Rooms - James L. Rubart [78]
Micah sat stunned. What he had gone through in the movie room was without question the most powerful spiritual experience of his life, and his own inner voice was questioning if it was from God.
“So you’re saying freedom is not worth pursuing? That Jesus didn’t come to bind up the broken hearts and set the captives free?”
“Freedom is most worthy of pursuing. But we don’t attain freedom by turning inward and focusing on fixing ourselves and trying to feel good inside. It comes from reaching outside ourselves to those who do not yet know the Father. When Isaiah says set the captives free, I seriously doubt it means we are to be freed of any and all the tiny hurts from our childhood. We are new creatures; the old has passed away. That is the truth we must cling to and stand on.”
Micah threw back his head as a tiny moan of laughter escaped his lips.
“We must leave those hurts behind and press on to the upward call. Not muddle around in the past. As the Bible says, I am no longer a child so I put away the childish things. Setting the captives free means we can be free of sin and the devil, and we are free from having to spend eternity apart from God. Amen and amen.”
“Rick says—”
“We both agree that Rick is kind and often wise. But he is a mere man. He doesn’t have all the answers any more than any man does. His opinions are interesting and sometimes true. But the real answers are always in the Word of God. Show me in the Bible where we go into our past and heal personal wounds and, my gosh, let’s do it more and more. I don’t think you’ll find it because it’s not there.”
The voice stopped, and Micah didn’t know where to start.
“But the verse on the door—”
“Easily taken out of context and often distorted. Those verses are talking about Israel and God’s people taking the land and God subduing the nations. It is not a personal message to those of us who have hit some bumps along the road of life. I’m sorry. I wish it was a message the way you’ve interpreted it, but it isn’t.”
Micah’s mind spun as confusion poured down on him. It felt as if the air in the room had thinned, the remaining oxygen refusing to enter his lungs. The dream had brought him more freedom, built more faith, and given him greater hope in the love of Jesus than he could have imagined. And it was wrong?
“You’re saying we shouldn’t feel at all? C’mon.”
“No, no, no, of course we should feel.” The voice laughed. “All I’m saying is we need to admit feelings are what they are. Just feelings. Not reliable, solid evidence of God. As it says in the Word, we have been given a sound mind and must live out of that sound mind. We take ‘every thought captive’ with our minds, not our emotions.”
Micah sighed and turned to leave.
“You’re going so soon?”
“There’s a lot for me to think about.”
“I love you, Micah.”
Micah slammed the door to the room and walked down the hall.
He was beginning to hate himself.
||||||||
Late that Thursday afternoon Micah took a long run to clear his head. Turmoil over his conversation with the voice still swirled in his mind, and he played both sides of the argument back and forth without resolution.
The evening, however, held a ray of hope. He’d intentionally not read Archie’s letter the day before. Now he was glad he’d waited. He needed a good one.
August 28, 1991
Dear Micah,
Today I must let the Word of God speak for itself so this will be a brief correspondence.
“Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—You would not believe if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5)
He is beyond imagination, Micah, and He is drawing you to Himself.
Trust Him. Seek Him.
Archie
Instantly the confusion from his talk with the voice vanished like fog retreating under a blazing morning sun. Peace rushed in, and an image of what he called the brilliant room—where light seemed to pour out from under the door—filled his mind.
Yes. Time for another try.
He took his spiral staircase two stairs