Loosen Your Grip

(Rosa Bonheur, “Wild Cat” 1850)

Once, I drove with my husband to one of his music gigs far away from home. I dropped him off with his gear and went to find someplace to have coffee while he performed. I was not familiar with the area. I found myself in one of those business parks where all the buildings are offices and warehouses. It was deserted because it was night. As I passed through a small intersection, I saw a dead cat in the middle of the intersection. But what was odd was that as I drove past the cat, it had those glowing eyes that cats sometimes have, and the eyes of the cat met mine and followed me as I passed. As chilling as that was, I had to conclude that the cat was not dead. Maybe it had recently been hit by a car and was stunned. I turned around and drove back to check it out. That cat was vulnerable. It might get hit by another car, or it could become prey to a larger animal like a coyote. But it could also hurt me.

I pulled over and took a towel I happened to have in the back seat (I was a swimmer in those days), and I moved toward the cat. I began to talk to the cat and tell it that I meant no harm but just wanted to move it out of the road. I bent down, and the cat went limp. I wrapped it in the towel and picked it up, talking to it gently the whole time. There was a clump of bushes far from the road, so I tucked the cat in the bushes and left it there.

What was interesting was that the cat—which was probably a feral cat, considering that this was not a residential area—could have really hurt me—hissed, scratched, or bit me. But it did not. It ceased striving and allowed me to find it and help it.

When we read in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God,” we may think we are being called to stop being so busy with this and that and just sit still for a change so we can commune more closely with God. And that is certainly good advice. But it does not seem to be the advice given in this psalm. The word in Hebrew for “be still” (raphah) has a meaning that is closer to “cease striving.” It means to sink down. To let drop. To loosen your grip. To let your hands drop from work. To let go. To fall limp. To collapse. This is exactly what the cat did when it was faced with an impossible situation. The cat went limp and allowed itself to be rescued.

Another story: I was working at my desk when I noticed a flock of crows (a “murder” of crows) making a big commotion outside my window. They were screeching and hollering and circling one particular crow who was on the ground. I wondered about it but went back to work because it’s not unusual for crows to be loud. After a while, the commotion died down, and I forgot about it. But later, I looked out and saw the one crow on the ground flopping around. I went out to see what the problem was. The crow had gotten stuck in one of the sticky traps I had left out to catch the many rats that come for the food in my chicken coop.

I fetched a towel again (remembering the cat incident) and started to pursue the bird. It flopped away from me as best it could, but there came a moment when it saw it could not win the chase. At that moment, it collapsed in a heap and went limp. Again, I told it I meant no harm, wrapped it in the towel and took it to where I had some scissors to carefully cut away the trap from its feathers. Then, I took it out to the field, opened the towel and stepped back. It took a few moments to gather itself, but it finally flew away.

Again, this animal could have attacked with that big black beak or with its claws, but it did not. It let go and allowed me to free it.

Yet another story: There was a girl lying stunned at an intersection, stuck in the sticky trap of a life of poor decisions. She had lived long enough to see where her choices led and how unable she was to manage her own life. Many of her life choices were made out of pure self-indulgence and ended up very destructive. She even had the stain of blood on her hands from destroying her child in abhortion. She was truly lost.

But this girl had heard of Jesus. And even not knowing anything about this Jesus, she received a very special gift from Him: the gift of a quiet faith. She just knew that she knew that He meant her no harm and that He could help her. One day, she ceased striving and allowed this Jesus to find her. That day, she went from dead to alive, from lost to found, from enslaved to free. In other words, being still (falling limp, ceasing striving, relaxing her grip), she knew that He was God.

The crow flew away, but this girl flew into the arms of her rescuer and has never left Him since. I left the cat once I got it out of the road, but Jesus has never left this girl.

How about a Bible story? Luke 15:20 tells of a young man who was much like our cat, crow, and lost girl. He lived recklessly until he ran out of options and money, and then he headed back home to the father he had dishonored and rejected. The Bible tells us that while the prodigal son “was still a long way off, his father saw him.” The father was waiting for the son to loosen his grip and become willing to be found. He meant his son no harm—only good. When he saw his son, he ran out to meet him at the risk of his own dignity in the eyes of his servants, his neighbors—the whole village. The son saw his father’s costly demonstration of love. He ceased striving and knew his father at last.

The son became willing to be found, and the father considered that cause to celebrate.

Luke 15:24 “For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” And they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:32 ^“But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”

The father said these words twice—once to his servants by way of instruction and once to his other son by way of explanation. If Jesus repeated it, we should pay attention: When you are dead in your sins and lost in the world, and you cease striving and become willing to be found, God finds you, gives you life, and celebrates.

Are you stuck in a sticky trap? Are you hiding out from God because of the mess you’ve made? Are you relying on your self-will? Are you clenching your fist, clinging to your own way? Have you heard God’s gentle voice telling you He means you no harm?

God is waiting for you to let go, be still, cease striving, loosen your grip, and let Him be known to you. He has something for you that you can’t get on your own. He has freedom from sin for you. He has life for you. Where you are stuck in a cycle of going nowhere (what the prophet Isaiah describes as “desolate, a captive, and wandering to and fro”), God has a place for you with Him. And it’s a party! He has the finest clothes for you to wear—the best robe and sandals for your feet. A fatted calf! He has a ring for you, and it’s His signet ring, which bears His identity so you can be recognized as one of His own. He has a new life of meaning and purpose and dignity and freedom for you.

Are you ready to “be still, and know”?

(Thank you, Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey, for your teachings on the Prodigal Son!)

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