Today’s Scripture
Reading (September 16, 2013): Psalm 85
I have a friend that is going through some very serious
health problems. The word “Cancer” has been tossed around by those trying to
diagnose the problem. And as “Cancer” usually does, the possible diagnosis has
thrown the friends and family into turmoil. We know more about the disease than
we did even a decade ago, but the disease still has the ability to cause a panic.
Even for the Christian, a “Cancer” diagnosis is enough to disrupt not just our
physical lives, but more importantly, it is enough to disrupt our spiritual
lives. And we begin to ask the big “why me” question.
When the unexpected negative event happens in our lives,
often our reaction is that God must be displeased with us. And if he is
displeased, then it must be because of something that we have done - something
that we need to make atonement for. But deep down we also ask another question
- if that is not true, then maybe there is something wrong with God – maybe he
does not care enough to interfere with our lives.
The Psalms assume the first response. Bad things happen
because we have sinned against God and we need to make amends with him. And
sometimes, that is the truth. But we know even from the Bible stories that we
read that that is not the end of the story. Sometimes bad things just happen.
Ultimately, our spiritual health depends on our ability to work through those
dark times of our lives.
There is a great quote from the Fantasy television show “The
Almighty Johnsons” – Nothing that gods do turns out well for the
people around them. On a very real level we can understand that
comment. Sometimes it seems that life would be so much simpler away from a
faith. But we also know that that there have been dark times in our lives that
we have only survived because of our faith. As with so much of our lives, from
our experience this God thing is a bit of a mixed bag.
I would like to suggest that while we understand the comment
from “The Almighty Johnsons,” the reason why we understand the comment is that
we simply see things from a different perspective than God. Because of our
finiteness, we have a shorter time frame in which to judge what is good and
what is bad. I have mentioned elsewhere that Jeremiah 29:11 might be one the most misunderstood passages in the Bible -
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and
a future.” There is very little doubt that what Judah was
suffering through as Jeremiah spoke these words was because of their misbehaviour
and sin. But even in the midst of their disobedience, God was taking the long
road. From the point of view of God, he was already at work prospering the
nation that called him God. But from the point of view of Judah, it would be
the next generation that would experience promised blessing.
The moral of the story would seem to
be that God is willing to move in our lives – even when he is displeased with
us. And sometimes, in faith we need to understand that God is on the move even
in the dark times when we do not feel his love.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Psalm 87 & 88
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