“INNOCENT SUFFERING”
We all wish for the guilty to suffer, and the innocent to be vindicated. And of course all of us are innocent, aren’t we?
But the truth is this: Often the guilty go unpunished.
Or do they?
The guilty have to live with at least one evil person twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred-sixty-five days a year. That person is their own selves. (On leap year, they get an extra day to their sentence.) And while we all sometimes choose to be the guilty person, who really wants to live with one?!
And it also might be asked about how innocent any of us really is?
I realize that this is a terribly unpopular idea, but I still hold to the classic Christian teaching that says that we are all sinners, and that sin is a deadly business for us all.
That does not imply (as it is often thought to imply) that the victim becomes the perpetrator. No! There are the victims, and there are the victimizers. I have been both at different times, and in different situations.
However, I suspect that we all over-rate and over-sell our own innocence.
Still, there are many parts of the Bible that recognize that the innocent suffer through no fault of their own. Psalm 79:3-4, 73:13, and 1 Peter 4:12-19 are just a few of the many verses that acknowledge this uncomfortable truth. In fact, an entire book is devoted to the problem of innocent suffering—the Book of Job.
The teaching of the New Testament is that the truly Innocent One, Jesus, suffered for all the guilty. This is a radical and unpalatable idea. It may or may not be true, but that is what the Bible teaches.
But Jesus also died for the innocent. Apparently, God’s grace and love is so vast that God’s grace and love embrace—that God Himself embraces—all people of all times.
So, if God has embraced the innocent and the guilty, where does that leave us? Should we conclude from this that it doesn’t matter whether we are innocent or guilty in a given situation?
No! Those of us who have been embraced by such a warmly accepting God cannot stay as we were or as we are. Those of us who have come to know that we have been embraced by such love, must acknowledge the fact that we have abused those over whom we held power. We must pray that we will do so no more. We must strive for a godly self-control that will keep us from further devastation.
The Jesus who died for the guilty and the innocent did not die so that the guilty could go on with business as usual. Business as usual is not one of the fruits of such undeserved grace and forgiveness. Gratitude, humility, and transformation of life are the business model of those who have been to the cross of Jesus.
“Invincible Summer”
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” (Albert Camus)
This was the epigraph that led off one of my 12-step readings this morning. I am profoundly grateful to Hazelden Publishing for these readings. They help make me saner—or, at least, a little less crazy.
I have been prone to depression for nearly sixty years. It started just before Christmas when I was nine years old. I didn’t even know what to call it then. I have since come to know the grey monster only too well.
Especially in winter, it is a problem. Some forty years ago, my wife noticed, one dreary February day, that I was more prone to depression in the winter. In her usual constructive manner, she said, “You need to get some exercise. Perhaps that would help.”
“It’s 270!” I replied. I thought that would cool her jets. It didn’t. She’s pesky like that.
“Why don’t we go play golf?” she continued. “You’ve been wanting to teach me how to play.”
“It’s 270!” I said again, as if she hadn’t heard the first time.
“We’ll bundle up,” she said.
Knowing my wife’s persistence (and being too depressed to resist much of anything), we bundled up, got someone to watch our kids, threw my clubs in our refrigerated car, and headed for the golf course.
After five holes of icy golf, I was feeling much colder, but a lot less depressed. “I think I’m feeling better,” I said, through chattering teeth. And then, I added, “You really did well for this being your first golf outing ever.”
“I would have done even better if I had had left-handed clubs,” she replied. I am a righty, and my wife is a lefty. She really did do well!
I have a lot to be depressed about right now. No need to go into all the details. It would make me even more depressed if I did. It probably wouldn’t do a lot to lift your spirits either.
But now, along comes Camus, who is not known for his optimism, with this quote: “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Invincible summer! Now there’s an incantation with which to conjure. I can certainly remember summer, even in winter. And I can play summer songs on You Tube. I can probably even create a “summer channel” on AccuRadio.
And maybe, just maybe, I can come to enjoy winter more, too.
After a long, grey, wintry spell, the day is dawning cold, but bright and clear. Today, I will choose joy. Today, I will choose to be invincible summer.
“Giving Thanks for Ordinary Goods”
Here is a wonderful 12-step reading for today. Enjoy! Hazelden Publishing sells some very helpful devotional materials for people in recovery. Some are overtly Christian. Most are not. All are helpful.
“
Thursday, November 28
for most this amazing day . . .
. . . for everything
which is natural which is infinite
which is yes.
—e. e. cummings
Let us be thankful today for all simple obvious things: for the sun’s rising this morning without our having to awaken it; for another good turn the earth makes today without expecting anything in return; for our ability to know right and wrong by heart. Let us give thanks for all small things that mean the world to us; for bread and cheese and clean running water; for our ability to call our enemies our friends, to forgive even ourselves; for our own bodies, however sagging and worn, which insist on continuing for at least another day.
How much ordinary daily good do I take for granted?” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
“HEARING THE MUSIC BEYOND THE RECORDING”
Here is a wonderful thought from one of my Hazelden Publishing 12-step recovery readings:
“Monday, November 25
All music is what awakes from you when you are
reminded by the instruments.
—Walt Whitman
A small group of friends sat in a room around a record player. It was a heavy
old thing, with parts that had to be operated by hand and only one speaker –
nothing like a modern stereo at all, but more like an antique phonograph. The
record – a recording of their favorite music – was old, too, and scratched, its
grooves worn smooth as a stone in some places. The tone arm skipped and
scratched, and the sound was tinny, hard on the ears.
Most of the friends squirmed in their seats as they listened, and several
grumbled that it was impossible to hear the music with such inferior equipment.
But one of the group sat listening, her eyes closed, swaying to the music and
humming softly to herself.
“How can you enjoy this?” the others asked.
“Ah,” she said with a mysterious smile. “I am listening beyond
the recording to the music I know is there!”
Can I find the music that’s playing for me today?”
(From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
Am I—are we—listening to the music I know is there?
As I write this journal entry, my wife is asleep. Sitting here, listening to the rhythm of her breathing, do I hear the blessed hymn of her rest? What a wonderful symphony Sharon is, even when she is asleep!
Will I hear the music that I know is there today when I attend scholarly lectures at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting? Scholarly presentations are merely the notes on the page. They are not the music. But the music is there.
And then, there is my own music. Do I really listen to the music of my own life: the dramatically dark movements and the passages that are filled with light and joy? Does God enjoy listening to the symphony that is me?
Today, I will listen to the music that is beyond the recording.
“Fatherly Care and Sovereign Rule”
“Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
(Psalm 103:1–5 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Psa._103:1-5, accessed 11-18-2019.
I am being besieged by Psalm 103:2-3 right now. The preacher at the church we are attending quoted it in his sermon yesterday. This morning, the “3-Minute Retreat” put out by Loyola Publishing used Psalm 103:2-3 as the basis of their daily meditation.
Motyer comments insightfully about Psalm 103. “The blend of changeless fatherly care and endless sovereign rule is the distinctive stress of this psalm.”[1] I need both of those things right now: fatherly care and sovereign rule. The changeless and endless modifiers are also very important.
All the verbs in verses 2-5 (except for “renews” in verse 5) for what God does for us are participles. In Hebrew, participles often suggest continual action that flows out of the character of the one who is acting. God is continually forgiving, continually healing, and so on.
The retreat master for the 3-minute retreat writes, “God’s compassion is abundant. There are times in life when we feel so unlovable, so unforgiveable that we want to hide. We may think that if we just ignore what is going on in our lives, ignore what needs healing and forgiveness it will just go away. Thankfully, God does not act that way. Rather, God waits patiently to receive us and to forgive us again and again. This is why our souls sing out, ‘Bless the Lord, my soul.’ ”
Yes, right now, I would very much like to hide. But there is nowhere to hide. (I try to hide in the refrigerator. I eat when I’m stressed and when I am depressed. Of course, I like to eat anyway.)
Perhaps I could try hiding in
God. Now there’s a thought!
[1]J.A. Motyer, The Psalms, New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition; ed. D. A Carson et al.; Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 551.
“MEMORIES THAT WARM AND MEMORIES THAT WARN”
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2)
Today, in my gratitude list, I listed back to back two similar that were similar, yet very different.
“Memories that warm.
Memories that warn.”
There are truly good memories. And then there are memories that merely make you feel good for a little while, but then leave a bitter after-taste. These latter “good” memories are not good. A memory that leaves you colder is a shortcut that leads to long regrets.
However, the truly good memories are just that: good memories. And they are to be cherished.
But the bad memories are also to be cherished. They help us to be humble, and to not make more bad decisions that will lead to more bad memories and long regrets. These warning memories also make us more empathetic and compassionate toward others.
Memories that warm and memories that warn both play a crucial part in being fully human. However, I should try to live so that I have more warming memories.
Here is an affirmation that you might find helpful today: Today, by God’s grace, I choose to remember the things that warm my heart, and the things that warn my heart. I am consistently choosing today to make good memories, so that I may be more warmed than warned. I’ve had plenty of warnings already.
“The Timing of God”
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7, English Standard Version)
I have made a great discovery: God’s timing is not my timing. And this is good news, because I have a lousy sense of timing anyway. That’s true when I am at the plate, trying to hit a softball. It is also true when I am going through multiple, crushing stresses as I am right now.
But here is my confession concerning God’s sense of timing:
- God sees more.
- God knows more.
- God loves more.
- God knows more.
And because of the many “more-nesses” of God, I can (at least occasionally) back off of my own frantic timetables.
In 1 Peter 5:7, quoted above, the Greek word translated “he cares” is in the present tense. In Greek, the present tense is used for actions that are taking place continually. God’s continual care for me, for all of us, means that God’s apparent slowness is not a function of his lack of caring about us. God cares continually.
In view of the continual caring of God, the clause “. . . so that at the proper time he may exalt you . . .” means that I need to count on God’s care, even as I wait.
I can wait in God’s care, knowing that God is never late.
“Overwhelming Sins, Overwhelming Forgiveness”
“Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.
O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.
When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.” (Psalm 65:1-3, English Standard Version)
I am always struck by the second line of vs. 3. The first line doesn’t surprise me in the least. Iniquities often prevail against me. I’m only too familiar with that dynamic.
But to say that when my wrong-doings overwhelm me, then—precisely then—God atones for those wrong-doings?!? What! That is non-sequitur on steroids!
And yet, that is what the psalmist is saying.
Sometimes, those of us who are Christians fall into the trap of thinking that the Old Testament is about law and God’s wrath, and the New Testament is about grace and God’s loving forgiveness.
Nope! Law and wrath, grace and loving forgiveness are in both the New and the Old Testaments.
So, as the author of Hebrews (New Testament) says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16, New International Version)
How much it cost God to atone for our transgressions is made fully apparent at the cross of Christ. Such love and forgiveness can be received as a gift, but it should never be taken for granted.
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