We are being rubbed in many ways today, but the best rub I know is oil rubbed all over us…. even Holy Ghost oil saturating us with His power. How everyone of us needs this!

We rub in creams, sun tan lotions, and only God knows what else to try to get this skin of ours protected and beautified and we rub our bodies all over when we wash ourselves. We get some hard rubs when we have tar, paint and other sticky substances on them and I remember as a kid I sure didn’t like that… neither did the dog!

But there’s a rub that we’d better make sure we don’t get and that’s getting rubbed the wrong way. The Bible says it’s the little foxes that spoil the vine and although the exact wording isn’t in the scripture, I believe it also relays that little rubs get you into trouble. Becoming offended and irritated will cost you much too much!…. Many can see the kingdom of God, but can’t enter into the kingdom of peace, joy and righteousness because of this very thing.

So how did I get on this subject, eh? As I write now, I can hear my husband saying: “You are an enigma!” He’d always shake his head like he had just read the book: “Men are from Mars and only God knows where women are from.” I have to admit I was shaking my head at myself too, wondering why I was thinking of the nursery rhyme lyrics: “Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub.” I’m thinking lots of S.O.S. signals are flashing through my world of people: “Help! Michele’s mind needs deciphering!” they’re blaring out with my husband up there in the clouds in Heaven saying: “Finally, somebody knows what I’ve had to go through.”

Yes, I’m still going to pursue the “rub a dub dub” theme amidst all your protests. I believe the three men, the butcher, baker, and the candlestick maker all have something of importance to reveal to us. I see them as representative of three ways of thinking:

When Joseph was in prison, God gave him a dream concerning a baker. You would have thought that guy who made all kinds of delightful treats would have been sitting pretty, but no, he was sitting headless. Why? I believe that the baker represents one whose works are dead… Baked goods taste great and look good as do all the good works of man, but there’s no life in them. Truly, we are going to lose our head, the mind of Christ if we dwell on the great works of the flesh we’ve done and plan to do.

Now let’s look at another line of thought we don’t want to have in our minds: The figurative sense of the word “butcher” is a “brutal murderer, one who kills indiscriminately or cruelly,” so from this definition, I believe the butcher represents the “Cain spirit” using the letter of the word to kill us and to strike down the Word of God.

Now we come to the thoughts we do want to retain. I see the candlestick as symbolic of the spirit of man going deep down in his innermost being to get the truth upon which he then makes a stand. It’s at this point we’re rubbing a “dub” which has an etymology meaning of “giving a name to,” “making a knight” from “knight by ceremonially striking with a sword”…. “equipped with arms.” Oh my! My spirit shouted “hallelujah” when I discovered one of the etymology meanings of “stick” to be “rod.” Our candlestick thoughts have great, great power, even to parting the worldly mindsets in our minds so we can enter the Holy of Holies.

Now here is where it gets interesting: The slang meaning of “tub” is “pulpit,” hence “tub-thumper” (speaker or preacher who thumps the pulpit for emphasis.) So I submit to you that what we think about, we will end up preaching, and the three in the nursery rhyme convey what we will choose one or the others to dwell on and to speak out. So here’s the rub: People are going to know what we’re thinking and what we are. Are we full of faith?… Have our spirits gone deep within and drawn what needs to be seen into the light? Do we have a deep well of the Word in us so that we speak only what God speaks? Are our candles hidden under a bushel or are they on their candlesticks joined to others shining brightly on the hill of Mount Zion?

The line that got my attention in the rhyme which rubbed my tummy where the Holy Ghost resides was “to make men stare.” Oh yes, the day is at hand when men shall behold Christ fully formed shining out of us, the “no longer I, but Christ people of God.” The oil rubbed in and flowing out of us will more than make men stare… They’ll be rubbing their eyes and saying: “What manner of men are these?”

Behold: The knighted ones in the army of God have made a name for themselves!… The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is on their foreheads and they have earned double for their trouble. They’re on the scene even now, carrying their crosses walking in the power and glory of God.

You, who have travailed long with many tears, KNOW that many in the world will soon be saying: “Rub a dub dub! We want to be in YOUR tub!”