The Land Between

This week I've been reading a great book called "The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions" by Jeff Manion.

I highly recommend this book if you are dealing with difficulty, discouragement, grief or loss.

Rev. Manion vividly retells the indirect journey of the Hebrew people who went from Egypt to the Promised Land...enduring a generation in the Sinai desert, which he calls "the Land Between."

There are many things that I like about this book...including his inclusion of a U2 song and the funniest paraphrase I've read in quite awhile (of what God says to Elijah):

"Dude, you could use some lunch. You must be so tired and discouraged." (pg. 75)

Through his retelling of the Exodus account (and several other Biblical accounts of difficulty and despair), Rev. Manion explores how God will uses these times in "the Land Between" to teach us more about Himself and transform our lives.

Again, a highly recommended book...

-d.

The Problem of Pain

In our weekly Wednesday evening prayer this week, we'll remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth was born in 1207 and spent much of her life caring for the sick and the poor. Even now, a number of hospitals have been named after St. Elizabeth. Here's a link to our online prayer.

For my work, I’ve spent nearly the entire Fall doing software training in a number of hospitals -- spending a lot of time in ERs and Intensive Care Units, helping doctors look at radiology images of people suffering from congestive heart failure, brain injuries, breast cancer and a whole host of other problems.

Remembering St. Elizabeth and my work, I've had a chance to think a lot recently about sickness, difficulty, and death.

Not unique to myself, these topics have also been significant issues in the life of the Church. And many, including myself, have asked the question: “If God is good, how can there be suffering in the world?” C.S. Lewis called this “The Problem of Pain”.

As I've sought to have a better understanding to this question, I've come to a few conclusions...

First, it's clear to me that Scripture indicates that the cause of our difficulty is due to our sinful condition (something theologians call "Original Sin"). It’s not that a sick person is more sinful than a healthy person, but rather we learn in Scripture that sin entered into the world with the sin of Adam and Eve, our “First Parents” (as the theologians would call them), resulting in a separation from God which ushered in pain, toil and difficulty into the world.

In understanding this issue of sin and sickness, I've found much insight from writers and teachers in the Reformed Tradition who have looked at this issue of sin from a very different perspective than many moderns. Instead of asking (as moderns might), “How can there be a good God with pain and suffering in the world?” They have said instead, “Isn’t it amazing how good God is -- even though we have sinned. We deserve so much worse. We have been disobedient, we have broken God’s law, we are under God’s wrath. We deserve death. Isn’t it amazing that God the Father sent His Son to mend our relationship with Him and make us His children. Isn't it amazing that God has extended grace to us."

These scholars have also emphasized the sovereignty of God. What this means in a nutshell is that God is God and I am not. I can’t manipulate God to get Him to do what I want. I can't pray a special prayer for healing that He will always answer. If He desires to heal someone who is sick, He will. If He chooses not to heal, He won't. There are no magic formulas that we should rely on…it’s up to Him. I can pray to God for healing, as we see Jesus and the disciples doing in the Bible and I can leave the results to Him, trusting that whatever the outcome, "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28).

Another source that I've found helpful is the teaching of George Eldon Ladd. Through the writing of Dr. Ladd, I've been able to see sickness and healing in the context of the Kingdom of God. In his book called "The Presence of the Future" Dr. Ladd explains that "God is the Lord of history; but there are hostile elements, opposing forces that seek to frustrate God's rule." He notes that "Evil is so radical that it can be overcome only by the mighty intervention of God."

Dr. Ladd adds, "History will witness a continuing conflict between God's Kingdom and the realm of evil; and in this conflict, men in general and the disciples of the Kingdom in particular will be called upon to suffer. In fact, they may expect opposition and suffering to be their normal experience."

There are no easy answers when people face difficulty, illness and pain. I'm encouraged though that in Scripture we can see Christ's heart for the hurting. He showed mercy to those who came to him in need. Here's a few examples:

-"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed the sick." (Matthew 14:14)

-"Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 'I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way." (Matthew 15:32)

-"Jesus had compassion on them and touched them their eyes. Immediately they recieved their sight and followed him." (Matthew 20:34)

-"When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said 'Do not weep.'" (Luke 7:13)

May we be reminded this week of Christ's mercy...to us and to the world.

Grace & Peace,
-D.

Remembering Charles Simeon

In last night's online Wednesday Evening Worship & Prayer, we remembered the life of Charles Simeon. Our online prayer can be found here.

Simeon was born in England in 1759 and became a Christian when he was in college.

John Piper, in a sermon he preached in 1989, noted several interesting things in Simeon's life. The sermon can be found here.

Piper noted that Simeon's conversion was remarkable in that it was prompted by his college's compulsory annual partaking of the Lord's Supper. After reading a book on the Lord's Supper, Simeon became convinced of his own sinfulness. He later wrote:

"Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head of Jesus; and on the Wednesday began to have a hope of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased; on the Friday and Saturday it became more strong; and on the Sunday morning, Easter-day, April 4, I awoke early with those words upon my heart and lips, 'Jesus Christ is risen to-day! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!' From that hour peace flowed in rich abundance into my soul; and at the Lord's Table in our Chapel I had the sweetest access to God through my blessed Saviour."

After finishing his college work he was ordained and appointed to Holy Trinity Church at Cambridge where he remained for fifty-four years until shortly before his death in November 1836.

Simeon faced several trials in ministry.

One significant trial was with his congregation, who, unable to fire him, refused to have him preach any time other than Sunday morning. For a time they locked the doors to their individual pews, refusing to come to church and refusing to allow others to sit in their seats.

With great wisdom, at the age of 71, Simeon wrote to a friend, "My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake."

Having a passion for sharing the good news of Christ with others, Charles Simeon had great influence on a number of younger ministry leaders including Henry Martyn, David Brown and William Wilberforce.

Piper contends that the secret to Simeon's perseverance in ministry was his knowledge of his own limitations and sinfulness. He believed that he was made right with God, not by his own work, but by God's mercy in the forgiveness of Christ. Simeon wrote:

"I love simplicity; I love contrition. . . . I love the religion of heaven; to fall on our faces while we adore the Lamb is the kind of religion which my soul affects."

May Charles Simeon serve as an example to us as we seek God in the midst of difficulty, as we work with younger leaders and share the good news of Christ with others.

-D.

Wall Street and other bailouts

New Orleans - I've spent the past several weeks in New Orleans, Louisiana...where the people are friendly and the weather sometimes is not. I was originally scheduled to arrive here three weeks ago, but was delayed by Hurricane Gustav. When I finally did arrive, people were just returning from their "hurri-cation" and fixing up the damage brought by the heavy winds of Gustav and awaiting more bad weather from Hurricane Ike. (Ike eventually went south causing flooding in southern Louisiana and Texas and then brought high winds through the Midwest causing Sue and the boys to be without power in West Chester for a few days).

In addition to the news about the bad weather, it was also hard not to miss the news last week about the government "bail out" of our nation's leading financial institutions. At the end of the week the price tag was estimated at $700 billion dollars for this "once in a lifetime" catastrophe.

For an overview of the crisis, I've found Robert J. Samuelson's writing In the Washington Post helpful. His articles: "Wall Street's Unraveling" and "The Confidence Game" raise some important questions about how the financial firms found themselves in this crisis and the recovery plan that is being proposed.

For me, I wonder how long the increase in government spending can continue. The U.S. already has a $10 trillion dollar national debt.

I wonder too about the assistance that will likely be provided. It is in our nature to subvert rules and look out only for ourselves. I wonder how people will use this latest bailout for their own gain. I was reminded of this in last Friday's "USA Today" that noted that the federal government has provided over $20 billion dollars to coastal areas after Hurricane Katrina, with the provision that new homes be elevated to avoid future disasters. The newspaper noted, however, that local officials have told residents that they do not need to follow the federal government's rules (so that they can keep rebuilding costs low and rebuild at a quicker pace). And so houses are being build at the same pre-Hurricane Katrina levels.

As I thought about the current "bail out", and feeling more and more depressed, I was reminded of the biggest "bail out" of all....one given to sinners by a loving and just God. God provided this "bail out" (called a "condescending love" by scholars) to the world by providing forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

St. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

In Galatians 2:20 Paul added that the Son of God: "...loved me and gave his life for me."

John Bunyan summarized these ideas in "The Pilgrim's Progress":

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save everyone that believes. He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. He is mediator between God and us. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.”
(I Tim. 1:15, Rom. 10:4, 4:25, Rev. 1:5, I Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:25).

A good bailout to focus on.

-D.

Difficulty

I spent this week in Phoenix, AZ for work. On Tuesday night, I met Jason, my wife's cousin, and his son for a Diamondback's baseball game.

We arranged to meet outside the stadium and walked together to pick up the tickets that he had ordered earlier in the afternoon. However, when we arrived at the "Will Call" window we were told that there was a computer problem and that we'd have to wait for our tickets to print.

We had been waiting for our tickets for almost twenty minutes, when suddenly a guy approached us with tickets, just before the game was about to start.

Thinking that he was selling them, Jason told him, "We're okay, we're waiting for our tickets to print."

"I'm not selling these." the man said, "I'd like you to have them for free, my wife and I have some extra tickets."

So, Jason returned to the "Will Call" window and cancelled the order for his tickets and we entered the stadium before the first pitch. The tickets that we were given were terrific....right behind the team's dugout, much more costly and closer to the field than the tickets that we had been waiting on.

As we sat watching the game, I thought about how interesting it was that if things had worked out perfectly, as we had planned, we would have gotten our tickets without delay at the "Will Call" window...but would have been seated high atop the stadium. Because of the problem, we were delayed long enough to be blessed by the kindness of a stranger.

For me, I try my best to avoid difficulty. But I need to be reminded that there is much to be gained from difficult circumstances. Pastor John Piper quotes Paul Brand in the book "Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants":

"Nearly all my memories of acute happiness, in fact, involve some element of pain or struggle."

He also quotes Charles Spurgeon:

"They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls."

Thinking about this whole idea of difficulty and blessing, reminded me of what our pastor, Dave Workman talked about this past weekend: that God will brings tests (or difficultly) in our lives to help change us. Here are a few examples in Scripture that Dave noted:

"God spoke through the prophet Zechariah and said that He will 'refine (His people) as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are My people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'' (Zechariah 13:9). Another time He reminded Jeremiah 'I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind...' (Jeremiah 17:10a). "

Maybe someday difficulty won't surprise me and I'll find it easy to embrace and even rejoice in difficulty. Until then, I feel like I have a lot to learn.

Blessings, Dave