Backward

By Jerry D. Ousley

            My Dad had an old Chevrolet pickup truck.  It was a four-speed manual transmission, but don’t let that fool you; first gear was actually called “granny gear” because it went very slowly and was used when you were going forward in a rough or muddy place that required slow as you go speed.  I remember that the clutch was stiff making it extremely difficult to shift gears as you were going down the road.  I know because I remember a trip that I made in it, after I had gotten my drivers license, with my cousin and my brother.  It was not a pleasant trip and I’ll save that story for another time.

            What I want to tell you about that truck today is that there came a point when it got stuck in reverse.  It wouldn’t budge into any other gear.  Now I’ve never claimed to be a mechanic so I can’t explain why it got stuck or what was going on in the transmission gear box that caused it; all I know is that it would only go backward.

            Did you ever wonder about the reverse gear in a vehicle?  There are at least three and sometimes four forward gears.  My little KIA Soul has six forward gears.  Each of these gears allows you to go faster when shifted.  But when it comes to reverse there is only one gear.  Why?  Because going backward requires caution.  We have to watch what we are doing or we could run over something or someone.  So, there is only one gear because the vehicle was made to only go backward when absolutely necessary.

            This was one of those occasions.  The truck would only go backward.  There was a repair garage about a mile down the highway from where we lived, and Dad declared that we were taking it there to get it fixed.  So, my brother, Ken, and I dutifully and excitedly wanted to share in that adventure.  We hopped in the truck, with Dad at the wheel.  In reverse we went, down our driveway, out onto our street and finally turning – backward – onto the highway – a major US highway mind you, not just a secondary highway, and in reverse he drove that mile to the repair garage.  Why we didn’t get stopped by the police I’ll never know.  The correct procedure would have been to call a tow truck.  But we were poor and had to do things the poor way, which required us to travel that mile – backward.

            In John 18:1-9, we read of a “backward” experience.  Judas had betrayed Jesus and was leading a small army of temple soldiers to take our Lord prisoner.  They were armed with weapons, and carrying torches and lanterns.  Sounds a lot like the villagers coming for Frankenstein to me.  Anyway, they arrived to where Jesus and His disciples were and, in the other Gospels, Judas went up and kissed Him on the cheek as a sign as to which person was to be taken prisoner.  It says, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went FORWARD and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’  They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’  Jesus said to them, ‘I am He.’  And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.  Now when He said to them, ‘I am He,” they drew BACK and fell to the ground.”  (John 18:4-6).  The capitalization on FORWARD and BACK are mine, not actually capitalized in the Bible.  But the two occurrences of the word “He” are in italics in the Bible because these are words that are added for clarity and are not actually in the original language.  So, Jesus really said “I AM.”  That excites me because when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush way back in Exodus 3:14, and Moses had asked, “Who should I tell them (the people of Israel) has sent me” God told him to tell them ‘I AM WHO I AM.  Tell them ‘I AM’ has sent me.”  So, Jesus wasn’t just saying, “I’m the one you are looking for,” but He identified Himself as very God when I said, “I AM.”  In essence, “You boys are here to arrest God!”  John tells us that when Jesus said this that they stepped back as far as they could go and fell down backwards!  Can you imagine the clanging of their weapons as they stumbled and fell down?  Can you see in your mind the confusion of those men?  Yes, they got back up and arrested Him, led Him away and ultimately crucified Him, but in that moment the power of the Almighty God showed that they couldn’t just waltz up and take Him.  He had to allow it.

            With Christ in our lives, we can’t help but to bow down to our Lord and Savior.  We realize what He has accomplished in His death and resurrection.  We know that He paid the penalty for our sin and then rose again becoming the first-fruit of resurrection.  We follow Him when we come to the Lord because we “die” to our sin and are resurrected a new creation in Christ Jesus.  We also anticipate the day when we will be resurrected back to life with Him when He comes in the clouds.  Coming to Christ is definitely a move forward.

            I guarantee you that if Christ decided to reveal Himself today in His true resurrected form, that Christians would immediately bow before Him, while those who reject Him would stumble backward and fall.  The power of God almighty will make you bow or fall.  I’m not speaking of an emotional experience, but of the actual presence of God.

            I don’t care who you are, how rich or poor you might be, how influential you may or may not be, how strong or weak you are, you and I will either bow or fall before God.  Oh, it may not be today.  But trust me, it will come.  Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 45:23 and Paul quoted in Romans 14:11, “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”  Does that mean that everyone will be saved?  It does not.  What it does mean is that either bowing or falling, everyone will acknowledge God.  Some will bow in worship, and some will bow because His awesome presence drives them down.  I want to bow willingly to my Lord and Savior.  I don’t want to stumble and fall backward; I want to worship my Savior.  What about you?  Are you going to stumble and fall backward, or are you going to bow your will to Him and fall to your knees in worship?  It is your choice.  It is your life.  Live it backward or forward, but forward is always a better trip.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.