How G-d Wounds And Then Heals the Exhorter

The Start of A New Series.

For the record, I could write the following about any other one of the Redemptive Gifts.

And if you want me to handle all seven gifts on this topic I will. And it will not be fun for any of us.

For one very specific reason

Each of us has an area that is part of our design that is both a strength, but when mishandled becomes a really bad weakness.

I have a specific reason for dealing with the Exhorter first.

They are lynchpins in creation that are designed to help us grip reality better than any of the other gifts, if they will first grip reality themselves.

And too often they come up short in fully executing because of their refusal to embrace ALL of reality, or they hide from portions of reality that are critical to them demonstrating they have embraced the whole of reality, inclusive of the painful, hard, difficult, uncomfortable parts.

The Exhorter is known for having a notorious habit of overpromising and under-delivering on what they say they are going to do.

Or they take information that is given to them, and stretch it to fit their perceptions. They hear, “do this”, and so frequently, they take it to mean, “do this or anything else that comes swimming into your mind, no matter what was originally said to you.”

And so, much like G-d has to walk the Prophet through great pain in order to get them to connect relationally with others in order to build out the Second Level of Natural Law (the set of principles governing relationships between man and man), so too G-d has to walk the Exhorter into great pain in order to force the issue of…

equivocation….

or the attitude of….

“if I engage this behavior, it will be good enough to meet the parameters of what is expected of me”

to the surface….

in order to remove it so he can push the Exhorter into a place where the Exhorter has to become precise and exacting in what the Exhorter does so they can learn the value of precision in word and deed and commitment…

rather than glad-handing and jollying others into seeing things the Exhorter’s way.

And too often the Exhorter, because of their relational skills of networking and connecting with other people, too often uses those people they connect with, in order to move themselves into a better place.

Too often, they resort to gaming situations, people, and circumstances with their many words and winning personalities, in order to gain an advantage.

I have an old friend from college who lives in Redding, California, and works with a well-known, independent, full gospel religious community headquartered in Redding.

The way this friend, an Exhorter, got there was through leaping from season to season, a series of seasons where she moved from one set of friends to another more notable set of friends. Once she perceived that one set of friends were less popular than this other set of friends, she would allow the connection with the set of friends who could not advance her deteriorate in favor of strengthening the connection that would bring her greater notoriety, and this friend, who used to be close friends with my roommate and his wife, no longer communicates with them.

It would seem that Exhorters, if their will remains unsubmitted or uncrucified, tend toward a pattern of jumping ship, leaving one set of relationships in the dust in order to move to a new set of relationships.

So, how does G-d fix this problem? I am only so glad you asked, and to answer that question, we are going to show a series of scenes featuring my favorite Exhorter.

Stark Raving Hazelnuts

You knew, given my predilection for analysis of Redemptive Gifts in film, and my discussion of the Exhorter in particular, that I was somehow going to put a film clip featuring Tony Stark. But, his timeline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is precisely that of how an Exhorter goes to possess his or her birthright. And this injury opens the door to two things 1) a removal of ignoarance to how his weapons were being used and sold on the black market without his knowledge, and 2) a personal choice to engage in increasing risks in order to save those people that he feels he put in harm’s way.

And as he knows that the Ten Rings has access to his weapons, he decides to do something about it. And the look on the thumbnail below says it all: I have to do something to stop them from the destruction I enabled in my ignorance. The Exhorter has got to come to grips with how his or her actions messed up situations and people. He or she must beg for an understanding of fullness of reality.

Part 2 of this sequence here.

And the risk to himself that came with rescuing people at potentially great personal expense.

And then the explanation he gives to Pepper basically puts a bow on the entire segment.

Tony realizes the problem that he is fixing is the result of his ignorance and actions. And, without flinching, he owns it, and is completely vulnerable to the Servant who has cared for him for years.

“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. Now that I’m trying to protect the people I’ve put in harm’s way, you’re going to walk out?”

Tony Stark to Pepper Potts, Iron Man, 2008

And you realize in this scene that something in him seems to have sobered up. There is an emotional reconciliation and squaring-up to his actions that has begun to take place.

“There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it.”

Tony Stark to Loki, the Avengers, 2012

He is learning at least part of his place in all of this.

And now the first place of sacrifice, that leads to PTSD

Sometimes the Exhorter, in getting healed, has to embrace a situation, or two, or three, or twenty where they have to put their lives on the line. See Jesus dying on the cross as an example of this. Our requirement in dealing with reality, and especially for the Exhorter, is there will be times when brutal sacrifices must be made.

And losses add up.

There is a conversation during Avengers: Infinity War where Doctor Strange tells Tony that there is a 1 in 12,000,000 chance of defeating Thanos, and in the following scene, Strange’s one finger tells Tony nonverbally that this is the only way Thanos will be defeated, which involves Tony’s death.

So, the Exhorter sacrifices himself for everyone else.

Gang, specifically, Exhorters, your portion is to cry out for reality and to solve the problems that involve violations of reality. To this end, you cannot allow yourselves to become the ones who, through your relational skill and way with words, violate reality yourselves, even if it means the hard conversations that involves your repentance or confession of bitterness.

And, no, you cannot have these conversations in passing as you are doing other things. You must have deep conversations with others and engage in deep actions that are intentional in building out the work of the kingdom directly.

This is not an “as it fits into my agenda” set of tasks. This is the agenda you must choose to pick up instead of the other agenda you think is productive.

And, unfortunately as it may seem, this means you will have to embrace pain as you reconcile the apparent disparity between a love relationship with G-d the Father on the one hand and intense amounts of pain in order to grow on the other hand.

This is not a time for “why me?”. This is a time to step into the gym and grow. And the only way an Exhorter grows is with pain. Period. And they get a greater ROI out of embracing more pain than the other six gifts combined.

There can be a joyful life for the Exhorter, but it must also be paired with sobriety.

Just some thoughts here, gang.

And for the link to the second post in this series, click here for my post on the Mercy.