I struggled up the single flight of stairs. The pain in that left knee was well deserved for all the abuse it had taken over the years. For someone who likes to run down the stairs and take them two at a time going up, this was a dismal pace. Since I hadn’t actually been to a doctor since the accident months before, I didn’t really know the extent of the damage. It had healed and seemed fine after a couple of months. But often, like this time, it flared up in agony and reminded me that there was probably something that needed to be done to help things return to normal. I took another limping step, grimaced a bit and wished I had something right here at home that I could get some relief from.
Immediately the personal gym weight bench in the garage came to mind. Yes, it was covered with boxes and “stuff”. No, it wouldn’t be too difficult to unbury. And yes, it would provide a good resource for strengthening and restoring that ailing knee. Not now because I’ve got something else I need to do. So I grimace through another step. I have owned it for years and the fellow I bought it from just wanted it out of his way. He just didn’t use it any more. So I had eagerly brought it home, set it up and put it to immediate use. It was great to see the muscles building again. Regular use made it effective and allowed others to see I was taking good care of the body the Lord had given me.
It had lasted for a while, months maybe a year or so. Then the slacking off fell into place. The ‘busy with other things’ made for fewer visits to the gym spot in the garage. Then came the day I don’t even remember anymore. The day when something was first stacked on it. Just for a few minutes while I was cleaning the garage. Then it was convenient to leave a box there for a bit. I could easily move it when I felt the urge to work out a little. I recall the day I moved a box off the seat and saw the clean spot under the box surrounded by the dust accumulation. I wondered just how long it had been since I had stretched myself on that helpful bench.
And to be completely truthful, I wasn’t moving that box to use the bench. I was simply restacking the storage area it had become. I was a bit older, more settled in my routines and although my body still benefitted from previous years of its use, the lack of use was beginning to show. Occasionally, I would take spurts of efforts on it but eventually the storage area had to be restacked. Naturally I was very open and proud of the times I was using it and getting good results. I know folks noticed when I wasn’t faithful to it. I even noticed. Although I knew what was best for me, I continued to accept the diminishing value of not using it.
There I was on the steps with all of this running through my mind, wondering what was more important than taking care of my health and why things had gotten in the way. It takes more effort to stay strong as you grow older, not less. I then thought about the dusty book. There certainly was a terrific parallel here. I remembered the time years before when I knew the strengthening power of the daily reading. I was able to understand it, believe it, practice it and see its promises fulfilled. Then came the time when I was feeling pretty good about myself and didn’t think I needed a daily dose. After all, I was pretty sharp, learned fast and remembered more than most of my peers. I found that I could go a couple of days without reading it and still retained enough to make it appear as though my routine had not changed.
Then the days of neglect became a week and then longer. It did not happen overnight, but there was a noticeable impact. My thought process changed. I was no longer focused on the things in the book. Other interests occupied my mind and references to them started coming out more often than what folks had heard before. They were used to me spouting off references to what I had learned in my intense sessions in the book. But this was different. Maybe for some it was a welcome relief. Sometimes they couldn’t make the leap from where their understanding was to what I was sharing. Until one day, when I saw the dust on the book. It had been so long since I had picked it up that mentally I was running on fumes and former memories of what had been strengthening discoveries long ago.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t pick it up, it was that I didn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to pick it up, it was that I didn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t have enough distractions and even good things I needed to do which seemed to steal away my time. It was simply that I had enough gas in my tank to keep going and wasn’t watching the gauge to see when I needed a refill. When I saw the dust, I knew I needed to pick it up. That book is the Bible. I need some of it every day. Just like the personal weight gym I had languishing in the garage, I needed to dust the Bible off and put it to use. My knees would be much improved with a little careful strengthening exercise. My shoulders and neck muscles would stop complaining of their stiffness. The garage usefulness could even by improved by the necessary cleanup.
The physical improvements I would experience from a renewed relationship with my gym would yield benefits for years to come. And as my knees were reminding me, I needed all the help I could get right now. The Spiritual renewal I had experienced from that commitment to never let that Bible gather dust again was strengthening and powerful. My restored zeal seemed odd to some, but encouraged others. The joy of once again seeing opportunities to be used to help folks to know Jesus and love Him was mountaintop wonderful. Finding the spark to explode the truth as light in the darkness was once again more than a metaphor. Just as the gym was used to melt away fat and restore muscle tone which my knees and other body parts so desperately needed, a renewed relationship with God’s Word is also effective beyond our wildest imagination.
That was years ago and still the need to focus on the important things is there. It takes a balance to be productive. I can’t work out on the gym for hours and expect my spiritual heart to be better tuned in to God’s desires. I can’t read my Bible all day and expect my monthly bills to go away. I can’t work long hours at my job while ignoring these other things and expect personal and family relationships to be smooth sailing. But I have learned as Paul said, “In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content”. I have also realized that if I give the Lord the very first part of my day, the rest seems to fall into place. And even when it appears to be falling apart, time spent in His Word causes troubles to seem far less powerful.
I need good knees. I’ve got stairs to climb. I need a spiritually clean heart and mind. I have challenges or opportunities or seeming disasters ahead which can only be overcome with His love. There’s no greater love than His love. There’s no better word than His Word. There’s no higher name than His name. There’s no better place to know Him than deep within. Songs will be sung, preaching will be raised, and worship will be offered. Not because He needs it, but because we need the exercise, we need to be strengthened to draw closer to Him. Down on my knees is the most high place I can know. In His presence is where I seek His face. He is the one audience which sees and knows all I do and don’t do. He knows the balance I need and the time I need to spend strengthening those knees.