WAS FORREST’S MOMMA CORRECT?
Isaiah 43:1-7
Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? Do you continually wonder as to why you were placed on this earth? To an extent we have all been called to share the gospel, but surely there must be more for me specifically taking up space on an overcrowded planet. Do you ever worry about the future? Has the word "destiny" ever crossed your mind? The "loves" you may have had in the past or present; the relationships in which you have experienced. What about your chosen career, vocation, school of higher education, the town in which you live, the church in which you attend, your would have’s, should have’s, or could have’s? These are all part of our lives, our inner being, our person-hood, our identity, our makeup, our "destiny," our journey, who we are. Am I going to get married? Where am I going to live? What am I going to be when I grow up? Possibly, like my wife asks me sometimes will I ever grow up? What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? How big will my family be, if I choose to have one? Will anything catastrophic happen to me? When will I die? Where will I go when I die?
In my ministry as a hospital chaplain the past couple years, I have talked to many an individual about these very same issues. I find it amazing how much one begins to deal with these types of questions when one is facing illness. I also believe however, we all ask these types of questions at one point or another in our lives as well. Questions like these have crossed all of our minds. I think it is part of what it means to be human.
Several years ago a movie came out titled Forrest Gump. I know what you’ve probably all seen it before but if you would be so kind, just humor me a few moments and you’ll get my point. The main character in the movie was a man named Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, and Sally Fields as his momma. The movie won several 1995 Academy of Motion Picture Association awards including Best Actor (Hanks), and Motion Picture of the year. If you have seen it, bare with me, if not, the story line is quite simple, yet extremely inspirational.
The story is about the life and times of a man named Forrest Gump. Forrest is a man in his early thirties and he is reflecting on his life. He is sharing his story with several individuals while sitting at a bus stop waiting to see his one true love. Forrest is from a small town in Alabama, has had a few physical problems, and a somewhat low IQ. The story starts out in the early fifties and through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides the tides of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom at the University of Alabama. From Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love. Forrest is an embodiment of an era, an innocent at large in an America that is loosing its innocence. Got all of that right off the box.
His life is one adventure after another, one heartache after another, one success after another, one question after another. He gains a lot of what little wisdom he has from his momma. She teaches Forrest the ways of life through such wise, clever little sayings that would even make King Solomon proud. One of the most catchy of her sayings (and the focus of this sermon) is "Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get." We never know what is going to happen in our lives. To an extent, life is a big futuristic mystery; a journey on a road filled with curves, construction, detours, hills, and stoplights. We never know what is going to happen until it happens. We usually begin to plan out lives in high school. Generally, this is where we begin to think about continued education, career planning, some financial planning, and maybe even some family planning.
This process continues as we grow, but no matter how much we plan or how well we plan, what we try to do on our own, sometimes "fate" plays a cruel trick on us, and our lives change and go in a different direction. Sometimes through stupidity (either ours or someone else’s) or illness we die at an early age. Over the past two years at St. Luke’s, I have provided some kind of pastoral care to grieving families of at last count 96 people who have died. Roughly a third of which were below the age of thirty. I’ve ministered to the family of the twenty year old who was shot and killed in drive by shooting, to the family of the twenty-one year old who couldn’t handle life anymore and with the help of a .38 took his own life. I’ve ministered to the family of the engaged twenty-three year old college student who died in a head on collision in his pickup truck. I prayed a reconciliatory prayer with a back-slidden thirty year old, who three weeks later died due to complications with pneumonia from having contracted HIV and AIDS from his life- style. I’ve ministered to the twenty-eight year old and his family who had fought HIV and AIDS for the last ten years of his life as he had contracted the virus from a blood transfusion he had received as a teenager due to his hemophilia. I’ve been with the family of the otherwise healthy twenty-nine year old who just keeled over from a massive coronary and died. Sometimes we lose loved-ones and friends due to various situations and the toll it takes on us is enormous. Sometimes the career we have chosen changes and we journey into another one and have to begin back at square one. There are just so many things that can happen, that no matter how hard or how well we plan, the direction we have started in, may not be where we wind up. No matter how much we dislike it, things change in our lifetime, and usually more than once. The fact is, our lives our are really not in our hands. The box of chocolate belongs to someone else.
If then our lives are not in our hands, then just whose hands are they in. Who possesses the box? Well, some would argue the "fates". We’re dealt the eternal hand from the magical deck, and how we play our hand is up to us. Others would argue our lives are in the hands of the "stars". Hopefully we’ll be in the right place when Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun align just to the left of the little dipper. There are other who believe that our lives are in the hands of other "spiritual beings". If we’re lucky, Zeus or Shirley McClain will put in a good word for us, or guide us in the direction we need to go!
The fact is, Scripture tells us our lives, our "destinies" are in the hands of Jehovah God, the Creator and Redeemer of all creation. He is the one who gives, sustains, and takes life. He is the one who when we let him, leads, guides, and directs our journey. Despite the uncertainty of the journey in this world, for those who have accepted his gift of salvation, they can know their final "destiny" is eternal life in Heaven with Him. Unfortunately, those who have rejected the wonderful gift of salvation, their final "destiny" is eternal separation in Hell apart from him. Not only should we seek to strive in our relationship with God for the afterlife, but we need to be ever-mindful to relate with him in this life as well. How much easier it is to go through life’s journey, to eat those really funky chocolates, you know those cream filled nasty things, with him than without him.
Read with me Isaiah 43:1-7 . It had been a tough seventy years for Israel. Actually, the past four hundred years had not been all that great. For the past seventy years however, Israel had been under Babylonian captivity. They had been away from their homeland for about three generations. Imagine what it would be like to be captive in a foreign land for such a long period of time. Why? Why would the God of their forefathers allow them to be in such a situation? Simply because of their previous disobedience to Yahweh God. They were being punished. Does this mean that every time we bite into one of those funky chocolates in our box that we are being punished? No, but this was the reason for the funky chocolate for the Israelites at this point in history. The prophets of old had told the Israelites that punishment was coming, but now it appears the discipline of Yahweh was just about complete.
When captivity first started, those early Jews had made plans for their lives in Judah. Then they were jerked away from their lifestyles and homeland and put into captivity. In the warnings they had been given by the prophets, they were told two things. First, the punishment was only going to be temporary. Sure, seventy years is a lifetime to you and I, maybe even two lifetimes to that Jew, but in the grander scheme of thousands of years, seventy is not that long. Second, they were to go about their business and live their lives as normal as possible. They were to work, to prosper, to socialize, to have families, to live within the Babylonian social structure yet without falling back into idol worship as had happened so often in the past. To do these things, and to keep in right relationship with God, would make the time go that much quicker. Eventually, they would be allowed to return to their homeland. Now, seventy years later, it was about time to return to Judah. They had grown, they had reconciled, they had prospered, and now it was time to go home. God had kept his promise. Isn’t it great to know that we have a God who keeps his promises. Several Israelites rejoiced when the time came, a few mourned, a handful were indifferent, but most were ready.
During these seventy years however, many Israelites wondered at times. Where are you God? Have you left us? What should we do? Why all of this injustice? Why are we being treated like this? These are some of the many questions asked each time a Jewish generation goes through some terrible period in history. Questions they asked by the Jews of the second century BC who were persecuted by Antiochus Epiphanies, the Assryian leader who sacrificed a pig on the alter of the Temple. Questions asked by those who suffered at the hands of the Romans in the first and second century AD. Questions asked by those who suffered and died at the hands of Hitler a little over fifty… years… ago. SURE, sometimes the answers may have been there, but more often than not, there were no answers. Many of these are questions we as Christians ask when life seems to give us a smack in the face. None of those early Jews knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next. Neither did they know the whys, whats, and the wherefores. None of us know what is going to happen from one moment to the next. Neither do we know the whys, whats, and the wherefores. We can make plans, we can prepare, and all of that is okay. As the wise man builds his house upon the rock, he will plan and prepare for the cost of materials, labor, and surveying the type of rock he is building on. Sometimes, changes happen in which we never foresaw. We think we’re picking a chocolate covered piece of English toffee, only to find some nasty creamy stuff in the middle. The wise man must also be ready for price changes, labor strikes, and poor rock content.
Thus we have Isaiah 43:1-7. The author is offering assurance to these Jews, and to us as Christians, God’s elect that no matter what happens in our lives, day to day, moment by moment, he is there with us. He is not just a God sitting out in infinity somewhere watching us struggle and saying "Gee, that must smart!" But he is here, living and walking with us on a daily basis in the person and work of Christ, and in the form of the Holy Spirit. He told his disciples and in essence us as Christians that he "…would send unto us a comforter, a counselor, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit" (John 14:16-17a). Although we do not know what is going to happen from one day to the next, one minute to the next, one second to the next, there is one who does. He is the Lord, God almighty. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Good Shepherd, the Savior of all humanity. Through the good times in life, and through the bad, he is there with us. If we feel like we are facing Hell or earth, or if everyday is like living in Disneyland, he is there taking us by the hand, picking us up when we fall, brushing us off, leading, guiding, directing, and comforting us on our journey.
Does God allow bad things to happen? Yes!! Why? Ask Him! Does he make bad things happen? Possibly, depends on who or what you ask. Let us focus on the fact however, that he also allows and makes good things happen as well. Why? For all of humanity to put its faith, hope, trust, and love in him. The greatest of these is love (I Cor. 13:13).
Was Forrest’s momma correct? Yes. Life is like a box of chocolates…we never do know what we are going to get… for the most part. Sometimes I think it might be easier if I knew what the future held, but after I think about it for a while, I think about how boring, sad, or scary this life would be. No adventure, no freedom of the will, no risk, no surprises, no positive change, no faith. We are called to be a faith living people. We are told to "…live by faith and not by sight…"(2 Cor. 5:7) Let us praise God that he is the one who knows our "destinies". He is the maker of the "chocolates". He is the one who ultimately knows what we’re "going to get" both in this life and in the next. He is the owner of the box. I encourage you to put your trust in him. All you have to do, is accept him into your life today Let us pray.
