SUFFER THE SLINGS AND ARROWS: DIALOGUES WITH JOB
Though an army encamp against me
My heart shall not fear;
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Psalms 27:3,13
Introduction
“Have you considered My servant Job?” This was God’s question to Satan as he tested God with the possibility that love was only a means to an end and not an end in itself. Sometime in the mid to late 80’s I read an article by Philip Yancey in Christianity Today Magazine on Job. This article began my fascination with that Job. I am thinking that the article was an excerpt from an upcoming or recently published book, but I do not know which. I kept (and still have) most of the articles that interested me from that period, but I was not able to find that particular piece. Since that time, I have read more articles on his story; I have read the book many times over; I have listened to lectures and sermons on Job; and I have read books that dealt with what some claim to be the greatest piece of literature ever written. Many secular and religious critics, alike, agree that Job is an exceptional work both in the beauty of the text and the level of its thought. It continues to make its way into the “great literature” lists and anthologies. The story has confounded, angered, and excited readers for what may be 1000’s of years and it continues this trend today. I have heard that it is the oldest book in the Bible and that it may be one of the oldest pieces of literature in existence (there are, of course, disagreements on this matter). For the purposes of my story, I have dated Job’s life around the time of Abraham (2100 BC).
As such, I have tried to be somewhat true to my understanding of the culture of that time as I describe lifestyles, living quarters, furnishings, food, dress, and customs. The thought processes presented in this narrative is, I admit, clearly western and tinted by 4000 years of history (50 of which are my own). Therefore, the direction of the dialogue is colored by my experiences and the conclusions are the answers that I have gleaned by placing Job’s story up against the narrative we call the Bible--the story of God reaching down to man and man reaching up to God.
I love the Old Testament. It is life as one encounters it in a world ruled by sine. Its heroes are real people with real issues who try their best to make life work as it should, yet end up short of the mark. This is where God continually tries to intervene, but only with the cooperation of his subject.
For the past 3-4 years, I have read and re-read the Old Testament with great enjoyment and passion. In the Old Testament one discovers real people, living real lives, dealing with real circumstances in the middle of a very real and very fallen universe. For the most part, these folks understand that the best way to make things work as they should is to connect with God, but most fall short of this goal and few ever sustain this connection for long. Even the man described by God as being a “man after My own heart”, David, ( I Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22 ) had issues that would lead any modern observer today to recommend that he be placed in a strict counseling regimen (if not in jail). His Psalms depict extreme bouts of depression, anger, joy, bitterness, and revenge. His son, who many believe wrote the best how to book ever—Proverbs—and one of the greatest love poems ever (Song of Solomon) ended up (again what many believe) writing the most dark and pessimistic book in the Bible (Ecclesiastes). One sage has said to live is to suffer and the people of the Bible are no different. One of the most endearing aspects of the Bible and one that lends credence to its claim as being inspired is the fact that it does not gloss over the foibles (and many are stupendous) of its great men and women. It even records them railing and shaking their fists at God (Moses, David, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk). They are not super-beings. These people confront great dilemmas, make great mistakes, and suffer great consequences. God is always present, however, reaching down and offering to pull them out of the muck (Psalms 40). The Old Testament is about individuals who endure life and it presents a loving, patient God Who never, ever gives up (even as He declares His most destructive edicts, He always follows with a proclamation of some future opportunity for reconciliation with the accomplishment of Christ being the ultimate reconciliation—Isaiah 50-66).
The story of Job encapsulates the story of the Old Testament and is applicable to all. Job, as LaGard explains, takes us back before the prophets, before the teaching of the law, before the promises “to a man who is not even one of the children of Israel . He is just a lone human being who finds himself in terrible suffering for no apparent reason.” (F. LaGard Smith, The Daily Bible, Job and the Problem of Suffering) It tries to make sense out of a fallen existence as it answers the question of, “Can man love God for who He is, or does man need to be bribed in order to love?” Then, “Is love that results from bribery really love at all?” In a broader sense the question is, “Is it possible to have a pain free universe that offers freedom of choice, i.e. the freedom to love or not to love?” I hope that the reader discovers from my presentation of Job that suffering can only make sense when the answers to these questions come from outside the realm of the pain-producing circumstances, that is from the realm where there is ultimate meaning and purpose, from the realm we call the Kingdom of God. Indeed, it can be successfully argued that a world without pain would be meaningless and banal. Discomfort motivates and total complacency creates apathy which leads to atrophy. Pain accomplishes two things in us. It builds character and it drives us into the arms of God. Job encourages us to rise above the suffering and find contentment in God Himself….not in His provisions. Seek God’s face, not His hand.
Why is character important and why must we be forced to seek the arms of God. These arms are our destiny. It is what we were designed for. Augustine said it best 1600 years ago:
There is obviously, then, some kind of blissful vision reserved for us; and if at present only a partial glimpse may be caught through a glass in a dark manner, yet the radiant beauty of that beatitude which God stores up for them that fear Him, which He perfects for them that hope in Him, utterly transcends the power of speech. It is for this that our hearts are being trained in all the hardships and trials of this life. Do not feel surprised at being schooled amid toil: you are being schooled for a wondrous destiny. (On Psalms 36, Serm. 2; trans. ACW 30, 274-275)
Let’s call this being schooled in character. It has been said that God is more interested in our character rather than our comfort. Character, I believe, must play a role in enhancing the relationship with our Father as we walk the paths of eternity. I believe that the quality of that relationship is the rewards that Paul speaks of and the crowns that John envisions. This is not our home, eternity is and it will be defined relationally. God offers us the opportunity to prepare for that home now.
The nature of my presentation here is mystical and relational, not theological. Look for delineation of truth in Scripture not in this book. I do not deal with salvation except to hint at it in Chapter 5, “Is There a Formula”. Even there, Job is (by implication from Hebrews 11) looking forward to that unknown we now know to be Christ who is the only way. This book deals with suffering and how to best endure; and that endurance comes from a diligent pursuit of God.
To be honest, I fear that relatively speaking, I have not suffered. Do not discount my word; however, truth is truth regardless of the messenger. I have endured difficult times to be sure, but I must admit that these were mild and cannot be compared to the level of sufferings endured by Job and many thousands since. Suffering of this magnitude may or may not come my way. If it does, I may shake my fist at God as Job did (or I may not); however, I am confident that God will be faithful and patient. He will emerge at just the right time and we will talk. From that point, the circumstance may or may not change, but God and I will walk the road of life together and it will be that togetherness that will make the difference between endurance and defeat.
Have you considered God’s servant Job? Read on and consider him now. Enjoy.
Wayne Wilson
Cabot, AR
June 2009
Note: All quotes from Scripture are taken from the English Standard Version.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
Eternity, William Blake
…even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it [the sinful city destined for wrath],
they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.
Ezekiel 14:14
Preface
FULLY HAPPY?
In the land of Uz, there lived a man, righteous and God-fearing, and he had great wealth, so many camels, so many sheep and asses, and his children feasted, and he loved them very much and prayed for them.
"It may be that my sons have sinned in their feasting."
Now the devil came before the Lord together with the sons of God, and said to the Lord that he had gone up and down the earth and under the earth.
"And hast thou considered my servant Job?" God asked of him. And God boasted to the devil, pointing to His great and holy servant. And the devil laughed at God's words.
"Give him over to me and Thou wilt see that Thy servant will murmur against Thee and curse Thy name."
And God gave up the just man He loved so, to the devil. And the devil smote his children and his cattle and scattered his wealth, all of a sudden like a thunderbolt from heaven. And Job rent his mantle and fell down upon the ground and cried aloud, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return into the earth; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord forever and ever."
Fathers and teachers, forgive my tears now, for all my childhood rises up again before me, and I breathe now as I breathed then, with the breast of a little child of eight, and I feel as I did then, awe
and wonder and gladness. The camels at that time caught my imagination, and Satan, who talked like that with God, and God who gave His servant up to destruction, and His servant crying out:
"Blessed be Thy name although Thou dost punish me,"
and then the soft and sweet singing in the church:
"Let my prayer rise up before Thee,"
and again incense from the priest's censer and the kneeling and the prayer. Ever since then- only yesterday I took it up- I've never been able to read that sacred tale without tears. And how much that is great, mysterious and unfathomable there is in it! Afterwards I heard the words of mockery and blame, proud words, "How could God give up the most loved of His saints for the diversion of the devil, take from him his children, smite him with sore boils so that he cleansed the corruption from his sores with a potsherd- and for no object except to boast to the devil 'See what My saint can suffer for My sake.' But the greatness of it lies just in the fact that it is a mystery- that the passing earthly show and the eternal verity are brought together in it. In the face of the earthly truth, the eternal truth is accomplished. The Creator, just as on the first days of creation He ended each day with praise: "That is good that I have created," looks upon Job and again praises His creation. And Job, praising the Lord, serves not only Him but all His creation for generations and generations, and forever and ever, since for that he was ordained. Good heavens, what a book it is, and what lessons there are in it! What a book the Bible is, what a miracle, what strength is given with it to man! It is like a mould cast of the world and man and human nature, everything is there, and a law for everything for all the ages. And what mysteries are solved and revealed! God raises Job again, gives him wealth again. Many years pass by, and he has other children and loves them. But how could he love those new ones when those first children are no more, when he has lost them? Remembering them, how could he be fully happy with those new ones, however dear the new ones might be? But he could, he could. It's the great mystery of human life that old grief passes gradually into quiet, tender joy. The mild serenity of age takes the place of the riotous blood of youth. I bless the rising sun each day, and, as before, my heart sings to meet it, but now I love even more its setting, its long slanting rays and the soft, tender, gentle memories that come with them, the dear images from the whole of my long, happy life- and over all the Divine Truth, softening, reconciling, forgiving! My life is ending, I know that well, but every day that is left me I feel how earthly life is in touch with a new infinite, unknown, but approaching life, the nearness of which sets my soul quivering with rapture, my mind glowing and my heart weeping with joy.
Father Zosima, Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Book VI, Chapter 2
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Ready: Where the Wind Begins
Where the Wind Begins
91,400 wordsProposal
“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” give a fuller definition of the Gospel.
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus; Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the
light of His glory and grace.”
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus; Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the
light of His glory and grace.”
What God offers us is the ability to rise above circumstances as He, through the redemptive accomplishments of His Son, transforms us into citizens of Heaven. As the writer of Hebrews declares, this is not our country. Because of this process of transformation or sanctification, God is not as interested in changing our circumstances as much as He is interested in changing us and I am not at all hesitant to say that the difference is much greater than we here in the West have made it out to be.
Western society is an oasis—historically and currently—in a desert of misery. The word “relevant” is passed around a lot these days, but if we want the “Good News” to be relevant to the starving mother in Darfur holding a bloated, dying, diseased ridden child with no hope what-so-ever of “planting her seed faith” in order to reap, we must conclude that Jesus did not come to offer health and prosperity and He certainly came to do much more than give us an all expense-paid trip to Heaven. He offers us the ability to tread on the “scorpions and serpents” of circumstances just as He walked upon the water.
One of the best examples of what God offers in Christ is apparent when one compares the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes with the New Testament book of Philippians. The former is the journal of a religious man who knew that God existed and that it was best to obey His rules, but found no joy in that Truth. He was religious and he was miserable. The latter is a letter that Paul wrote from a jail cell to the church at Philippi. The former describes the thoughts of a man who tried everything, owned everything, and found satisfaction in nothing. The latter had everything, but gave it all up for the knowledge of Christ (who, Himself, described His economic condition as not having a place of His own to lay His head), endured an ever-present “thorn” in his flesh, and remained joyful. The letter is replete with words of joy and contentment which the writer encourages his readers to seek in knowing Christ as Lord not in praying that God change circumstances. Indeed, Paul tells us that he had learned to be content in all circumstances.
SummaryI have taken the sentiments of these two books and placed them in two characters. Morv Areed (Moreen) Hassani is a lady in her mid fifties who has suffered great losses—family and fortune--as a result of the bloody conflict between her home country of Iran and that of Iraq. She was forced to leave a promising international medical career and her country as a result of religious persecution….she is a Christian. In the states she lives out her faith as part of a local Eastern Orthodox fellowship.
Malcolm Richardson is a multi-millionaire (in his late fifties) who had retired early. He has everything he can buy and is board with it all. The man has made tremendous mistakes with his family throughout the years and is now suffering the consequences of those relational mishaps. He has been married three times (resulting in a very large blended family) and has struck out all three times. Consequently, he lives alone in his 8000 square foot mansion on the bay in Kemah near Houston, Texas. Malcolm spends his time reading and pondering Shakespeare, contemplating his mistakes, trying to mend his relational mishaps, landscaping his property, and visiting the small cafe down the street. He believes in God, but does not believe God is actively involved or even cares about the everyday lives of people.
The title comes from Solomon describing life as a “chasing after the wind”. Malcolm Richardson feels that his life is as Solomon describes it. Moreen, who runs that frequented café, mentioned above, informs the millionaire that this may be true for him, but she knows where the wind begins.
The story contrasts these two outlooks on life as the two main characters, their families, their friends, and their struggles interact. The book’s ending lends itself to at least one and maybe two sequels. In the introduction, I have included a short summary of Ecclesiastes and Philippians. Also, an appendix can be developed from my notes that would allow readers to connect characteristics drawn from those two books to the characters in the story.
The length of the manuscript is 87,148 words.
Purpose and Target Audience
While it is certainly legitimate to create something for the mere act of creating and enjoying, I do not know if it is possible in most cases taking into account the baggage (some good, some bad) with which we come into a project. I readily admit that there is a purpose with which I write. Aside from the epiphany I had several years ago concerning the stark contrast between the “religion” of Ecclesiastes and the “relationship” of Philippians, I took the opportunity to present some other ideas that are near to my heart and I believe God’s as well. Below is a generalization of these ideas.
· Emphasize sanctification over circumstances, character over comfort and declare this to be God’s approach
· Elevate the daily walk in the faith as paramount
· Introduce readers to the book of Ecclesiastes and its dark, real life, “rubber hits the road” perspective
· Invite evangelicals to be less provincial and exclusive in their religious world views
· Introduce evangelicals to the possibility that high church liturgy can be moving and meaningful
· Introduce readers to the richness of Shakespeare
Novice and amateur do not adequately describe my lack of experience in the world of publishing (which is zero), but I have always been a fast learner and would be willing to gather productive advice from any source. The only marketing idea that I can possibly come up with at this juncture is to get involved with the internet chat sites. I certainly am not averse to any type of public appearances or speaking engagements.
Personal Background
I am in my 50’s and have worked in farming/ranching, sales, managed restaurants, worked as a hospital orderly and then a paramedic, went to seminary, and spent time roust-a-bouting in the oil fields of east Texas. Along the way I have accumulated many hours of university classes, mostly in communication, i.e. speech and English. Also, over the past 15 years I have read extensively in business, astronomy, Shakespeare, theology, and philosophy. And during all this, I have experienced the assaults of a fallen world and raised two fine sons with the woman I have been married to for over 25 years.
Currently, Suffer the Slings and Arrows, Dialogues with Job, is being looked at by Lighthouse Publishing and I have started a third project (also fiction)…this dealing with the heartbreaking issue of child custody battles.
Most importantly, I love the Word of God and spend time in it daily (have been since the age of sixteen). This and the life experiences listed above qualify me to take Scripture and turn it into a narrative of life where God is constantly reaching down to us and encountering (for the most part) ignorance, ambivalence, or hostility...even among those who try to respond with affection.
Ready: Who Gives This Woman
Who Gives This Woman
124,017 words
Introduction
At one point in our life together, my wife and I found ourselves involved with good friends who were good people involved in gut wrenching, horrifying custody situations. These battles went from bad, to worse, to mind twisting unbelievable. Every new report elicited a shake of the head and the hopeful refrain, “You’ve got to be kidding,” or “Surely you heard wrong,” or “This just can’t be.” And to top all that off, unfortunately the actual situation was usually worse than the report.
Each set of circumstances involved good people who had made bad choices, now trying to make life work by choosing better. Former partners who were original accessories to those initial bad choices were also involved. These individuals had not moved on past those mistakes mentally, emotionally, spiritual, morally. They saw opportunity (in one instance almost 20 years later!) in the absurd length the legal system would go to create the semblance of blind justice, therefore attempting to squeeze every ounce, every morsel, every molecule, every atom, and every quark of benefit they could wrench from the situation. There was nothing too established, too safe, too sacred, too peaceful to attack and destroy. For these individuals, the end was never custody. It was never for the benefit of the children. It was always and only about gain, winning, and control. I honestly found myself praying as David did many times in the Psalms….those familiar with the bible’s prayer book know which ones.
Debbie and I were close to only two situations, while a third played out a year or two before our time. I also have a good friend who endured similar circumstances a couple of decades earlier and in my naiveté, I had chalked this up to aberrancy. Obviously that struggle was not rare as evidenced by our later encounter with three like incidents in as many years. It’s frightening to know—and one has to know—that these examples are among many in an ocean of misery. The deeper these things spiraled down into the abyss of horror, the louder my mind screamed in utter frustration, “What is wrong with this system!”
I am not in any way qualified to offer solutions or any set of solutions except to briefly present my observations of the system and its insanity. The parties involved in these disputes were never, ever close to being moral equivalents and any surface investigation would have made this quite apparent which would have brought each of these torturous proceedings to a quick and merciful end. Instead, it appears to me that the courts blindly assumed that each party began and remained moral equals with competitive complaints in spite of obvious evidence to the contrary. The system went to extreme lengths, allowing here say and innuendo to override months and years of hard-won character advances in an effort to bring the obviously offending party up to a level of legitimacy. Each hearing became more and more excruciating to watch or hear about. And I say this as an observer—an intimately involved observer to be sure—but an observer none-the-less. The outcomes would never affect my future, so the frustration I was feeling was strictly academic in nature compared to those who had a real stake in the conclusions. They stood on the precipice of destruction and functioned surprisingly beyond well.
Again, someone with much more background and knowledge of the justice system would have to tackle any attempts at reform. My purpose in walking you through these events is to give the origins of the narrative that follows. The circumstances that I describe in this story are real. They happened. Detours and liberties were inserted in an effort to hide true identities and create readable fiction that is also marketable. I prefer the time-tested literary model of rising conflict, climax, and resolution. And about resolution….the concept implies that everything works out to our satisfaction. This is always a dangerous assumption to make, because in our finite capacity, we cannot possibly define what “working out” should look like. God will establish His purposes and this is best. The only guarantee we are given is that eternity awaits us all and the choices we make in the meantime will define that eternity in one of two ways. It is wholly possible to be led to a position where we are transformed in such a manner that whatever happens, we can be content. (Philippians 4)
To be sure, our friends persevere well supported by a scaffolding of community and eternal hope. I think it was Buda who proclaimed that to live is to suffer and it was _______ who taught us from his emergence from the Nazi concentration camps that perseverance in the midst of suffering demands allegiance to something permanent. I wish to paint a narrative picture of what this looks like by drawing from the circumstance described above and building a fictional story around them.
I love the Old Testament. Much of it is narrative and I am convinced that the best way to deliver precepts is through story telling. Part of this is, I believe, because successful living can rarely—if ever—be reduced to a formula. It can, however, be framed in the context of precepts and precepts are best explained in the warm life of a story rather than a cold dead list. I believe it to be an ancient Jewish thought that explains that first there was the Torah and the rest is commentary….the commentary being the narrative in which the children of Israel make life work in the context of the Law delivered on Mt. Sinai.
Just as in the other two stories I wrote (Suffer the Slings and Arrows: Dialogues with Job and Where the Wind Begins) there is an attempt to reconcile the message of the Gospel with brokenness of real life. It is apparent to me (and other observers much more qualified than I) that Western Christianity has developed a cult of comfort which has built an entrenched and solid sense of entitlement that even God must be in subjection to….all this, in spite of overwhelming evidence corroborating Jesus’ claim that it rains on the just and the unjust. Hurricanes and tornadoes slam into good and bad people alike. Diseases afflict the righteous and the unrighteous. Death snatches the loved ones out of the loving arms of the believer and the non-believer. Economic down turns ravish the good fortunes of the Christian and the non-Christian. This fallen world surrounds us all with its groaning. Yes and the good faith efforts of parents to correct past mistakes are savaged by bitter ex’s who know how to manipulate a pitiful excuse that masquerades about as family “law”. The same question arises in all these situations. How does the Gospel propose to make life work in the midst of this mess? Is it worth pursuing or should one turn to New Age thought or to Stoicism, or to pharmacology, or to…..?
What I observed and participated in worked and I tell of it in the story that follows. Two of the struggles took place within the Gospel community (commonly referred to as the local church) and while the other mostly played out outside community, it was community that responded to help repair the resulting damage and usher in the healing. Standing on the precepts contained in Scripture, wholeness and victory were achieved as the community exhorted and encouraged these fellow strugglers toward love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice. This wholeness and victory had nothing to do with circumstance and everything to do with focus. As the old hymn encourages, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” This focus does not just happen. It is intentional and established through a daily devotion to those four values: love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice.
Some of the trials took months and years to play out, some have yet to go away, but in all these cases the days of struggle were and are not times of darkness and hopeless misery. Everyone involved and those who took notice grew with every slog…..but do not be deceived, it was/is a slog. Perhaps this seems wholly unfair that there are those who should benefit from the suffering of others and it probably does from this side of eternity. The thing is, Christianity is replete with paradoxes—give to receive, lose to gain, die to live. It is how God set up His eternal economy and established it as the means by which He would rescue the Universe from its fallen state. Indeed, He willingly submitted Himself to this system for it was His love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice that established forever our way of escape from the misery of Adam’s error now and into that great city meant for our habitation when God closes the door on this era.
“It is distress which ennobles every great character…”
Hugh Blair: The Hour and the Event of All Time
Henceforth, I’ll bear /Affliction till it do cry out itself.
King Lear, Act VI, sc.vi, 75-76
Wayne Wilson
Cabot, Arkansas
January 2011
124,017 words
Introduction
At one point in our life together, my wife and I found ourselves involved with good friends who were good people involved in gut wrenching, horrifying custody situations. These battles went from bad, to worse, to mind twisting unbelievable. Every new report elicited a shake of the head and the hopeful refrain, “You’ve got to be kidding,” or “Surely you heard wrong,” or “This just can’t be.” And to top all that off, unfortunately the actual situation was usually worse than the report.
Each set of circumstances involved good people who had made bad choices, now trying to make life work by choosing better. Former partners who were original accessories to those initial bad choices were also involved. These individuals had not moved on past those mistakes mentally, emotionally, spiritual, morally. They saw opportunity (in one instance almost 20 years later!) in the absurd length the legal system would go to create the semblance of blind justice, therefore attempting to squeeze every ounce, every morsel, every molecule, every atom, and every quark of benefit they could wrench from the situation. There was nothing too established, too safe, too sacred, too peaceful to attack and destroy. For these individuals, the end was never custody. It was never for the benefit of the children. It was always and only about gain, winning, and control. I honestly found myself praying as David did many times in the Psalms….those familiar with the bible’s prayer book know which ones.
Debbie and I were close to only two situations, while a third played out a year or two before our time. I also have a good friend who endured similar circumstances a couple of decades earlier and in my naiveté, I had chalked this up to aberrancy. Obviously that struggle was not rare as evidenced by our later encounter with three like incidents in as many years. It’s frightening to know—and one has to know—that these examples are among many in an ocean of misery. The deeper these things spiraled down into the abyss of horror, the louder my mind screamed in utter frustration, “What is wrong with this system!”
I am not in any way qualified to offer solutions or any set of solutions except to briefly present my observations of the system and its insanity. The parties involved in these disputes were never, ever close to being moral equivalents and any surface investigation would have made this quite apparent which would have brought each of these torturous proceedings to a quick and merciful end. Instead, it appears to me that the courts blindly assumed that each party began and remained moral equals with competitive complaints in spite of obvious evidence to the contrary. The system went to extreme lengths, allowing here say and innuendo to override months and years of hard-won character advances in an effort to bring the obviously offending party up to a level of legitimacy. Each hearing became more and more excruciating to watch or hear about. And I say this as an observer—an intimately involved observer to be sure—but an observer none-the-less. The outcomes would never affect my future, so the frustration I was feeling was strictly academic in nature compared to those who had a real stake in the conclusions. They stood on the precipice of destruction and functioned surprisingly beyond well.
Again, someone with much more background and knowledge of the justice system would have to tackle any attempts at reform. My purpose in walking you through these events is to give the origins of the narrative that follows. The circumstances that I describe in this story are real. They happened. Detours and liberties were inserted in an effort to hide true identities and create readable fiction that is also marketable. I prefer the time-tested literary model of rising conflict, climax, and resolution. And about resolution….the concept implies that everything works out to our satisfaction. This is always a dangerous assumption to make, because in our finite capacity, we cannot possibly define what “working out” should look like. God will establish His purposes and this is best. The only guarantee we are given is that eternity awaits us all and the choices we make in the meantime will define that eternity in one of two ways. It is wholly possible to be led to a position where we are transformed in such a manner that whatever happens, we can be content. (Philippians 4)
To be sure, our friends persevere well supported by a scaffolding of community and eternal hope. I think it was Buda who proclaimed that to live is to suffer and it was _______ who taught us from his emergence from the Nazi concentration camps that perseverance in the midst of suffering demands allegiance to something permanent. I wish to paint a narrative picture of what this looks like by drawing from the circumstance described above and building a fictional story around them.
I love the Old Testament. Much of it is narrative and I am convinced that the best way to deliver precepts is through story telling. Part of this is, I believe, because successful living can rarely—if ever—be reduced to a formula. It can, however, be framed in the context of precepts and precepts are best explained in the warm life of a story rather than a cold dead list. I believe it to be an ancient Jewish thought that explains that first there was the Torah and the rest is commentary….the commentary being the narrative in which the children of Israel make life work in the context of the Law delivered on Mt. Sinai.
Just as in the other two stories I wrote (Suffer the Slings and Arrows: Dialogues with Job and Where the Wind Begins) there is an attempt to reconcile the message of the Gospel with brokenness of real life. It is apparent to me (and other observers much more qualified than I) that Western Christianity has developed a cult of comfort which has built an entrenched and solid sense of entitlement that even God must be in subjection to….all this, in spite of overwhelming evidence corroborating Jesus’ claim that it rains on the just and the unjust. Hurricanes and tornadoes slam into good and bad people alike. Diseases afflict the righteous and the unrighteous. Death snatches the loved ones out of the loving arms of the believer and the non-believer. Economic down turns ravish the good fortunes of the Christian and the non-Christian. This fallen world surrounds us all with its groaning. Yes and the good faith efforts of parents to correct past mistakes are savaged by bitter ex’s who know how to manipulate a pitiful excuse that masquerades about as family “law”. The same question arises in all these situations. How does the Gospel propose to make life work in the midst of this mess? Is it worth pursuing or should one turn to New Age thought or to Stoicism, or to pharmacology, or to…..?
What I observed and participated in worked and I tell of it in the story that follows. Two of the struggles took place within the Gospel community (commonly referred to as the local church) and while the other mostly played out outside community, it was community that responded to help repair the resulting damage and usher in the healing. Standing on the precepts contained in Scripture, wholeness and victory were achieved as the community exhorted and encouraged these fellow strugglers toward love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice. This wholeness and victory had nothing to do with circumstance and everything to do with focus. As the old hymn encourages, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” This focus does not just happen. It is intentional and established through a daily devotion to those four values: love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice.
Some of the trials took months and years to play out, some have yet to go away, but in all these cases the days of struggle were and are not times of darkness and hopeless misery. Everyone involved and those who took notice grew with every slog…..but do not be deceived, it was/is a slog. Perhaps this seems wholly unfair that there are those who should benefit from the suffering of others and it probably does from this side of eternity. The thing is, Christianity is replete with paradoxes—give to receive, lose to gain, die to live. It is how God set up His eternal economy and established it as the means by which He would rescue the Universe from its fallen state. Indeed, He willingly submitted Himself to this system for it was His love, surrender, commitment, and sacrifice that established forever our way of escape from the misery of Adam’s error now and into that great city meant for our habitation when God closes the door on this era.
“It is distress which ennobles every great character…”
Hugh Blair: The Hour and the Event of All Time
Henceforth, I’ll bear /Affliction till it do cry out itself.
King Lear, Act VI, sc.vi, 75-76
Wayne Wilson
Cabot, Arkansas
January 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
