I am one of those people who would like for God to show his power and do something spectacular. I would like to see some fire fall from heaven or hear God shout from his throne. It would prove to some people that he is there and that he is powerful. I wish I could lay my hands on people and they would always be healed. I wouldn’t even mind if people fainted under the power of the Spirit when I laid hands on them. I would like to have someone who was paralyzed come to the front of the church in a wheelchair and then do a dance after we prayed for them. I would like to conduct a funeral in the church that turned into a resurrection. It would make a nice headline for the paper. I would like to see the lives of drug addicts and dysfunctional people healed and completely turned around after they were dramatically converted at the altar of the church. I would like for God to make me completely pure so that I would never sin. I wish God would powerfully touch me so that I would never wrestle with lust, greed or anger again. It would be great if being a Christian meant that I would never have any problems after coming to Jesus.
But God does not open the heavens for us to see him. He is silent. He is more like the farmer in Jesus’ parable who plants a vineyard and goes away — or at least seems to. More often we find ourselves struggling with a problem or some sin and saying, “God where are you? Why is this so hard? Couldn’t you just wipe out the devil, burn up the evil people in the world and burn up the sin in me? Couldn’t you just solve all the problems people have whey they pray so they would know that you are there?”
When we are in the middle of some struggle it is easy to think that all there are are problems. When we face evil or tragedy, it is easy to focus on them and only see what is wrong in the world. It is easy to despair and to believe that the world is so messed up that there is no hope for us.
I was sitting out on our deck late one evening last week and smelled something very unpleasant. Someone in the neighborhood had allowed their dog to roam and he thought our yard looked like a good place to leave a surprise. I was sitting there just fuming. I could have been grateful I had a yard, but I was not. I could have been grateful that I had a deck that was attached to a house, but I was not. I was focused on dog dung and I was mad. But I leaned back for a second and caught a glimpse of the stars overhead. I suddenly realized I had missed the beauty of the evening — not to mention the beauty of life. It dawned on me that God has more important things on his mind — and so should I. Suddenly the bigness of the world and the bigness of God began to grip me. I was so focused on an annoyance that I lost sight of the big picture of who God is and what he is doing. I began to feel very insignificant and my heart turned to the worship of a God who is doing something so big that my mind will never wrap around it. I realized I frequently do this — get stuck on something small and negative and miss the positive, bigger picture, the remarkable, the miraculous. As long as I was focused on my yard I could not see the stars. The same attitude is called for even in the larger problems we face.
Dr. Larry Crabb wrote in Decision magazine (October, 2005): “I could wish with all my heart that it could be done differently. But when suffering comes, which we don’t orchestrate but which God providentially allows, it really is a profound opportunity to believe that God is doing what is central in His heart. One thing I think we need to recognize is that God is not committed to giving me a comfortable life. If He were, He could be doing a better job! He has the resources, and I have a few suggestions — which He doesn’t seem terribly open to. So I presume He has a higher goal. Either He is not very good, or I have to redefine what His goodness means. And obviously it is the latter.”
As Christians, we believe that God is up to something — something wonderful - even when we don’t always see it. Even when it seems like the world is going to the devil, God is doing something and he is in control. Even when it seems insignificant and is not always impressive. The parable today tells us that it doesn’t have to be big to be something which can change the world. Suzanne Guthrie, writing in Christian Century (May2, 2001), tells this story: “A friend of mine who served in the military during World War II (and is now a nun) was once at a conference with two men, a German and an American. As they wiped dishes one evening after dinner they exchanged stories about the war. The American told of the horror he felt as a young pilot during a particularly savage bombing of a city in Germany. He had orders to bomb the hospital, which he would know by the huge red cross painted on the roof. The second man — after regaining his composure — revealed that his wife had been giving birth to their baby in that very hospital when it was being bombed. My friend tiptoed out of the room as the two men fell into each other’s arms weeping. Imagine being in heaven, at the end of the world, where we might fall weeping upon one another, waves of reconciliation breaking upon us as we adjust ourselves to this dimension of pure love.” In the end, that single reconciliation may be more powerful than all the bombs dropped in all the wars the world has known. This is where the world is headed, and it is in God’s direction, happening in God’s way. It is where God intersects the world and the finite is touched by the infinite. The yeast is permeating the dough. This is what God is doing in secret, hidden ways that the world does not see or appreciate. But God is taking the world somewhere. It doesn’t seem like much is happening sometimes, but it is not about appearances, it is about unseen power. The yeast is unseen, but it powerfully effects every part of the dough. The mustard seed is not seen as it germinates underground and puts down its roots, but in the end it is large enough for the birds to perch in.
One biblical commentator explains: “Jewish writers used yeast in a variety of symbolic ways, but Jesus stresses here the factor all had in common: its ultimately pervasive character. One leavens unleavened meal until the finished product is thoroughly leavened. The amount of flour involved here represents roughly fifty pounds, providing enough bread for over one hundred people. A housewife would not normally fix so much meal and could not knead more than this; the unnatural magnitude of the illustration probably suggests that the kingdom far exceeds daily examples to which it may be compared. That she ‘hid’ the yeast in the dough also exceeds the comparison and reinforces the image of the hiddenness of the kingdom in this age.”
St. Augustine, in his commentary on Psalm 148, describes the tension between the now and the not yet: “Because there are two periods of time — the one that now is, beset with the trials and troubles of this life, and the other yet to come, a life of everlasting serenity and joy — we are given two liturgical seasons, one before Easter and the other after. The season before Easter signifies the troubles in which we live here and now, while the time after Easter which we are celebrating at present signifies the happiness that will be ours in the future. What we commemorate before Easter is what we experience in this life; what we celebrate after Easter points to something we do not yet possess. This is why we keep the first season with fasting and prayer; but now the fast is over and we devote the present season to praise. Such is the meaning of the ‘Alleluia’ we sing. . . . The Lord’s resurrection and glorification show us the life that will be given to us in the future.”
All of the difficulties of life, all the opposition of an unbelieving world, all the evil that has been perpetrated, put together, cannot squelch one part of the plan of God. And anyway, the difficulties we face serve a purpose. The Bible says, “These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:7-9). What an amazing thought, to realize that even the troubles of this world are used by God to accomplish his purposes. That is why Paul wrote: “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).
The hidden kingdom is what brings encouragement for today and hope for the future. As Peter wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
Chalmers Smith wrote the great hymn that says,
Immortal, invisible,
God only wise,
In light inaccessible
hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious,
thy great name we praise. . .
We blossom and flourish
as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish,
but naught changeth Thee.
Great Father of glory,
pure Father of light,
Thine angles adore Thee,
all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render:
O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendor
of light hideth Thee.
Rodney J. Buchanan
October 2, 2005
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Facing Suffering
Testimony of Loris M. Grindstaff
A reporter was conducting one of those rare interviews with Mother Theresa of Calcutta. In the course of their conversation, he asks her what she was going to say to God when she got to Heaven. Without hesitation she responded, “I’m going to say, You’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”
Mother Theresa verbalized that which we all think but are often afraid to say. The fear is the idea of making God accountable to us mere mortals. He does give us an accounting from His perspective of divine love. We live in a sin-cursed world and the result is pain and suffering. However, God promises, “ as our days are so will our strength be.”(Deu. 33:25)
I do not have to explain suffering to you. Like death and taxes suffering is something each one of has experienced.
The scripture tells us the story of quintessential suffering, JOB! You know the story. He lost all of his cattle and servants, his family all died, he was stricken physically with inexplicably painful boils and that was just for openers. His wife advised him to curse God and die. His three friends come to comfort him and end up accusing of being the problem. With these guys for friends he didn’t need enemies. It is all overwhelming, too much, incomprehensible! We’ve all been there… at the end of our rope, exhausted, and helpless.
I want to tell you about four of those events in my life:
1. Diagnosed with a tumor in my head and the prognosis was death.
The night before my surgery a nurse stood crying at the end of my bed asking me,
“Why…why God would allow this to happen to you.”
She says, “Your husband is a minister and you both have a testimony of Christian faith? Why, why is this happening to you?” To this point that question had not occurred to me. The answer however was simple. It is the reason we always gave when our parishioners came asking for explanations to their crisis. We always explained that we live in a sin-cursed world. And being a Christian does not exempt us from the ravages of that curse. We do however have the presence of God’s grace to sustain us. I explained to my nurse that for years in ministry my husband and I had told people in trouble, “You can never go wrong trusting Jesus with your life and its problems.” And now as nearly as I could figure I was having the opportunity to put my money where my mouth had been all those years.
2. My son goes to the Gulf War. The likelihood of his
survival was not good. He had recently been discharged from the military at the end of his enlistment. He was called back because he had been involved with special operations. At the time he was discharged he was one of only 17 soldiers surviving out of 102 who had been trained together and did
the same job. On several occasions during his previous service he had been injured but the specifics of those circumstances we would never know. The great likelihood was that he was going to die alone and in obscurity. I knew the rules, Rule #1says, “Mothers children die in war.” And Rule #2 says, “There isn’t anything mothers can do to change Rule #1.” You can never go wrong trusting Jesus with your life and its problems. Once again I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth had been.
3. The call came early that our daugther,Yolonda had gone into labor for the birth of our long awaited granddaughter. Early in labor Bailey, our granddaughter, died. My husband and I were here in Ohio and our daughter and son-in-law were in Nebraska. Yolonda labored on and my husband made the necessary calls to family. Late after a long and stressful day my husband had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. Still in labor Yolonda called asking to have her Dad pray with her, I couldn’t tell her what had happened. I prayed with her explaining her Dad couldn’t come to the phone. Ultimately she delivered Bailey. When my husband was stable, I flew to Omaha to be with Yolonda. On arrival at the hospital I heard the story of how kind the staff was to her. Yolonda was devastated that her Dad and I would not get to see our grand baby because an autopsy was being done immediately. So at about 2AM the past morning Yolonda ask to see Bailey one more time. The staff went to the morgue put a pretty dress on her and bows in her curly brown hair. Yolonda held her checking for the things all mothers do on their newborns and pondering all the things that might have been. The image of my daughter holding the small body of her daughter saying a final farewell was almost more than I could handle. You can never go wrong trusting Jesus with your life and its problems. It was one more opportunity to put my money where my mouth had been.
4. The death of my husband is the most catastrophic and ongoing pieces of suffering I have ever faced. Thankfully for him he got to go with his ‘ministerial boots on’ so to speak. He collapsed Sunday morning in the pulpit at the end of his sermon. He was taken by squad to the local ER and from there transported by life-flight to Riverside Hospital. The family gathered as he was being prepared to go to surgery we laugh and pray together and say our ‘I love you.’ I follow his gurney to the last set of doors. He calls back to me as he was being taken into the surgical unit, “I love you, I’ll see you in the morning!” And indeed he will, but not the morning I had anticipated. At 8AM the next day when that ICU nurse came into the waiting area where I had spent the night. I thought she was going to tell me I could go spend time with him. Instead she said, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, we tried, but he’s gone.” Time stopped. I was frozen in that moment trying to make sense of what she had said. You can never go wrong trusting Jesus with your life and its problems. Once again, I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth had always been!
Where was God in all of this? Well, He was right there with me where he had been all the time. God’s promise is that he will, “never leave or forsake us… So we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper I will not be afraid…”(Heb. 13: 5&6) When we have exhausted all of our resources and there is no place to go, the only place is God! Ultimately we must say with Job, “…though He slay me, yet will I trust him…” (Job 13:15)
Too often we in our suffering we conclude that no one else has suffered as much as we have. That is true but in a limited way. Each of us faces suffering in our own unique way. However suffering is sometimes mitigated by other events. To illustrate this I want to tell you one last personal story:
One morning in early December the call came from our son, Ladd. He was with the military stationed in Germany. His voice was brimming with emotion and then it broke as he spoke, “Mom, I missed my flight home.” He was heart-broken and so was I. He saved his leave all year long to be able to spend a month at home over the Christmas/New Year Holiday. Further, he didn’t think he would be able to get another flight out of Germany before Christmas. He explained that he missed his flight because his buddy’s wife who was driving him to the Frankfurt Airport got sick. She was pregnant, but had never been ill before. However on this morning every time she tried to get into the car she started vomiting. When they finally arrived at the airport the woman at the departure desk point out the window to Ladd’s plane at the head of a runway waiting to taxi for take-off. She explains that if he had just been five minutes earlier she could have called the plane back. Ladd and I both felt sad, disappointed, and quite helpless.
Who could have imagined how quickly our sadness would turn to joy, albeit an ambivalent joy. The evening news carried the story of Pan Am Flight #103, which had exploded over Lockerby, Scotland. Yes, Ladd’s flight was Pan Am 103 which had originated in Frankfurt, Germany. I cannot explain why Ladd missed the flight that so many other people died on. I do, however, know God is in control of our lives. As we trust and surrender our lives to His will that in His care our lives are secure.
All of this is to say, yes we do suffer. But sometimes the bigger picture changes our suffering. We must never lose sight of the fact that in our suffering God is always personally present to help us. He promises, “As our days are so shall our strength be.”(Deu. 33:25) Further, the Psalmist admonishes, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…”(Psa. 46:1) When you make the confession of a Christian:
That is… putting your money where your mouth is, you must make the determination: YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG TRUSTING GOD WITH YOUR LIFE AND ITS PROBLEMS!
The Hidden Kingdom
Questions for October 5, 2005
1. What God is doing in the world is not always obvious. Why do you think this is so?
2. Would you prefer to always understand and see what God is up to?
3. Does it sometimes appear that evil is winning in the world?
4. Does it sometimes seem that God is unaware of the problems you are facing? Are you sometimes tempted to feel he does not care?
5. Do you sometimes struggle with the desire to control God and make him do what you want? What should our response be?
6. What helps you to come to terms with the fact that life is not always fair and sometimes painful?
7. You cannot see the yeast in the dough, but what happens to the dough in the end? What is Jesus trying to tell us here?
8. The mustard seed seems so small, but what becomes of the seed in the end? What is the message here?
9. Share how God has worked in some surprising way that you did not realize until later.
10. How can all this help you to face the future?
