[This is part of a series based on The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr. This sermon deals with the "accepting hardship as a pathway to peace."]
Many years ago, my dad and I got our hands on a motorcycle that had been sitting in a man’s backyard for years. It had been sitting unused for so long that all the gas in the gas tank had evaporated and turned into a hard coating inside the gas tank which broke up into tiny pieces that clogged up the carburetor … so, we had to take off the tank and have it washed out with acid and then we had to take out the dual carburetors and clean them up … and that’s when we ran into a big problem.
You see, the carburetors on motorcycles are controlled by the right-hand grip on the handlebar. A cable runs from the throttle on the handlebar, through the inside of the handlebar, comes out of a hole in the handlebar, and then attaches to a pully that controls the amount of air that mixes with the gas in the carburetor. The problem was trying to get the cable off of the pully so that we could take out the carburetors and clean them. It took hours to finally get the carburetors out. We took them apart, cleaned them up, put then back together … but when we tried to put them back in … well, if we thought taking the throttle cable off was hard, it was nothing compared to trying to put it back on the pully. We struggled with it for two days. A few scraped knuckles and a lot of grunting and choice words later … WE GAVE UP.
In total frustration, we hopped into the car and went to a motorcycle shop near by and explained to them what our problem was. The mechanic smiled, took us back into the shop, and showed us a little bolt near the throttle on the handlebar. “All you have to do is loosen this bolt,” he explained, “and it loosens up the throttle cable.”
We had spent three days fighting with that bike’s throttle cable when all we had to do was turn the throttle cable adjustment bolt and in literally seconds we would have all the slack in the cable that we would need. Taking out the carburetors went from a nightmare to easy peasey … but we would have never known that if we hadn’t GIVEN UP and asked for help from a mechanic who knew what to do.
How often do we do that with God? We struggle with life. We fight. We groan. We try this. We try that. God comes along and says, “Here, let me help you with that” and like a stubborn child, we shove Him away, insisting that we can do it all on our own. And God says, “Well … okay, but I’ll be right here if you need me.” And after we struggle … and after we fight … and after we try this … and after we try that, we throw up our hands in despair and shout, “Fine! You fix it” … and God reaches over, turns a screw here, tightens a bolt there, and voila! … it all comes together. Oh, we thank God, we praise God, we hug God … and then we move on to the next problem … where we struggle … we fight … we try this … and then we try that … and God comes along and says, “Here, let me help you with that” … and the story repeats itself over and over and over again, amen?
“I give up!” A moment of exasperation. “I give up!” A moment of defeat. “I give up!” A moment of shame. “I give up!” The moment that we make enough room for God to step in and do for us what is impossible for us to do for ourselves. “I give up!” The key that unlocks the door to divine peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding but, for some reason, is a key that we will only use when everything else has failed. You see, “I give up!” is the point where I end and God begins. It’s only when we reach the point that life’s impossible for us and we give up that we discover that nothing is impossible for God.
Take Abram, for example. God speaks to Abram one evening in a vision. “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1). Let’s stop right there, shall we? The LORD … God Himself … spoke to Abram and … and … He called Abram by name. That right there is pretty impressive and amazing, don’t you think? And yet, right away, we hear Abram’s doubt: “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? … You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir” (Genesis 15:2-3). Already Abram is looking for a ‘human’ solution and clearly there is no ‘human’ solution to his problem. So God has to remind him that He is no human. “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them….So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5) … and, to his great credit, the Bible says that Abram believed … but Sarai … well, given her and Abram’s age, she doesn’t see how that could happen but maybe if Abram were to, well, spend some time with her servant, Hagar, then legally she and Abram could have heirs … and this, she believes, will be a viable solution to their hardship and once Hagar has a child … or two … or three … well, everything will be great and she and Abram will have peace in their lives … except …
Sarai’s “solution” to her and Abram’s hardship doesn’t bring peace. It brings pain and conflict for her, for Abram, for Hagar, and for her son, Ishmael. What if Sarai had believed the LORD as Abram had? What if Sarai and Abram trusted the LORD, who made the stars in Heaven, who gave them the land of Ur? What if they believed that God could do what He said even though it seemed ‘humanly’ impossible at the time? Think of all the pain and suffering they could have spared themselves … the pain and suffering that they could have spared Hagar and Ishmael … all the pain and suffering that we have in the world today because of the conflict between Arabs and Jews. And the saddest part of all is that God did, in fact, keep His word and make the humanly impossible possible … Isaac. And as she holds her newborn son, Sarah has to confess: “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne [Abraham] a son in his old age” (Genesis 21:7). Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? God did. And what seemed humanly impossible to Sarah was possible with God.
“… accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.” If anybody knew about hardship, it was Joseph, amen? At first, it seemed like he had it made … the great-grandson of Abraham was the apple of his father’s eye and the joy of his father’s heart … which made his eleven older brothers quite jealous. The Bible says that when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any one of them, they hated him and did whatever they could to make Joseph’s life miserable … to the point that they sold him into slavery.
How do you think that Joseph felt at that point? I’m sure he was in a pit of despair far deeper than the dry well that his brothers had originally thrown him into before they got the bright idea to make a little profit by selling him to the Ishmaelite traders on their way to Egypt. I’m sure that he was overcome with fear about his fate and worried about his father. I’m sure he didn’t go “oh well” and accept his fate even though it was hopeless. I’m sure he thought about escape or tried to figure out some kind of way to get out of his situation … which, as we know, only continued to get worse.
It seems that Joseph’s only choice was to accept the things that he could not change and make the best of the situation that he had no control over … and so, when he is ‘bought’ by Potiphar, a captain in the Egyptian army, the Bible says that the LORD was with Joseph. Think about that for a moment … the LORD was with Joseph … and the Bible says that Potiphar saw that the LORD was with Joseph and caused all that Joseph did to prosper and Potiphar made Joseph the overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had (Genesis 39:2-5). The Bible makes it clear that it was the LORD who made the impossible possible for Joseph. Most slaves didn’t end up running an Egyptian army officer’s house and affairs but usually suffered much worse fates.
None of what happened was under Joseph’s control. Even though he does the right thing and refuses the advances of Potiphar’s wife, he ends up in jail. Once again, Joseph is forced to accept his situation and make the best of it … and, once again, God is with him and does the impossible. The Bible says that the chief jailer “committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, [Joseph] was the one who did it. The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with him; and whatever [Joseph] did, the LORD made it prosper” (Genesis 39:22-23). Again, the Bible emphasizes the fact that all of this happened because the LORD was with Joseph, doing the humanly impossible. It wasn’t Joseph who made his decisions or the efforts of his hands profitable but God who made whatever Joseph did prosper … including his ability to interpret the dreams of two prisoners … which then led to him interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh himself … which got him promoted to second in command over all of Egypt … and, again, the Bible … and even Pharaoh himself … gives all the credit for Joseph’s success to God. “Can we find anyone else like this,” asks the Pharaoh, “one in whom is the spirit of God?” (Genesis 41:48).
Let’s pause here for a moment. Joseph, the son of a sheepherder, is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers … do you think that in his wildest dreams he ever considered the possibility that the king of Egypt, the very Pharaoh himself … would give Joseph the royal signet ring, and dress him in fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck (Genesis 41:43)? I’m sure that the most he was hoping for was to survive and if, God willing, find his way back to his father. When he was in prison on false charges of rape, I don’t think he pictured himself riding through the streets of Cairo in a chariot given to him by Pharoah or hear Pharaoh declare that no one would lift a hand or foot in all the land of Egypt without Joseph’s consent (Genesis 41:44). Joseph never considered any of these possibilities because, well, these things were humanly impossible … beyond our human conception … but as we know, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways … because, you see, God had made a promise to Joseph’s great grandfather, Abraham, that his descendants would prosper and become and a great nation … and He made the same promise to Joseph’s grandfather, Isaac, and his father, Israel … and the LORD was with Joseph and took care of Joseph so that Joseph could take care of his family and the future nation of Israel … and, in keeping His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God also fed and took care of the people of Egypt as well and used Egypt as a safe haven for the Israelites until it was time to bring them out of slavery and back to the land of Ur, the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
We heard the wonderful words of forgiveness that Joseph spoke to his brothers. “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life …God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:4-5, 7).
Sometimes I think that we read this passage and assume more wisdom and faith than Joseph actually had going through this process. His wisdom and faith came AFTER he went through all his hardships … not before … not during … but after. When his brothers sold him to Ishmaelite traders, I’m sure he wasn’t thinking, “Well, I know this will all work out just fine.” When he was arrested on false charges, I’m pretty sure that he thought, again, that his life was over … that he no hope of ever getting out jail … and if he did, he’d probably be an old man having start his life over again with absolutely nothing. But his situation was hopeless, so impossible, that the only explanation for the things that happened to him … his success in running Potiphar’s household and the jail … could only have come from some power … some incredible, amazing power … other than himself. That was the only explanation … period. Running Potiphar’s business affairs and running the jail were impressive enough, but let’s face it, to be elevated to the position of Pharaoh’s righthand man … impossible! To be in a position to not only save his own family, but thousands of Hebrew people and thousands of Egyptians … inconceivable. And looking back and seeing that none of this could have happened without the power and direction of God, Joseph could die in peace because he realized that all of his hardship served a purpose and a plan. Even though his brothers intended him harm, God intended it for good, in order to preserve the Hebrew people (Genesis 50:20).
Job presents us with yet another aspect of hardship as a pathway to peace, believe it or not. Sometimes God has a purpose and a plan … a pathway … something that He needs accomplished, and we may or may not know that we are part of that plan. Job was a good man, a godly man, a righteous man by God’s own admission. God Himself described Job as a “blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). I would love to hear God say that about me … wouldn’t you love to hear God say that about you?
In one day, Job loses all of his property and then all of his children … and yet, Job does an amazing thing. He worships God and declares that his faith in God remains unshaken. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,” he declares, “and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). “In all this,” says the Bible, “Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22). I know this is hard to understand, but in the midst of his hardship, Job found peace … a peace that came from knowing that God, who had provided and taken care of him up to this point, would continue to provide and take care of him in the days to come … but the testing of his faith is far from over … he is about to lose his health as well. When his wife chides him and tells him to curse God and die, Job again professes that he has faith in God. “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God,” he says, “and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10). Remember, God grants us serenity when we accept the things we cannot change; God grants us the courage and the ability to change the things we can and then He does the rest; and He grants us the wisdom to know the difference … and Job, says the Bible, did not sin with his lips because he appears to understand this.
What Job didn’t know is why all this was happening to him. He didn’t know that God had chosen him to be his champion. He didn’t know that God had boasted before the heavenly beings that Job would not curse Him if He allowed Satan to torment him and push him to the limit … and every human has their limit, amen? You may have the patience of Job but, like Job, you have your limit, your breaking point. Eventually, Job explodes. He doesn’t curse God but he certainly curses the day that he was born and begins demanding to know why all of this was happening to him. He went from accepting his fate to demanding answers … demanding that God come down and defend His actions and explain all this to him … as if knowing the answers would bring him the peace and relief he so badly craved and felt that he deserved. Sometimes we can handle adversity when it makes sense to us or when we can see that there is a reason for it, but it can really heighten our suffering and helplessness when we have to go through hardship and suffering when it doesn’t make any sense.
For 34 chapters, Job demands answers … and for 34 chapters, Job’s friends try answer his questions … but these are the struggles of human beings trying to make sense of an infinite and all-knowing God and all their answers and explanations fall short and don’t make sense of Job’s suffering or bring Job any comfort or relief.
And then God Himself speaks to Job and begins asking Job a whirlwind of questions. “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you and you shall declare to me,” God demands (Job 38:2-3). I used to think of God’s response to Job as rather harsh … “gird your loins like a man, I will question you and you shall declare to me” … yikes! But what I now hear is the love of God for Job. He doesn’t start out by putting Job down … though it may sound like it. He starts out by reminding Job of a serious fact … one that will lead Job back to the same point of peace and acceptance that he had when all of his misfortunate began … and that is that God is God and, well, Job is not. In asking Job who laid the foundations of the earth, He is asking Job a rhetorical question that is designed to remind Job that He is God and Job is not because God WAS there when the foundations of the earth were laid because He, God, laid them and Job was not there. “Who determined its measurements – surely you know!” (Job 38:5) … but Job doesn’t know. God keeps blasting him over and over again with rhetorical questions: “Have you commanded the morning since your days began … have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep … have you entered the storehouses of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of the hail (Job 38:12, 16, 22) … and on and on He goes … not to humiliate Job … but to drive home the point that He is God … that He knows the answer to more questions than Job could ever think to ask … that He knows more than Job and all of humanity combined could ever hope to begin to understand … and that we, like Job, are not God … and that is not, as I said to humiliate us, but to orient us towards the One who does have all the power and all the answers … so that we can reach the point, like Job, where we realize that God can do all things and that no purpose of God can be thwarted … which, even if we don’t know what it is, peace in the midst of our hardship and struggle comes from knowing that God DOES have a plan, that God DOES have a purpose, and that God chose us for a reason and will give us what we need to accomplish His purpose … even if we never know what that purpose is … just as God never explained to Job what His purpose was in allowing Satan to torment Job in the way that He did. Yes, Job may have wept. Job may have wailed. Job may have gnashed his teeth and shook his fist at God. He may have even wished to die at times but in the end, he proved God right, didn’t he? He never did curse God and as a gift, Job came away from his encounter with a much, much stronger faith … a faith based on the knowledge that where he ended, God began. We don’t always have to know all the answers. We don’t always have to know the reason for our suffering. We just have to know that the One who has all the answers is the One who will guide us and carry us through our suffering and hardship, amen?
Like Peter, James, and John, we sometimes feel closest to God on the mountain top but often it is in the valley of our deepest suffering and despair that we can see and feel and experience God in powerful and transforming ways. Nothing is more painful … more difficult … than seeing your own child suffer … especially when there is nothing that you can do about it. Peter, James, and John wanted to stay on the mountain top with Jesus, but Jesus knew that He was needed down in the valley where He is approached by a desperate father who begs Jesus to drive out a demon that has been torturing his son. Who had the greater experience? Peter, James, and John who saw Jesus in all His glory? Or the father, whose son was freed from a demon? The answer is “neither” and “both.” We need both experiences … mountain top experiences like the one Peter, James, and John experienced … and we need experiences like the father, who came away from his experience a true believer that with God, nothing is impossible. When the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t drive out the demon, Jesus said it was because they had little faith. The father’s request and the boy’s situation seemed way beyond human aid and, in fact, it was. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus explains to the disciples that the power they needed to drive out demons needed to come through prayer … in other words, from God. But, like Job, under what sounds like a reprimand is actually a precious gift. Peter, James, and John saw what Jesus did. The father saw what Jesus did. The boy experienced what Jesus did, the crowd saw what Jesus did and all, says Luke, were “astounded at the greatness of God” (Luke 9:43).
When it comes to Sin … with a capital “S” … we’re like my dad and I working on the motorcycle carburetor. We think that we can do it alone, without God’s help … a misguided fallacy that has led … and continues to lead … millions to their eternal doom. When we look at the cross, there is a special kind of peace that should come over us because it reminds us that God came down from Heaven, entered into this world with all its struggles and hardships and suffering, and won for us the victory over Sin by His death on the cross. Whether God leads us besides still waters or through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God is with us. Whether we are basking in His glory on the mountain top or reaching out for Him in desperation in the valley, God is with us. When we finally run out of options and we finally give up … we discover once again that God is at our side, ready, willing, and more than able to handle whatever our situation is … ready to give us comfort, if we need it … ready to give us strength, if we need it … guidance, if we need it … hope, if we need it. Sometimes He has to move mountains … other times He simply has to show us which bolt to turn, amen?
