God's Silence

Last Sunday we delved into Jeremiah's complaint speeches and God's responses. Remember, there were three responses: 1) encouragement--15.19-21; 2) Buck up camper, get your game face on--12.5; 3) silence--20.18.

The first two are little easier to comprehend. We know the importance of encouraging those in need as well as exhorting those who are about ready to quit. My parents, in love, offered me comfort and encouragement. They also, in love, pushed me from time to time much like a coach who's trying to get more out of his players.

But the third response is the most troubling of all. Jeremiah pours out his heart to God in chapter 20. He puts it all on the line, stating his wish to have never been born. You can't get any more honest than that. Yet, there is no response from God. Nothing. Nothing but silence.

Strange as it may sound, I can relate to that. All of us can. More than likely, we've experienced times when we could not do the one thing we wanted to do more than anything else--rescue a loved one. We have all had to watch someone for whom we care deeply suffer without being able to do anything to alleviate their suffering. Nothing can be said, nothing can be done. But that doesn't mean love is M.IA. Far from it, we're probably closer to our loved ones when we aren't able to rescue them. Our hearts ache, our spirits groan under the weight of watching and suffering with the person in pain.

So perhaps there is suffering this side of heaven for which there is no easy answer. There is stuff from which we can't be rescued. But that doesn't mean God is far from us. I want to believe he's closer to us than any other time, suffering with us, aching, and hurting. The cross seems to suggest that this is the case. Christ cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. There was no answer. But it's here that we encounter a very powerful mystery: suffering was taken into the very heart of God. This mystery tells us that we are not alone. God sees, God knows, God suffers with us.

Peace,

David S.

In Defense of Bad Logic

Alright, I'll admit it: My sermon last week was a bit of a logical leap. Nonetheless, let me defend it, hopefully not blindly.

We looked at Jeremiah's message of sin and sickness (chapters 5-6). You remember it, don't you? The people of God turned their backs on their creator and savior, failing to practice the justice and mercy to which they had been called. Because of this failure, their world fell apart. Compassion and kindness were nowhere to be found. Their sin made them sick.

To communicate this troubling truth so that we might really own it, I tried to state Jeremiah's thought positively by arguing that holiness leads to happiness. If rebellion against God and his ways create self-inflicted wounds, then doesn't it stand to reason that holiness leads to happiness? Rest assured, I'm not talking about drunk happy, drug happy, escapism happy, TV happy, or I'm-so-bored-I-need-an-extreme-sport happy. Rather, I'm talking about a deep happiness--lasting joy, peace, emotional health, security, and freedom. This happiness comes from knowing and serving God. I know it's not a simplistic formula. We will struggle and suffer. We will be afflicted with emotional stress and pressure. Yet, in the midst of it all, we can taste a bit of God's goodness that fills our hearts with joy and places us on a more liberating path than that of sin and selfishness.

But, we often sell ourselves short. We cheat ourselves by not letting God be God in our lives. Psalm 16.4 proclaims it clearly, "The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods." Or in the words of Jeremiah, "do not follow other gods to your own harm" (7.6) When our core identity is wrapped up in something other than the security and freedom that comes from God's infinite love, we're trading in our glory for that which does not profit (cf. Jeremiah 2.5, 11, 25). To live for something other than God is to fall short of what it means to be human; it is to trade in a dollar for five cents. It is to be sorely disappointed.

Well, enough of my words . . . Listen to how others have stated this truth:

• In response to the question why did God descend to humans, Origen says it was "to implant in us the happiness which comes from knowing him."

• "My sin was this, that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in God but in myself, and in his other creatures, and the search led me instead to pain, confusion, and error." (Augustine)

• "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea." (C.S. Lewis)

In summary, perhaps we need God to give us more faith, a faith that will empower us to trust that his ways are good, that he really does love us and wants to set us free to enjoy him and his creation.

Something to ponder.

Peace.