Thursday, November 6, 2014

The one you shouldn't miss

Prosperity gospel advocates should remember that the Bible says something j u s t a bit outside that norm.

The writer of Ecclesiastes looked around one day and committed to whatever passed for paper in his day these words: "When times are good, enjoy the good; when times are bad, consider: God has made the former as well as the latter so that people can't discover anything that will come to be after them. ... I have seen everything in my pointless lifetime; the righteous person may die in spite of their righteousness; then again, the wicked may live long in spite of their wickedness."

Hear that. Read that. Absorb that. Live that.

Times are good; sometimes times are bad. God made (or allowed) both. Things just flat out happen that are sucky, and that happens to the righteous or the unrighteous.

To paraphrase certain ceremonial words ...

In sickness (and in health) ... I will treasure my relationship with my creator. Get it? For once, do you get it?

It's not about praying for health and receiving it because it's a straight-out deal. You ask; he delivers like He was your own personal UPS guy.

What it is about is being loved by God EVEN if things go badly. If the job goes belly up. If every stinking day is an exercise in frustration and difficulty and even if things are going so badly you think of giving up, going another way, picking the easy way out (whatever that means to you). When that happens, absolutely know this God is there. He is not there at our beck and call, He does not wait at the answer desk for our questions, our prayers, our making Him subservient. That isn't God, or at least the God of scripture. But to miss the recognition that God's tears come when the world we helped create treats us badly is to miss what life actually is.

Good happens. Bad happens. God is there. Smiling at our good choices. Shaking a mighty head when we stumble again.

Job screams into an angry wind: Perish the day I was born, the night someone said, "A boy has been conceived. That day -- let it be darkness; may God above ignore it and light not shine on it."

David lets out a dangerous wave of frustration: "Don't be far from me, God! My God, hurry to help me! Let my accusers be put to shame, completely finished off. Let those who seek my downfall be dressed in insults and disgrace."

In other words, do what the heck I tell you, God. NOW!!!

And David, Job, Solomon, my neighbors, my children, my wife, my (uh) me all learn that's not how He operates.

For example, I acknowledge that I expect more from Him in this endeavor called church planting. I expect the potholes to be filled. I expect the path to be cleared of stones the size of an asteroid, and when the frustrations still, still exist, I wonder if this is the right thing to be doing in the first place. And more than ever the cancer of negativity, the disease called quitting begins to form.

Ever been there? I suspect you have.

But through the whole darn thing, understand that God is sovereign. That's a fact, Mack. How we understand that is important not to whether it is true but rather how we are to live.

Live as if our faith is so small nothing good ever happens and I'm fairly certain that's what we are going to get because nothing will ever be good enough to be good.

But live as if the creator of the universe created US and see if that don't perk up a Monday morning, see if that isn't the spiritual caffeine we need to jump start the next leap of faith we need to take. Paul tells us that God turns all things to good for those who love him. He never says there will never been bad, just that God in his sovereignty can take even the worst of worst and make it good for his overall plan. I not only believe that, I stake my ability to survive the mess I make or is made around me on that very thing.

I get down. He lifts me up.
I get down. He lifts me up.
I get down. He lifts me up.

I get bad. He lifts me up.
I get worse. He lifts me up.
I get dead. HE LIFTS ME UP (with HIM).

A woman named Sara wrote this: Isaiah 41:10 is the verse I repeat over and over again *(Don't fear, because I am with you; don't be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous hand) to remind myself that God is bigger than my giant. That God is so faithful and full of love for me. I am not perfect, made a few bad turns, but God never fails to get me through it. By giving me strength to keep pushing, the courage to keep my head up and humbling myself to realize where I went wrong. Thank you, Lord, you never cease to amaze me with your unconditional love. Even though I feel the world's weight on my shoulders, sleepless nights, tears of sadness, but keeping the faith that God hears me."

For the introvert, the depressive, the moody, this should this very day become our mantra. Let's march up that last, long, tall hill together. Say it with me, friends:

We get down. He lifts us up.
We get down. He lifts us up.
We get down. He lifts us up.

We get bad. He lifts us up.
We get worse. He lifts us up.
We get dead. HE LIFTS US UP (with HIM).

If we are expecting an easy time of it all, remember, our Savior was murdered, butchered, beaten. Suffering is, or should be, in our Christian DNA.

That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's life, too. And it has the happiest of endings, no matter the journey.




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