Friday, June 17, 2011

Synchronicity

All day Wednesday I struggled at work with boredom. It's not that I didn't have anything to do, it was that I didn't feel like doing anything. I was working from home, which is sometimes counterproductive. The house is too quiet and the climate control too comfortable for serious work. So my mind wandered and my body relaxed the more I slumped in my chair and stretched out my legs.

As soon as I went into work the next day I received an email titled: "Boredom at Work is Self Inflicted". It was from a daily devotional of a ministry called Work Life: http://www.worklife.org/

I felt like a complainer...and I was. It's absurd when you think about all the blessings and gifts and resources I've been given to provide for my family and live a comfortable life (comfortable in light of the world population, not necessarily middle or under middle class Americans). My current vocation does not line up with what I perceive to be my long-term vocational calling...so I often enjoy whining about it, which leads to boredom, self-loathing and apathy, instead of being thankful, which leads to praise, contentment and a gracious spirit.

What I was especially reminded of in all this was the power of the gospel, to redeem, transcend and inspire any given situation. Isn't that what makes the power of the gospel so great? The gospel is not controlled or produced by its context, but changes the lives of people within a given context in order for God's work to be made manifest in the world. It's a quiet power that moves in the hearts of men with indelible grace and strength.

Opening that email the other day was also a reminder of God's sense of humor in synchronicity, or 'an apparently meaningful coincidence.' I can't remember if I laughed or cussed, but the irony was wonderful. To receive that email, blasted out to thousands, the day after I struggled mightily with boredom, was, what I interpret as, God's providence. I don't look for 'synchronic signs' under every rock...but I know them when I see them.

May we all 'work as though working unto the Lord' (Col 3.22-24) and allow the peace of Christ to do the rest (Phil 4.4-7).

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Revelation, not Explanation

My pastor, Keith Ferguson, is taking a break from his current Galatians series to preach on tragedy (Tragedy and Trinity is the sermon title), due to all the questions he's been getting about the relationship between God's goodness and omnipotence (Keith's blog: http://www.gospelrenewal.com/blog/). If God is in fact good, as well as sovereign and all-powerful, then why does he allow (or worse yet be the first cause of) tragedy in our world? This is often referred to as the theodicy, or the problem with evil. It's a legitimate problem, and one that all religions who believe in a personal God are forced to face.


One of the quotes Keith is using, which I think is great, is from a David Platt sermon:  


The greatest need that God says we have in the book of Job in the face of personal tragedy and immense suffering is not explanation, but revelation. David Platt, The Church At Brook Hills


In the face of tragedy trite explanations and tired cliches don't cut it. Unfortunately even Scripture sometimes doesn't cut it (yeah, I said it). If one of my children died in a car crash and someone said, "Well you know God works for the good of those..." I know that's true, but sadly that reminder probably wouldn't help. Instead I need a person to just be there, not an explanation for why something happened.

In the face of tragedy there's a balance that needs to be struck. On the one hand there is hope, a hope that we must cling to and remind ourselves of all the time. On the other hand there is an acceptance of the reality of the tragedy in which we find ourselves. A good friend from seminary was flying home a few years back for his father's funeral. His father died of a heart attack in his 50's. My friend, while at the airport, happened to run into one of the seminary's teaching assistants, who gave his condolences. My friend responded, "Well yeah, but he's in a better place." The teaching assistant paused for a moment and said, "Well yeah, but it still sucks." That was a powerful reminder that we shouldn't sugar coat tragedy. We don't sweep it under the rug so that we can feel better about it. It is what it is. Death is horrible - always. Even when a person is relieved of their current sufferings in this life. Death is an abomination. Suffering and sin and sadness are things that are not right with the world - and were not part of God's original intention for human beings. But the great hope we have is that all those things will pass away, when Christ returns in glory.

It's interesting in Job that the vast majority of the book is made up of attempts at explanation in the face of tremendous suffering. And then the voice of God drives home the fact that what Job needed was a Person, not an commentary. He needed a revelation, not an explanation. Our world needs Jesus, to come face to face with the Person, who is the only one who can deliver on hopeful promises.