Got Fear?
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,
as though something strange was happening to you.
1 Peter 4:12
Ten major natural disasters in one year! Ten! Thousands of Japanese die when a Tsunami pounds their shorelines. Hundreds of people die in Missouri when a tornado rips their landscape. A young woman drowns in Lancaster County, PA when she drives her sub-compact car into raging flood waters and is swept downstream. The recent 9/11 memorials seemed like an exclamation point to the wringing of hands and tears of an extraordinarily tragic year.
And of course with tragedy comes the inexorable questioning: Where is God in all of this? What is the will of God? Is God punishing us? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why does God save some from death and tragedy but not others? If God is omnipotent and omniscient, why must we as believing Christians suffer?
Doesn’t God love us?
I admit that when I try to mull these questions in a rational manner, my tendency is to work myself up into a state of frenzy where they top of my head wants to blow off. Typically when I reach this zenith of frustration at work or home or wherever, I attempt to employ a remedy that uses the famous inaugural line from the Clinton administration: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid). In keeping it simple, I remember the following three passages of scripture:
My own interpretation of these passages goes something like this: The earth is not a paradise. It has not been a paradise since the days of Adam and Eve and it ain’t ever gonna be a paradise again until the second coming of Christ. As such, to loosely paraphrase a popular bumper sticker, “Sin happens.” God allows Satan to have free range over this devilish world and its measly inhabitants (us) and as a result, evil and tragedy abound. As Jesus explained to the non-believing Gentile, Pontius Pilate, “this is not my world.” Could our heavenly Father send legions of angels to obliterate evil and prevent natural disasters from occurring on this earth? Yes, the creator of the universe could obliterate evil and disaster from this earth. Does God expect us to relegate ourselves to dejection and lethargy because the world stinks? On the contrary, He admonishes us to be faithful and represent Him on this earth by practicing the teachings of Christ. We should be kind, loving, patient, joyful, peaceful, slow to anger, gentle, faithful…and good. We should stand up for what is just and fair. We should help the poor and help our neighbor. Why? Because even if this world’s hurricanes and tornados and suicide bombings and shooting rampages tend to bend your outlook towards the melancholy, remember that after all is said and done, our reward will be great in heaven.
Dear Heavenly Father, when this world gets us down, guide us to “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called (us) heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 Amen
Contributed by Donald
Monday May 28, 2011
Liturgical Year A: Week 43
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 25 (Proper 20)
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost