Spinal Tapping

I checked off a bucket list item back in 2007 when I had the opportunity to visit Italy with my family (again) and see the Leaning Tower of Pisa just north of Florence (for the first time). I have a propensity to "do the tourist thing" in most of the places I go. I've kissed the Blarney Stone in County Cork, Ireland, I've punted the Thames through Cambridge, England, I've fed the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy, and in this case, I have an ignominious picture of pregnant me, sunglasses carefully adjusted to protect my eyes from the blinding Italian sun, one hand on a hip, the other raised into the air, "holding up" via camera trickery and perspective, the Leaning Tower far behind me.

Of course your first thought is: What in the world does the Leaning Tower have to do with Genesis 6-8 where I was this morning? That is an excellent question, which I will do my best to answer. ;)

This was the story of the global flood, the deluge that destroyed the entire earth - except for eight people and variety of wildlife. It's the story of faithful Noah in the middle of a situation that Genesis 6:5 describes like this: "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time."

But Noah, in verse 9, "was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God." 

Talk about a contrast of light and dark, good and evil. When "every inclination" was all evil, all the time (sounds like a radio station), here comes Noah, "a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time." He "walked faithfully with God." (See my post yesterday about his great-grandfather, Enoch). 

No wonder the people jeered at Noah! 2 Corinthians 6:14 says: "What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" 

Here's Noah, building this monstrosity of an ark, and the people of his time pointed fingers and laughed at him. "What do you think you're doing? You're in the middle of a desert! You think there's going to be enough water to float this thing? You're insane!"

Noah may have engaged them, preached to them, or maybe he ignored them. Either way, he kept building, because God had told him to. He walked faithfully with the Lord. He kept shaving the pegs to fit the holes, he kept watching the plumb lines to adjust his construction into straight angles, he kept fitting the wood together for a watertight seal.

You'd think after a worldwide mass destruction, people might have learned a pretty valuable lesson: God is God, and we are not. 

It appears that hard lessons can still be forgotten over time. Peter, apostle of Christ, writes in 2 Peter 3:3-7: "Above all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, 'Where is this 'coming' He promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly."

Hard lessons, if unlearned, come back. If we don't take a stand, plant our feet solidly on the firm foundation the first time, we slowly lean over time, until suddenly, we're no longer perpendicular, we're no longer at right angles with the Rock. We are now easy to knock over.

Psalm 62:2-3 says: "Truly He is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Fortress. I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down - this leaning wall, this tottering fence?" 

How important is it to get the angles right? 

I hate geometry with a passion. It was the one class in high school that I almost failed. It never clicked, and those geometry proofs were murder. I consider myself to be... not erudite, but semi-intelligent. I usually can grasp concepts, think about them, find a reasonable balance, and apply them. But geometry seemed to be beyond my grasp. My poor teacher, Mr. Zeek, kept me after class time after time and tried his best to explain concepts to me.

It was by a pure miracle of the Lord that I passed the math Praxis years later. Geometry just does not make sense to me.

It's a good thing it makes sense to builders. I know nothing about modern-day construction, but I do remember a teacher explaining how builders in ancient times would use a plumb line to construct a wall that was at a right angle to the foundation. They would hang a thin rope with a plumb bob at the end of it, and gravity would pull the rope to the exact angle it needed to be for the strongest and surest wall.

But the foundation had to be steady, or it would shift (see the Leaning Tower of Pisa) and the angle had to be correct or it would totter (see David's fear that this would happen if he did not root himself in the Rock). "He is my Rock and my Salvation." He couldn't be shaken if he adjusted his wall exactly to the plumb line and rooted himself on the immovable foundation.

Some of you know that I have scoliosis, curvature of the spine. It's not terrible and for the most part it affects me hardly at all except for some extra aching in my lower back. I know that it used to be worse than what it is now. At one point when I was much younger, I went with a friend to the chiropractor. I got to lie down on my stomach and stick my face in that round doughnut pillow thing. Then the chiropractor went down all my vertebrae and tapped each one with a mallet and a metal tool. It wasn't hard, and it wasn't painful, but I could feel odd things happening in my nerves and muscles when he did. 

My friend told me as we walked out of the office that when I had lain on the table and the chiropractor had positioned me, she'd noticed that my feet didn't line up. They were slightly uneven. As the man had tapped down my spine, she'd watched my feet bounce back into place, into exact alignment with each other at every tap on my spine.

Case in point: Minor adjustments bring about major change.

This morning, I prayed for adjustment. Not just for myself (although, yes Lord, change my view if I am in any way variating from Your view), but for the wider church. The adjustments may be great or small, they may be painful or a small nuisance, but I prayed that no matter what, the Lord would tap our spine. Adjust our height. Bring us into exact alignment with His thoughts in His word. 

In whatever ways we are off the plumb line, I prayed for a shifting back so that we can walk with God in perfect fellowship, in alignment with His heartbeat.