I encountered this quote again after many years ago, and it rattled me:
"David was caught in a very uncomfortable position; however, he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, even when men are wiser still, even fewer understand.
And what was that?
God did not have -- but wanted very much to have -- men and women who would live in pain.
God wanted a broken vessel."
-- Gene Edwards, A tale of Three Kings.
Oh my goodness! Some people are INTO pain. I am NOT one of those people. I am thinking of the scene in Job 1 and 2 of the Heavenly Court, where God says to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" I wonder, if Job could have been present at that moment, would he have been jumping up and down in the back, waving his hands, trying to get God's attention?
"No No No No NOOOOOOOoooooooooo! PLEASE pick someone else?!?!"
I surely would have. But notice his actual response? His children were all dead, his wealth was gone, he had nothing left, but we are told that his response was to tear his robe (traditional), shave his head, and fall to the ground in WORSHIP. Job 1:21 records his response to this greatest of calamities:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I'll depart. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
Sometimes pain is part of this life's journey, and sometimes shame too. This past week was a little rough. I had the biopsy on Wednesday and became violently sick from the anesthesia. Then on Thursday, I had to have hemorrhoid surgery. Oh the indignity!!! But as I was walking into the Doctor's office and contemplating the embarrassment to come, God reminded me of Philippians 2: 6-8, quoted from the New Living Translation:
"Though he was God, he did not think equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on the cross."
Gene Edwards commented (in The Divine Romance?) on this stunning turn of events by imagining the scene in heaven when the angels learn of God HUMBLING himself to be born a man-- of the angels agape in horror at the thought. "A man in the form of a ROACH would be more seemly!" But God did this for me. And hung naked on the cross. Who am I to fret over one of life's little indignities?
As I think about it, some Christian leaders are all about the honors. The number of members. The money. The glory. The Television audience. But often, for true Christian leaders, it's the opposite. Paul writes in I Corinthians 4:9:
"For I think that God has exhibited us, the apostles, last in the procession, as if we were sentenced to death. For we have been made a spectacle to the world, the angles, and to men."
That imagery, of bedraggled prisoners hauled along at the tail end of the line, marching to their execution in the Colosseum -- suggests that pain and discomfort just might come with the package. We usually think of pain as a sign of God's displeasure. His punishment. But what if actually, it's a sign of his Grace on us- like maybe he trusts us with it? That there is more going on than just our pain?
I am thinking of pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who wrote of his imprisonment by the communists in Romania. He described the informal deal he and some of the other Christian prisoners had with the guards in his book, Tortured for Christ:
"It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their [the communists] terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy."
And here, we American Christians are afraid to talk about Jesus because of what someone might SAY to us?
If the Apostle Paul were alive today, the church in America would definitely be getting a letter...
Photo by Lukasz Szyszka
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