One of my favorite movies is a Sandra Bullock one from a few years ago called ‘While You Were Sleeping’. Near the end there’s a part I always thought was weird. Jack, who is developing feelings for Lucy, tells her he saw her ‘leaning’ toward another man. When she questions what this ‘leaning’ means, Jack basically says it means intimacy with that person. I never really considered the truth in that statement until lately .
As I sat in church service I noticed once again that some couples sit beside each other and their bodies lean in or touch the other person. There doesn’t seem to be an age where it is more prominent, but rather spans all ages from young adults to seniors. Is there really more intimacy between these couples than the ones who sit rigidly apart? I’m thinking yes because if I remember my ‘falling in love’ days, Albert and I leaned toward each other all the time as did every other couple we knew. Somewhere life gets in and changes the intimacy between us a little at a time until we don’t realize that intimacy has been broken.
I think it’s the same with the Lord. Life intrudes, the cares of the world, our own needs, the negative side of our trials and sorrows, the daily stresses and disappointments, and it slowly, brick by brick, builds a wall between us and our Savior until one day we are faced with that wall right in front of our eyes and we are shocked asking how it happened. Step by step we stopped leaning toward the Lord and our intimacy with Him was broken. Mercifully, it can be fixed. We can return to our first Love. (Jer 24:7, Deut. 30:2 KJV) We can begin again to work on our relationship to improve it. We need to start to lean on our Lord once again throughout the day, in good times and bad, and instead of moving farther away from Him, move in closer- especially when we don’t understand the ‘whys’ of life.
Job ,15 says, “So are the paths of all that forget* God… He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.” If we do not turn toward God in intimacy we will rely on ourselves which will precipitate a fall, and we shall not endure in this journey. We are meant to endure with the Lord. Though we are weak, He is strong, (2 Cor. 13:9) and He will carry us through the storms of life (Is. 25:4). We have His many promises. (2 Cor. 1:20)
*Not so much indicative of lapse of memory so much as “to ignore”.
Lean on Him. Trust in Him. Maintain your intimacy with Him. Remember His words…
Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Matt. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
2Cor. 1:9 … we should not trust in ourselves, but in God…
1Tim. … nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, …
John Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
This is one entry I ‘preach’ to myself all the time because I’ve got a long way to go…