Ear Popping Adjustments
Ears popping. Adjustment. Re-alignment. Have you ever gotten your back re-aligned by a Chiropractor or an adjustment by a Massage Therapist? Pop. Pop. Pop. When suddenly one or both ears pop and magically open up. You thought you were a little out of whack; but the pops and the opening up of your ear gates more fully, gave insight that there was much more being pinched and cut off than was originally obvious. The Holy Spirit and His Holy Word is a double whammy, a skilled Chiropractor and an expert Massage Therapist!
Even for those that truly endeavor to take care of themselves physically and spiritually, find themselves in need of fine tuning and overall adjustment at times. Jeremiah says in Chapter 6:10 “To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the Lord. They don’t want to listen at all”. And all the people said, “Oh me”!
If you live in the real world, doesn’t this sound like most of Christendom? Sad and true. But the real reality is that sometimes it includes us as well. The elect, the disciplined ones, the consecrated and concentrated ones. Those fully surrendered and those attempting full abandonment. There are reasons why we tune out, turn away, ignore, wish it away, or pray away His words. Often times, they can appear unreasonable and feel irrational to us. So then, if it doesn’t make sense then it cannot be sensible. And the sensible, if not even the spiritual thing to do, is to put what we don’t understand on a someday shelf. Waiting for the one day it all fits nicely in our little mental box or a package of convenience. This can be done in willful self-interest or on a more sleuth sub-conscious level. Is there something in your life that you are just hoping it will change so you don’t have to face it or deal with it? Not listening is not hearkening. Hearkening is when something goes in your one ear gate and immediately out the other. Spoken. Poof. Gone. As if the disappearance of truth removes all responsibility of it from our lives.
We can also get out of physical, emotional, and spiritual alignment when we carry loads that are too heavy, burdens that we were never meant to bear. While there are some things that we are called to carry with the partnership of the Holy Spirit. Not that it will not be heavy or hard. But the strength and grace will be there. It’s a load that does not break or bury you. But instead, it builds strength, character and integrity. Because in Christ, what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.
We are called to cast off every weight that readily tries to trip us up. We are also commanded to roll off every burden from our shoulders and place them on His. Jesus’s shoulders are big enough to carry the whole world, he did just that when his shoulders were pinned against a wooden cross. Then defied death and the grave, rising victorious against every obstacle he faced in this present world of darkness. He did this so we would not have to face life alone. Neither would we have to carry burdens alone. His yoke is light, and his burden is easy to bear. The reason his yoke is much easier is because when we are yoked under submission to him like one ox to another, the weight of the burden is shared.
Getting adjustments can also involve quite a bit of time. In the long run, when we do regular check-ups and preventative care it is most convenient and can save us much time. When we submit to a re-alignment, we sit or lie very still while the specialist does the work. I don’t know about you, but that is hard work for me! Be still. Let Him do the work while my only participation is to submit and trust to his manipulating the pieces of me that are out of sorts. Instead, please tell me I can move a mountain, and I will show up in my spiritual overalls with shovel in tote. I will move that mountain. Just tell me where you want it and when you want it done. But time spent waiting in the presence of God versus in a doctors’ waiting room is time well invested. In quietness and trust is your strength and your well-being.
Sometimes we lift loads that can eventually land us flat on our backs. If we had just heeded that quiet whisper, “Come to me all you heavy laden, and I will give you rest for your souls.” It is so much easier to submit to the quietness of soul than to be forced by adverse circumstances or ill situations.
Be still and know that He is God. When we are busy running our life, it is easy to slip into believing that we are the god of our own little universe. Well, that is the way the Master of the Universe calls it in Psalm 81, “Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from your heavy burdens. Listen to Me, while I give you stern warnings, if you would only listen to Me! You must not bow down to a false god. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it with good things. But no, my people wouldn’t listen. They did not want me around. So, I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas.” A false god is anything that does not line up to the truth of His word. Including but not exclusive to our own desires and our own ideas. The idols of our own making. Idols that are sensible, reasonable and rational.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words. Matthew 11:15