Bite-Sized: Reflection

Story: Recurve Bow

What I have in front of me here is a bow. A friend gave it to me, actually. It’s a “recurve” style bow, named after the design on each end that curves “again.”

Pretty simple in concept. You bend it to take the string on… and off.

Now, I’ve never used this when I’m in a tree stand hunting deer—although you could, I guess. I use a compound bow, which is designed to shoot faster but a lot easier.

Nevertheless, the principles for accurate shooting with a bow are the same, no matter the kind of bow you’re using.

If you’ve never shot a bow before, the first time you do it, it’s kind of intimidating—it feels funny; there’s this arrow that hopefully is going to fly away from you; there’s this string that’s hard to pull back and is going to snap forward really fast once you let it go.

And so, your instinct at first is to just grab on pretty tightly with your hands to both the bow and the string—to “white knuckle” it, so to speak.

And ironically, that’s the thing that will produce the most inaccuracy in your shooting. The harder you grip the bow and the string—the more you “white knuckle” it—the worse your shots are.

When you’re taught how to properly shoot a bow, a lot of times they’ll explain it to you by talking about walls. You’re supposed to kind of imagine pushing a wall forward with your bow hand by letting the bow rest comfortably against your palm and relaxing your grip; and you’re supposed to let the strings rest against the pads of your fingers as you pull that wall back.

Grip either tightly, and you’ll turn it as you release. Push straight forward and pull straight back, and your arrow will fly true.

But it takes some discipline and practice—because everything in you says that you should white knuckle that thing.

Transition

And I think that instinct is understandable–whether we’re talking about a bow and arrow, or anything else that is new and kind of dangerous or intimidating or even scary. We have a tendency to “white knuckle” anything that makes us feel that way. Why?

Well… because it gives us a feeling of control. When it feels like we might be in danger of flying out of control… grab on and hold tight.

Here’s the obvious problem with that strategy:

There’s so much in life that is 100%, completely, utterly, unchangeably out of our control. Doesn’t matter whether you white knuckle it our not. Like grabbing on to the bungee cord that is already harnessed to your ankles as you plunge hundreds of feet down… not gonna matter how tight your grip is.

Question

So here’s the question I have for you right now:

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What is one thing that I am “white knuckling” in my life right now?

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Maybe you’re worried about it. It feels out of yourcontrol. You can’t really predict how it’s going to go. You’re kind of afraid of how it might work out or not work out.

These are the things that kinda make you tight in the chest or sick to your stomach when you think about them. Your mind can spin round and round on them. And your instinct is to spend a lot of your mental, emotional, or even financial energy “white knuckling” it.

What is one thing right now that you’re “white knuckling?”

Exegesis: John 11

There’s this great story of two women in John 11 who, despite going through a situation that absolutely called for some white knuckling, did exactly the opposite. It’s the story of a man named Lazarus—who gets sick, dies, and is dead for 4 days before Jesus raises him back to life.

And it’s the story of two of his two sister, Mary and Martha. But really… it’s a story about Martha.

So, here’s how the story goes. Jesus gets news that his friend, Lazarus, is sick. Jesus has been healing people, so there’s an obvious expectation that, once he receives the news, he’ll come at once, do his thing, and Lazarus will be up and at ‘em.

But Jesus doesn’t come right away. And Lazarus dies.

By the time Jesus does come, Lazarus has been dead for 4 days. And he has this interaction with Lazarus’ sister and Jesus’ friend, Martha:

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John 11:21-22 ““Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

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If you would’ve been here, he wouldn’t have died.

But I know that even now—even now—God will give you, Jesus, whatever you ask.

That is incredible right there.

Think about that.

This woman knew that Jesus had the power to do whatever for whoever.

But he didn’t. He let Lazarus die.

She had been mourning for 4 days.

And her words to Jesus aren’t “How dare you?” or “Why didn’t you?”

They were:

You could have.

You didn’t.

But even now…

I believe you can.

I asked you a question earlier, and now I want to ask you another one:

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What is one thing that you need to ask God for in the new year… even now?

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Dead for 4 days.

Even now.

You could’ve stopped it but didn’t.

Even now.

It feels out of control, and that I had better white knuckle it.

Even. Now.

Believing that Jesus can… what is one thing that you need to ask God for in the new year… even now?

One more part of the story we should be connected to as we think about this. Here’s what Jesus says when he first hears the news about Lazarus’ sickness:

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John 11:4 “When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

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And then right before he makes good on what he just said here, he says:

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John 11:40-44 “Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

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Listen:

It might feel pretty risky to ask God for something that you’re holding pretty tightly to. It’s gonna feel like it makes a lot more sense to keep a pretty firm grip on it.

But if you can relax that grip and ask him… even now…

Think about this:

Who might benefit from seeing God answer your prayer? Who might see just how good and glorious our God is?