open your heart and let others in.