It's strange how life can feel like feet stuck in cement (no, I've never been stuck in cement, but I imagine it would be unpleasant), not moving, tightly bound, watching everyone and everything else move past with seemingly effortless ease; yet also feel like a ragged sock caught in a washing machine, overwhelmed, constantly tossed, unable to see clearly due to soap suds (if socks had eyes; bear with me).
That's how it feels a lot of the time, at least in my world.
When I was a kid, getting from point A to point B looked simple. Fast forward to adulthood and I have come to realize the naivete of that belief. Simple is often just a word in the dictionary. Hard work doesn't always equal progress or smooth sailing. I made straight As in college. I thought I knew how life would go from there. Now, three years later, I make minimum wage and live with my parents. Some days, I feel like a total failure at life. My brain races with negative thoughts, happy thoughts, cynical thoughts, joyful thoughts, and every thought in between.
Shouldn't I be somewhere else? I'm wasting the only life God gave me. I'm thankful to have time with my parents again. I love the way the clouds loom large over the flat fields. I hate the flat rice fields and the swarms of mosquitoes they bring. I want to move. I'm content. Back and forth, back and forth, like the tree swing I loved as a child--ups and downs.
Oh, life. How confusing you are!
Friends of mine were recently given a devastating diagnosis. An unfair, this makes no sense, permanently altering-kind of diagnosis. It made me think about some of the Bible verses people often use to promote the idea that God will definitely make our lives better health-wise, materially, insert whatever earthly blessing comes to mind, here on earth if we just pray harder and trust more. With just a cursory glance, those verses sound that way. You know, verses such as, "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." (Jeremiah 29:11), or "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28). Read in context and in light of the lives of God's followers, they take on a different meaning.
Don't get me wrong. I believe the unceasing, fervent prayer of a righteous person has power and does much good. I believe God gives good gifts to His children. I believe faith can move mountains.
Yet, those blessings and nice things here on earth are not the point of Jesus dying on the cross.
He died to save us from this broken, sick, dying world; a world that doesn't always work out the way we want. God's children pray and pray and pray, but friends and family still battle illnesses. We trust and trust and trust some more, but we are still unemployed. People die in ridiculously strange, sudden ways. Sometimes tough, stressful situations never improve.
Who
better to understand the unfairness of life than Jesus? Being beaten
and dragged around by a mob then crucified on a cross (one of the most
excruciating ways to die) for a bunch of sins (the entire world's sins,
to be exact) He didn't commit--yeah, I'd say He is the authority on
enduring the pain of unfairness on earth. The Son of God Himself
didn't have a good ending to his physical life. Does that mean God
didn't care and lied when He said "all things work together for
good..."?
Absolutely not!
Believing that those verses mean life will always eventually work out for the best here on earth cannot be so. If it were true, it means God is a liar because every follower of His has at least one experience they can cite where the situation most assuredly did not turn out well. Yes, tragic and stressful situations can help people grow and become wiser, more compassionate servants. But the fact remains that the initial incident was not good in any way, shape, or form. The death of a child? Not good. Chronic or terminal illness? Not good. Child abuse? Not good. A life-altering injury? Not good.
God is not a liar, so that indicates those verses have a deeper, more far-reaching, beyond this world meaning. It feels nice to be lulled into a flowers and sunshine, everything will be okay in this life-view. Satan wants us to believe in stability and smoothness because he knows our defenses will be down when he brings disaster. That comfortable view suddenly causes a lot more pain when tragedy strikes. You are left standing there asking, "Why? I've worked hard and tried to do my best. I don't deserve this." A military that only begins to prepare for battle when war is declared won't last long. The same goes for a christian. If we only prepare for battle when Satan, the sorrow, the stress, the illness, whatever it may be, is upon us, we won't last long; at the very least, we will emerge much more battered and scarred than if we had chosen to begin preparing during a time of peace.
God did not promise or guarantee health and wealth in this life for His followers, no matter how strongly we believe it to be so. He did promise there would be persecution, sorrow, confusion, and overwhelming amounts of stress.
Sounds depressing, right?
It would be if He had left it at that. But He did not.
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And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars--their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." -Revelation 21:3-8 |
He didn't leave us to drown in this life. He gave us the guidebook to make it through this messy world and reach Him on the other side. That is the one and only goal; a goal from which I sometimes swerve, run off into a ditch, come to a complete standstill, or get stuck in reverse.
Those verses I mentioned earlier are not lies. They are Truth.
Truth that will see us through the absolute worst Satan can and will throw at us.
A friend and I were recently discussing
illness and death and how children handle it much better than adults.
My friend quietly said, "It's because children aren't attached to the
world yet." Her words convicted my
spirit. She was right. Children instinctively know this world isn't
where it ends; there is something up ahead that is so amazingly, bubble-blowing, tree-climbing, eating-fudgesicles-on-a-summer-day-good as to be beyond imagination. They aren't afraid. They are ready to go because they are attached to Him, not this world.
All things will work together for good for those that love the Lord, and God does have a plan to prosper and not harm us; it will manifest itself in a place where righteousness dwells.
For now, the battle on earth rages, swells, overwhelms, robs, and destroys.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for
the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. -Romans 8:35-9:3
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