As a Christian and a pastor I often
find myself involved in or dragged into some pretty deep theological
conversations. A majority of the time I enjoy them. I appreciate the
back and forth and deep conversation. There are times I do not. Those
times are the times when the conversation distracts me from my
important to-do list or the argument gets redundant and I just don't
have the time or the patience to get into all that with someone.
This past Monday a person informed me,
in general conversation, that they were not sure they believed in
God. They grew up in church and liked what church gave them, a false
identity where they could pretend everything was good and they could
hide the bad stuff in their life. Eventually the bad stuff catches up
and we discover this false image of God we've created does not hold
up. This false image is one that argues, “Give your life to Christ
and all your problems will go away.” It's a false image we've all
signed on for at one time or another. We've been taught to believe
that if you are a Christian, a real Christian then everything works
out for you. You won't have any problems and you will get your wishes
fulfilled. We ignore the dirtiness of the scriptures and cut verses
out to the say that if just follow God everything is going to be
great. We know this to be a false image of God because we know it's
not true. We know life produces bad as well as good. Just because you
are a faithful follower of Christ doesn't mean your crops won't
suffer any less than your neighbors during a drought.
This image leads some to a fork in
their spiritual journey. It's dark and lonely where these two roads
diverge: One road is led by faith, the other is led by certainty.
Most Christians, when prodded, will happily debate the true existence
of their God. Those arguing otherwise are readily as happy to debate
against them. The most common argument against God's existence is
this: If there was a God, and God was supposed to be all loving, then
why do bad things happen to good people? Why are children beaten or
starving? Why is the world in utter chaos? If God is real then that
is not a God I wish to believe in.”
I have friends who suggest the best
response to that question is: “I don't believe in that god either.”
They would argue that the God of the Bible and of Jesus is not like
the one the person described. But what do you do when scriptures
suggest that person is right? What do you do when you are facing that
fork in your spiritual journey? What if the comfort of heaven or the
fear of hell are not strong enough motives for you stay on the road
you're on? What if what you really crave or desire is certainty?
Such a desire is a natural one for all
people, including Christians. We've molded faith into a religion
based on certainty; based on being able to prove God's existence or
prove we are correct in our theology. We all desire certainty but our
certainty will fail us one day because our God is not a God who can
be fully known or understood. Our questions will remain unanswered
even when God returns. Faith allows us to live in that uncertainty
but it does make us uncomfortable.
The reality of the scriptures is a
reality that is painted by characters and stories of people who
wrestled with God intensely. They wrestled with God's existence and
God's activity in their world. They wrestled with their role in the
story and they wrestled deeply with what it means to be a people of
God. The question proposed earlier, “If God is real then why do bad
things happen” is a question that people of faith have been
wrestling with for ages.
It's been thought that the Book of Job
is the oldest Old Testament book, one of the first to be written. In
the book we find a righteous man, Job, being used as a pawn in a game
of chess between the Satan and God. The Satan bets God that when
tested, when all hell is unleashed, Job will turn his back on God. In
the darkest times, the Satan thinks, humanity will turn and curse
God. God disagrees and allows the Satan to torment Job however he
wishes as long the Satan doesn't take Job's life.
One day Job receives the news: Sabeans
raided the farmland of the eldest son killing all the farmhands and
stealing all the animals. Upon that news, Job is told of a fire that
fell from heaven and burned up all his sheep and his shepherds. Upon
that news Job is told of Chaldean raiders who have stolen his camels
and killed his servants. While receiving the news of the fire and two
raids Job is told of a powerful whirlwind that swept up in the desert
and hit the house of his oldest son's home killing all but the
messenger. One bad report after another is given to Job. Job tears
his robe in grief, shaves his head and fell to the ground saying: “I
came naked from my mother's womb and I will be stripped of everything
when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord has taken
it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
One day, sometime after the chaotic
events, the Satan appears before God. God shows off Job saying, “Have
you considered my servant Job? He maintains his integrity even after
you persuaded me cause him harm without cause.” “He blesses you
only because you bless him. A man will give up everything he has to
save his life. But take away his health, and he will surely curse you
to your face!” God then allows the Satan to do his worst to Job, as
long as his spares his life. So the Satan left the presence of God
and struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot. Job's
wife insisted that he curse God and die. But Job replies, “Should
we only accept the good from the hand of God but not the bad?”
The next few chapters of the book, Job
is questioned and accused of being faithless or sinful by his
friends. In their minds no good faithful person has a run of bad luck
without angering God. Finally, after lodging his complaint with God,
God appears to Job. Job questions God and God answers him; however,
God doesn't give Job the answer he was looking or hoping for. God
doesn't say, “Sorry about all the heartache and misery. The Satan
and I had a bet going on that the Satan could take your possessions,
family, and give you boils and you would never lose faith. I am
deeply sorry.” Instead Job is told to gird up his loins and treated
to a parade of creation and blasted with questions of “Where were
you when I set the waves and land apart?”
For 3 chapters God showcases God's
almighty power and creativity through questions to Job. Not once does
God give Job reasons for his affliction or troubles. God does not
ever really answer Job's questions or accusations. After the parade
of creation goes by Job responds to God's questions, “Therefore I
have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me,
which I did not know.” If Job is truly one of the first Old
Testament books then it is a telling story. One of the oldest books
which looks to answer the ever troubling question, “Why do bad
things happen?” gives us no formal answer; instead it resigns
itself to say “these things are too wonderful for me.”
We are resigned to this fact: We can
neither prove the existence of God or deny the existence of a higher
being. For when we reach the pivotal fork in our spiritual journey we
are resigned to know that we will not find certainty in faith. We are
resigned to live in the uncertainty, trusting that God's love is with
us and real. But we are not resigned to it alone. Faith requires us
to walk together. If Job's friends had taken a moment and considered
Job's situation perhaps they would have questioned their image of God
and maybe Job would not have felt so alone.
Often we look at the world and all its
problems and ask, “Where is God?” Often we look at our neighbor's
struggles and ask, “Where is God?” Often we think God's turned
God's back on us for something we've done as either a people or a
nation and we feed that image by looking for a villain to blame. We
blame society, bad gun laws, liberals, homosexuals, terrorists,
government, etc. Often what the hurting world is asking is not
“Where's God” but “Where are God's people?”
And so the world looks but we are
nowhere to be found. When they do find us they find us at our worse.
They find us spending $4 on a chicken sandwich to make a point. They
look and find us huddled in our churches with our doors closed. They
look and find us absent from the harsh reality of life. They look and
find us playing pretend while ignoring the hell in the lives of our
friends, our family, and our own church members. They look and find
us protesting funerals and shaking our fists at one another. They
look and find us but they do not find the Christ we worship. And so
this hurting world struggles with an image of God we fail to fully
show.
In many ways we are shown to be like
Job's friends. We are quick to find an answer to the world's
problems/questions instead of listening to what is really being
asked. We do not really listen to that question, “Where's God?”
Paul seems to be onto something with
his prayer: “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with
all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know that the love of Christ surpasses knowledge, so that you
may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-21). He
seems to understand that it is our life together that we find new
views and perceptions into the vast world of God. If we just took a
minute to listen to one another, listen to the stories of our
neighbor's we would discover stories of faith beyond our own. We
would discover we are not alone. Listening to another, dining with
one another, listening to their prayers we gain an understanding of
God and the world we had not known before. We then are able to say,
“These things are too wonderful for me.”
My friends, Greg and Helms Jarrell are
founders of a neo-monastic community in Charlotte, called Hyatts.
Hyatts is, at its core, an intentional Christian community that lives
in a low income, high risk area of Charlotte. They minister to what
we would call “the least of these.” Every year I get a chance to
spend time with them at Unidiversity and I marvel at their spirits
and their true embrace of God's call. They often receive calls from
churches wanting to come and visit and help out. Part of Greg and
Helms' orientation includes this statement, “the folks you meet are
going to be your teachers. Your job is not to be the presence of
Christ today, but instead to meet the presence of Christ and to
recognize it in those you encounter. These neighbors will be your
teachers about the kingdom of Heaven if you will listen.” So often
we are so concerned about the world seeing us as the presence of
Christ that we fail to listen to what God is saying about them and
what they are saying about God.
But if that's what Paul's prayer is
telling us? What if the proof of God's existence doesn't rest in
absolute certainty or scientific fact? What if the truth of God
exists in the lives of ourselves and in our neighbors? What if the
question being asked is not “Where's God?” but “Where are God's
people?” and what if the answer is, “Here and here?” How
different would that fork in the spiritual road look? How different
would our experience be? How different would this hurting world be?
Would God's love be more evident? Would these things be all to
wonderful?
Yes and yes.
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