Wednesday, January 31, 2024 Dancing
Read: Jeremiah 31:4-5, 13 and Ephesians 3:16-21 The Limbo Dance
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy;
I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.
(Jeremiah 31:13, NRSVUE)
About the time we think it can’t get any worse, it does. We may think we have nothing more to give, but we do. Life is only challenging us to dance the limbo.
“Down and down we go, let’s limbo…” The limbo bar fell so low for the exiled Israelites that they despaired of ever surviving, much less thriving again in their homeland. Yet, God encouraged them through the prophet Jeremiah, promising to bring them through the ordeal and even turn their mourning into joy.
Six hundred plus years later, Paul delivered a similar message to the oppressed nation and to us. Rooted in Christ, we are capable of far more than we realize. When life takes us lower, we can bend and flex to meet the challenge … if rooted in the power of Christ’s Holy Spirit in us. Only then can we limbo lower. Only then can we experience God’s transforming power, turning our sorrows into gladness.
Be still and Reflect: What was the last experience that challenged you to limbo lower, to stretch what you thought was your maximum capability? What did that experience teach you? How did it influence and transform you as you move forward today?
Pray: Dear Lord, I thank You for holding me close through both my joys and my tears. When it’s time to limbo lower, provide me with Your strength and courage to bend and stretch myself to face the challenge, and to do so in a way that remolds me closer to the image of Christ. Through Your grace and according to Your power at work within me, I trust that You will do immeasurably more in me and through me than I can ask or imagine. In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.
Gloria