The reasons for life’s difficulties are numerous, but obviously they include the basic idea–recorded in Scripture–of the fall. Though it may seem unfair that the choice of another (i.e., Adam) affects all of our lives, it does at least validate the Bible’s trustworthiness; the biblical notion of the fall explains much of what we observe everyday of our lives. And, if we can rely on the basic message of Scripture, it may be that Scripture is right about other things, as well, even when those things are way beyond our grasp. Many who have investigated these matters have said that they can’t ignore the stack of evidence that points to Christ. If that is the case, then we must somehow learn to trust him even when we can’t figure out what he’s doing (or why). He claims that there is life in him, abundant life. If that’s true, we must increasingly learn to access that life through him. Of course some of what he does seems very strange. For such things, I have tentative answers at best.
Perhaps, we are like the disciples, who traveled with Jesus in a boat. There they were, tossing and turning amid the turbulent sea, and Jesus–Can you believe it?–is asleep in the back of the boat! What’s going on? What is he up to? Doesn’t he care? What kind of silly exercise is this? I’m in trouble, and the one who claims to care and who can actually do something about it is sleeping!
But, just when their puzzlement had peaked, just when Jesus’ decision to take a power nap was going to drive them over the edge, Jesus awakens, speaks to the weather, and–believe it or not!– everything is calm. But notice how the disciples reacted. Did they inquire into the “how to’s” of this miracle? No. Did they simply say, “Hey, cool; we can go fishing.”? Of course not. Rather, what they did was more profound than that; they basically stared at Jesus. It was as if they looked through the miracle to the one who performed it. The miracle was incredible, to be sure, but the miracles worker was, well, he was beyond words, or at least beyond adequate words. Maybe, I’m thinking, this a part of the secret.
Bad things happen, and sometimes it seems like Jesus is sleeping on the job. When these things occur, it is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out why. Some questions refuse an answer, and certain dilemma won’t go away. But smack right in the middle of it all is a God who cares, who shows up, who preserves, who provides peace not by producing a systematic list of answers, not by answering all of our inquiries, but by just being himself. Of course part of the mystery here, as his first disciples discovered, is that Jesus seems, at times, like he is sleeping on the job. Still, he is with us, and he is apparently more aware of our circumstances than we realize. Indeed, he will (eventually) calm the storms that come into our lives. Like the disciples of old, we must learn to look through the circumstances, past the miracle, and to the one who transcends both circumstance and miracle.
As a parallel, think of Job. When he was perplexed, he wasn’t merely given answers (although some were and are available). Instead, he was given a glimpse of his Maker. The God of the whirlwind was somehow even greater and more captivating than that which confounded the great sufferer, Job.
To be honest, I don’t think anyone can provide completely satisfactory answers for a Job. But, apparently, that is not what matters most or works best. The point is not to minimize the questions, the heartache, the seeming contradictions of life. Rather, it is to show that somehow, in ways we cannot fully grasp or articulate, God is even bigger than our questions and our struggles. And what is our response to be? The only thing we can do is groan and wonder . . . and (hopefully) believe. Faith, you see, is more than a body of beliefs; it is also an action, an ongoing, up-and-down looking to the only One who truly knows what’s going on. It’s reliance upon another. Valid as our inquiries might be, we require not only answers (of which some, but not as many as we’d like, are available) but the one true Answerer. He calms seas and hearts.
Perhaps, we are like the disciples, who traveled with Jesus in a boat. There they were, tossing and turning amid the turbulent sea, and Jesus–Can you believe it?–is asleep in the back of the boat! What’s going on? What is he up to? Doesn’t he care? What kind of silly exercise is this? I’m in trouble, and the one who claims to care and who can actually do something about it is sleeping!
But, just when their puzzlement had peaked, just when Jesus’ decision to take a power nap was going to drive them over the edge, Jesus awakens, speaks to the weather, and–believe it or not!– everything is calm. But notice how the disciples reacted. Did they inquire into the “how to’s” of this miracle? No. Did they simply say, “Hey, cool; we can go fishing.”? Of course not. Rather, what they did was more profound than that; they basically stared at Jesus. It was as if they looked through the miracle to the one who performed it. The miracle was incredible, to be sure, but the miracles worker was, well, he was beyond words, or at least beyond adequate words. Maybe, I’m thinking, this a part of the secret.
Bad things happen, and sometimes it seems like Jesus is sleeping on the job. When these things occur, it is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out why. Some questions refuse an answer, and certain dilemma won’t go away. But smack right in the middle of it all is a God who cares, who shows up, who preserves, who provides peace not by producing a systematic list of answers, not by answering all of our inquiries, but by just being himself. Of course part of the mystery here, as his first disciples discovered, is that Jesus seems, at times, like he is sleeping on the job. Still, he is with us, and he is apparently more aware of our circumstances than we realize. Indeed, he will (eventually) calm the storms that come into our lives. Like the disciples of old, we must learn to look through the circumstances, past the miracle, and to the one who transcends both circumstance and miracle.
As a parallel, think of Job. When he was perplexed, he wasn’t merely given answers (although some were and are available). Instead, he was given a glimpse of his Maker. The God of the whirlwind was somehow even greater and more captivating than that which confounded the great sufferer, Job.
To be honest, I don’t think anyone can provide completely satisfactory answers for a Job. But, apparently, that is not what matters most or works best. The point is not to minimize the questions, the heartache, the seeming contradictions of life. Rather, it is to show that somehow, in ways we cannot fully grasp or articulate, God is even bigger than our questions and our struggles. And what is our response to be? The only thing we can do is groan and wonder . . . and (hopefully) believe. Faith, you see, is more than a body of beliefs; it is also an action, an ongoing, up-and-down looking to the only One who truly knows what’s going on. It’s reliance upon another. Valid as our inquiries might be, we require not only answers (of which some, but not as many as we’d like, are available) but the one true Answerer. He calms seas and hearts.
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