I Know Who Goes Before Me: Where is God in the Midst Of...

One of the biggest questions of our time is "Where is God," or "Where was God in the midst of tragedy."  If we laid out a calendar and penciled in all the tragedies and atrocities that have occurred over the past year, it would be a heartbreaking and painstaking task.  Some tragedies mark one hour, one day and some are dragged out for weeks, if not months.  We've watched as innocent people, innocent children, lose their lives for senseless reasons.  We've watched families and towns mourn.  And even those with faith built on the firmest of foundations find themselves wondering why it couldn't all have been stopped.  Where was God when it all happened?

Then we progress to the rationalizing - there has to be reason within all of the senselessness.  So we build ourselves a foundation of broken reasoning, lies others tell us, lies we tell ourselves.  Some will say it is God's will for terrible things to happen.  Some will say there is no God.  And the rubble continues to pile up until we are buried.

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Here is what I believe to be true: God's will is perfect.  God created this world, and created us, and He loves us.  None of us remember this one particular moment, because the parts of our brain that control our memory are still developing at this time.  It happens right after we are born.  We give our first cry, and the nurse cleans us up just enough to make us presentable.  Then he or she hands us to our mother, and the world stands still.  It is a moment of pure joy, that we too may one day know.  It is also a moment of uncertainty, because that moment begins a journey.  There is no way of knowing who we will be years or decades away from that moment.  But our mother is so overwhelmed by joy and love that she is willing to take that journey, and let us go from that moment on.  When we were created by our Heavenly Father, He loved us with such a deep and profound love that He gave us the choice to love Him.  It is a gesture of love that we may never truly understand; and we may often become disconcerted when we witness its consequences.  Yet, when we make the choice to love Him, God's perfect will is continuously revealed to us.

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This too, is what I believe: God's will is borne of love and He wants good things for His children.  Our will is not in line with God's will.  I believe that hatred and harm are borne out of the anger and brokenness of human hearts.  We have the opportunity to push away from God's will.  And then questions arise, like why does God let us do that?  Why does God let tragedy happen?  That is one of the grayest gray areas.  Many arguments will start with God let this happen because... Others will start with God doesn't "let" things happen... I think the answer depends on how we know God.  For me, I know that God loves me.  He wants me to chase after His will and His heart.  He has given me that choice.  Sometimes my desires step outside of God's will.  Having free will is not like being a dog with an electric fence around its yard.  I can step outside the bounds.  But that free will, that choice is always constant.  There is choice right up until the very last moment.  There is choice right up until the trigger of the gun is pulled, right up until the crime is committed.

Even now I find myself starting to talk and think in circles, because there will always be something that I can't put my finger on.  There will always be a puzzle piece that evades me.  There will always be an element I cannot explain.  I am ok with that because I trust God.

In Sunday School-type Christian education, I was often told that God's will will prevail.  I believe that is true.  What I took that to mean was that in the end of every situation, things will be exactly as God wants them to be.  What that can translate into for some is that certain individuals will survive horrible circumstances and certain individuals will not.  But I think we are meant to look at a bigger picture.  God's will will prevail.  His Kingdom will come.  It will be on Earth as it is in Heaven.  One thing I often forget, and isn't made totally clear in those short Sunday School lessons - we are a part of God's will.  God's will is for us to live out His callings for us.  We are a part of that Kingdom come.  We are a part of that on Earth as it is in heaven.

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So where is God in the midst of tragedy?  The answer is in the question: He is right there in the midst of it.  Deuteronomy 31:8 says "The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."  God goes before us into the rubble and destruction.  He steps into the midst of a family crisis before it happens.  He is in the midst of a town ravaged by loss.  He is in the midst of a nation devastated by war or natural disaster.  God knows every hurt that will be felt and every tear that will be shed.  He stands there.  He is the foundation underneath the rubble that we will rebuild upon.    

~SP  

We Pray that All Unity May One Day Be Restored

A friend shared with me a great sermon from a church that she has been attending.  It focused on John 17, which is a beautiful passage where Jesus pours out His love for the world in a prayer.  It is a flood of Jesus' hope for His people.

The pastor of this church called it Jesus' last lecture, likening it to the Last Lecture delivered by Professor Randy Pausch, who delivered a final lecture after he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.  He wasn't necessarily comparing the two lectures because of their content - but because both of these men were nearing the end of their lives.  The pastor made the point that we tend to heed the words of those that are approaching their end more attentively.  We look for them to share their hopes and their fears with us.  The pastor then begins to pick apart John 17.

One point that stuck out to me from the sermon was the extrapolation of verses 20-21: "My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their [the disciples] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Unity.  God desires unity for His people.  The pastor emphasized this point at the end of the sermon, which astounded me.  I had never focused on this idea when reading this passage and now it was impossible to overlook it.

Our triune God is the perfect picture of unity.  Father, Spirit, Son are three in one.  Interwoven.  Perfect relationship and wholeness.  I had remarked in my previous post on how God desires faithfulness from us, because He was first faithful to us.  In that same way, I believe that He desires unity from us, because He first showed us what unity looks like.

The part of the verse that is particularly striking is when Jesus asks for believers to be unified specifically so the world will know that He was sent by God.  This is a huge commission to us, His children.  Our unity as Christians is a reflection of God.

We know this to be true today: there is often disunity within the smallest congregations of believers.  How can we promote or even expect unity across all of Christ's believers.

It made me think of various church organizations around the country.  It seems that some of their actions come from a place of hate and condemnation.  I struggle to witness God's love and grace when I hear condemning words, name-calling, threats of hell fire.  How do I explain to someone who doesn't have a relationship with Christ, that I have a relationship with God the Father - the same God that members of that church are serving.  And at the same time, I feel terrible even using the term that church.  I should want to identify other Christians as brothers and sisters in the faith.

How do I start to explain why the people of denomination A won't take communion with denomination B, and they both think denomination C has the whole idea of Baptism wrong.  And then wait until I try to explain to them how half the members of the church I attend are petrified every Sunday when someone leads the service with a guitar, and the other half refuses to open a hymnal.

As believers, we need to reorient ourselves in the direction of unity.  What does that look like?  I can confidently say, that I don't have a good answer for that.  The dialogue needs to start.  We need to set ourselves aside, and think about how we are showing Christ's love to those who have never encountered it before.  We need to be unified in Christ's desires for us as His people.

The hymn that is referenced in the title of this post continues like this: and they'll know we are Christians by our love.  As Christians, we should long to be a unified picture of Christ's love in this world.  If we look at the whole phrase from the hymn, it reads like this: and we pray that all unity may one day be restored, and they'll know we are Christians by our love.  Our unity, borne out of love, that loves in the way Christ loves, will reveal to others our good and loving God.  We and they will come to pass, and it will be all of us as one.

~SP