A 40-Day Spiritual Journey for Breakthrough Creativity, Day 5 — Where do you go, when you feel you can go no further?
When you hit rock-bottom, where do you go from there?
The gravity of creativity. Physically, we know that what goes up must come down. However, the spiritual reality of Cross Creativity is different–what goes down in Christ ultimately must rise up with Christ. It is this buoyancy of creativity that renders typical perceptions of breakthrough redundant–the determined resolve to try and push through somehow with all your strength is replaced by a surrender to the buoyancy of God’s grace.
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Romans 5:20, the bible
I’m thinking of Joseph (the biblical character) who was bullied by his brothers, beat up, and left to die in a pit. And then on quasi-compassionate grounds he is sold to passing traders on their way to Egypt as a slave! Imagine your own flesh and blood treating you as such. As the story unfolds, Joseph goes through a period of testing and trial, being falsely accused, and landing up in jail, where he learns humility. When he is called upon to interpret Pharoah’s dream, he confesses that not he, but God is able to interpret Pharoah’s dream, and then proceeds to interpret Pharoah’s dream. By God’s favour and subsequently Pharoah’s order, Joseph rises to the position of the second most powerful man in Egypt after Pharoah.
Even though Joseph’s story plays out years before that of Christ, we get a foretaste of the gravity of creativity and the buoyancy of grace. Later on the story records Joseph as telling his brothers, who when they finally meet Joseph, confess and repent of their act of treachery (for fear of their lives one might imagine): “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
The whole idea of where sin increases, there grace abounds all the more in the aftermath of the work of Christ on the Cross, is the echo of the gravity of creativity and the buoyancy of grace reverberating through history…even today.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…
Genesis 50:20, the bible
This is great news. When we hit rock bottom, are mistreated wrongfully by the hands of the very people who should be looking out for us, but instead turn their backs toward us; when we go through unmerited suffering for no fault of our own; when we do not get what we deserve…THEN we can remember that the gravity of the creativity of Christ works differently. Only surrender, and be carried in an entirely unexpected way. When we surrender ourselves to Christ we can expect the unexpected at the very last moment. A complete turnaround. The creativity of Christ never fails.
If we are faithless, he remains faithful—
2 Timothy 2:13
prayer
god, once again i’ve hit rock bottom. but through the gravity of your creativity, in the strength of your grace, the spiritual buoyancy of grace that i can rely upon to bring me up each time, i rest. i remember your actions in the past to enter into the midst of the messiest and bring about something beautiful. countless times. you have done it. and you will do it yet again. surely your love is what awaits me. that is my story. i confess my presumptuousness. forgive me. rescue me. no other rope is long enough to reach me where i am at. i reach out to you. your hand alone can help me. Thank you. in jesus’ name. amen.
An affirmation of faith:
I will not give in to the temptation to think that my life is in someone else’s hands. As if someone else or some other situation will determine my outcome. I commit my spirit into your hands. I am the apple of your eye. You will not let any harm come to me. I can rely on you. Even when I was unfaithful, you Lord are faithful. I appeal to your mercy–not getting what I deserve, and I tug on the rope of your grace–getting what I don’t deserve in Jesus Christ my God and the one who rescues me. You draw me out of the depths of despair. You bring new life into my being.
scripture for meditation
Psalm 19:7-9 (The Message)
The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.
And the next few verses are extremely relevant for directing our thoughts when we hit rock-bottom:
God’s Word is better than a diamond,
better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring,
better than red, ripe strawberries.
There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger
and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins,
from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed,
scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
