Do you ever feel like your life is like an ongoing sound check: Testing, testing… Just when you think you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you discover it’s an oncoming train. Put another way, You know it’s going to be a bad day when…
You see a 60 Minutes news team in your office
You call suicide prevention hotline, and they put you on hold.
You turn on the news, and they’re showing emergency routes out of the city.
Your twin sister forgot your birthday.
Your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the highway.
Your boss tells you not to bother to take off your coat.
Your income tax check bounces.
You put both contact lenses in the same eye.
OK, so chances are none of those things is in your immediate future, but what about others, such as
You remain unemployed after months, if not years, of seeking work
Your home feels increasingly unsafe due to emotional or physical abuse
Your childhood innocence was shattered by sexual abuse
One of your parents abandoned you just when you needed them most
You are drowning in debt and see no way of escape
Your prayers for deliverance from addiction seem to go unanswered
You are facing retirement with uncertainty and financial instability
Where is God then? Is He on a break? Does He still care? And why does it seem that folks who don’t know God or aren’t even remotely trying to live for Him are prospering? Have you ever even been tempted to ask these kinds of questions? Well, welcome to the club! One of King David’s very own protégés, Asaph, put it all down in writing for us in his famous rant which we now call Psalm 73. Portions of it go like this:
[At times I am tempted to envy] the proud when I [see] them prosper despite their
wickedness.They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.
They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty.
These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!
They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.
They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth.
And so [I am] dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.
What does God know? Does the Most High even know what’s happening?
Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.
Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. Truly,
you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.
Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.
There are times in this life when the only thing we can cling to is the surety of our relationship with God. We sing it this Sunday in our special, “I Know Who I Am.” I am yours and You are mine. Let that be ‘nuf said!’ To follow Jesus requires that we fix our eyes on Him and not get distracted by what’s going on in other peoples’ lives. There will always be someone who is smarter than you, wittier, more physically fit, better looking, appears to have a better family, smarter kids, more devoted spouse, blah, blah, blah. Comparisons are usually a bad idea. No sooner to you post on your bumper that your kid is an honor roll student than you are met with ’My kid can beat up your honor roll student!’ And on and on it goes.
What Asaph learned was what Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher, once opined: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” God has the final word, and what is true in the short run is not always indicative of one’s ultimate destiny. My (then) unsaved, much richer brother used to torment me with “when are you going to get a real job?” as he heaped up wealth and success pursuing the ‘good life.’ Sadly, he died at age 51 from alcoholism, with a broken marriage, a son who today is an atheist and a daughter who struggled for years in and out of jail. Fortunately for him, he came to Christ before he died, but left behind were the casualties of the slippery slope on which he lived his life.
So if you are in a season of ‘testing, testing’ right now, hold on to what you know to be true. You belong to God. And like the prayer you might have learned as a child, He is great and He is good. Asaph was right—whom have I in heaven but Him? Can I get an Amen?
tad
Amen!
ReplyDelete