The last handful of days have been rather sobering. If you are like many, your priorities have been rearranged and your problems put in perspective. The things that bothered me on Saturday and Sunday seemed very insignificant on Monday. Winds have blown and lives have been shaken.
“…the winds were against us…we sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty…and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed…coasting along it with difficulty…” – Acts 27:4-8 {ESV}
And so it is for us on many of our days. It is so easy for us to plan our destination, predict the type of voyage we will enjoy, climb on board as life hoists its sail and then to enjoy calm waters which we assume will last for the entirety of the trip. Yet we have learned differently, haven’t we? The calm waters begin to churn and to chop, the ship leaks and lists, the waves climb and crash, the compass fogs and fails and sometimes it seems like the Captain and his crew have abandoned our ship. I know much more about this reality than I ever hoped to know and I certainly do not desire to become an expert in this area. The sobering reality is that the grace of God promises us companionship but not always comfortableness.
Since my last post before we lost our online communications at the office, tornadoes have ravaged the Midwestern United States. We watched video of utter devastation and heard the unbearable news of children drowning in school basements while trapped under the rubble which fell in upon them. Parents waited in agony to hear if their child’s name would be called from survivor lists for them to reunite. The lists came to their end and grieving parents went out into the nowhere as their homes had been fetched up and flung away by the storm. On a smaller but equally serious scale has been the three week journey of a local pastor’s family, a dear friend of mine and one of the kindest men you could meet, as he continues in intensive care at a nearby hospital. One day the medical team will offer the family rays of hope with good news and happy data. The next day carries blunt words of bleak outlook delivered by those who are trained to tell the truth as they see it. Through it all a helpless wife sits in a small room, waiting on the breakthrough that she and thousands are asking God for. Though we are certain that God is with us, we say with Dr. Luke from the passage above…the winds were against us.
Let us remember that there is another part of that verse which I call an uncomfortable promise. It is found in the words “and arrived with difficulty… coasting along it with difficulty”. The promise is that we will arrive at our destination while the uncomfortable part is that the arrival is qualified as being with difficulty. There is no doubt that the redeemed of God will inevitably arrive. We will know the riches and fullness of our inheritance in Jesus Christ. They are no hollow bible-words which promise that our sorrow and sighing will flee away and God will wipe away every tear. But we taste the salt of those tears down here. We sometimes feel the dull thud of circumstantial kicks in our guts. We occasionally will quietly wrestle with the wonder of why He allows all of this. Even knowing that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with future glory does not fully relieve the aches we have down here. Yes, we will arrive…yet we will arrive only after coasting along with difficulty. The truth of our jagged journey is very high but there is gold in those lofty hills. The difficulties speak, but never have the final say. The pains stab but will not bleed us out. The losses pry our fingers loose of what we hold to but they cannot prevent our arms from being raised in surrender to the God who knows all. The trouble is not an impediment to the plan; it is an integral part of it. Resurrection is only glorious because of the dark backdrop of crucifixion…and we were made to know both. Winds will roar, waves will crash, sickness will stagger us…but nothing trumps resurrection. The conflict will eventually subside, the sea will still, the opposition will cease and an immeasurable degree of peace will envelop us that not one, living soul can comprehend right now. While my faith tells me to sail on, reality tells me that, some days, the wind will not allow us to move forward with ease. It was never designed to be easy. It has been ever-designed to be good. May God never allow us to wrongly believe that the good life is dependent on the easy life. The two can be one and the same as long as you do not voyage alone. Christ is at the helm, dear one. So press on.
It IS an integral part!
One of the most evil statements I once heard was “if something threatens your peace, get rid of it.”
If I were to have been raised with no scriptural basis for life, I would have taken that bait.
And I would find myself with no one. Utterly and hopelessly alone.
My greatest storms, whether created by myself or at the hands of others, have served perfectly. They revealed God to me at a depth I could otherwise have never known. They brought evidence of a faith unseen.