Oftentimes those who suffer become angry. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross worked out what she thought were the five stages of response to grief and loss, and the second of these, after denial, was anger; it seems that there can sometimes be a sense of anger that is just generalized and not necessarily directed at anyone. Many who are suffering can become angry at themselves. Sometimes Christians become angry at God. In fact, I devote an entire chapter of my book, Surviving the Suffering, to the problem of becoming angry with God.
One of the underlying problems with suffering is the sense of injustice some feel at being afflicted. There may be the case where someone truly is the victim of injustice, as when someone wrongly causes us to suffer. Much of the time, however, our sense of injustice is inflamed because we have a complete misunderstanding of God's sovereignty. When we suffer, we can feel that God has incorrectly allowed this to happen, and we become angry with Him for acting unjustly.
We see examples of people responding that way in Scripture. Job stated in the midst of his sufferings that "...He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause" (9:17). Job felt that he did not deserve his sufferings. We tend to think of some suffering as deserved (much more likely when we observe the suffering of another), and some as undeserved (more likely when it is we that suffer). All of this comes from what we think of when we think, "I deserve." The word deserve comes from the Latin "de-" meaning "completely and "servire", meaning "service". The notion is that we are entitled to good things because of our service.
In dealing with this problem that we do not deserve our suffering there are several things to consider. The first should be an immediate assessment of our sense of pride. Much of the time that we are angry at our sufferings it is because we do not feel that we deserve to suffer because of our inflated sense of self-worth. "I didn't do anything to deserve this" may be what we are saying, but what we are thinking is "I am too good to deserve this". In some cases, God may be chastening us for our pride, and the suffering that we are undergoing is to correct that very thought. Your pride that leads you to think that you are too good to suffer leads God to correctively apply suffering to make you realize that you are not too good to suffer. Ouch.
A second thing to deal with is that God is allowing suffering to occur in our lives for a purpose and that we are never to think that God does not know what He is doing or that He is capable of doing wrong. We cannot under any circumstances hold God to our sense of justice. Good people will suffer along with the bad, for as Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:45, "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." In fact, sometimes while the good are suffering, the wicked prosper (Jeremiah 12:1). When we become angry with God because we do not feel we deserve suffering, we are passing judgment on Him.
You may not feel that you deserve your suffering, but you must understand that God is not wrong in allowing it to occur. This is what faith and trust in Him is all about. If you can allow yourself to believe that God is wrong about your suffering, what else is He wrong about? God is not bound to give you what you think you deserve. He is bound to do what will bring Him glory. It may be that you are suffering to do just that. We learn about that in the story of the blind man healed by Jesus in the gospel of John, chapter nine: "And His disciples asked Him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'"
So far, many of the people we have been discussing have an inflated sense of self-worth. But there is another group of people who suffer because of the opposite problem. Many individuals inflict misery upon themselves because they have a sense of unworthiness. They look at the mercy and grace given to them by God and feel unworthy, and say to themselves, "I don't deserve this." They are aware of and grateful for their salvation, but look at the sin in their lives and feel that they do not measure up to God's standards. Here again, we are basically accusing God of being wrong. You are not worthy of your salvation and eternal life because of what you do or what you have done. You are worthy because you have received justification by receiving Christ as your Savior.
It is best to put thoughts of what we deserve far from our minds. Unfortunately, because of the sin of Adam, fallen man has inherited that sin. When sin entered the world, so did suffering. What God's justice requires to pay for this is death. Christ, who did not deserve to be crucified, endured that death for us, and He did not accuse God of not knowing what He was doing. No suffering here on earth, that we may feel we do not deserve, can possibly match the suffering of eternal death that we would deserve. We, who do not deserve eternal life, will freely receive it, because of Christ's work, if we receive Him. If you accuse God of not knowing what He is doing, giving you suffering that you do not deserve or grace and mercy that you do not deserve, then you will just end up increasing your misery. And that you probably deserve.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
A Mouth Full of Thanksgiving
A children's story I read long ago by Charles Verral had an episode within where several youngsters were involved in a spat and were forced to sit together and eat ice cream by an adult. As tempers settled, it was remarked about one of the characters, "She didn't want to agree, but she was finding it hard to stay mad with a mouth full of ice cream." It seems there is something pacifying about the creamy smoothness of ice cream that blunts the sharpness of our agitation. As we focus on the good, we lose our preoccupation with the bad.
One of the most difficult things to deal with when faced with real or possible sufferings is the anxiety and worry they induce. All of us have had to deal with worrying at some point, and while people gifted with eternally sunny dispositions may be able to conceal their anxieties, it is a struggle for many of us to keep them from taking over. In fact, the worrying may cause more distress than the actual suffering or consequences which we anticipate. I have seen many people crippled by worrying. I myself am prone to it. Our lesson in church this morning from Philippians suggested a further study of Paul's instructions for dealing with this.
Many in the Christian community would suggest that worrying is a sin in and of itself. It represents a lack of faith in God and His providence. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul stated, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (II Tim 1:7). Since God does not give us a spirit of fear, to be fearful means to disbelieve Him. Or conversely we do not have a sound mind. Clearly then, the worrier has a defective faith or defective mind.
Sometimes we are simply told to stop worrying or stop being afraid. It is indeed true that we can exercise control over what we think about and how we feel about things. The Christian should not be a slave to his thoughts or feelings. But to suggest that we should all have immediate and total control over these things may be unrealistic. For some, it takes a lifetime to master the firing of nervous impulses throughout the neurons of our brains. It is somewhat like trying to lasso electricity itself.
Probably the best author I have ever read on dealing with such problems was D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and he deals with worry and anxiety in his book, "Spiritual Depression." Before telling you his advice, let us look at Philippians 4:6-7, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Yes, there is a command there, "Be anxious for nothing." And as we discussed before, if we are disobedient to God we are sinning, so if we are anxious for anything we have not followed God's instructions. How many of us are never anxious about anything? God would not give us a requirement without a way to carry it out. He does not give commands which cannot be followed. He would not tell us to float four feet off of the ground by sheer willpower.
I believe Lloyd-Jones gives us the secret. He says you cannot just, "stop worrying." You cannot just slap yourself in the face and say, "Get over it! Pull yourself together!" We are to approach God in worship. We are not to rush into prayer with our requests for this awful thing we are facing to be taken away, or for God to immediately stop our anxiety. We should enter into His presence humbly, even forgetting our problems for the moment. We should worship Him. And then we should give thanks.
As Paul says above, "with thanksgiving." As Lloyd-Jones says, "If we go on our knees feeling that God is against us, we may as well get up and go out." We must ask, "What can I thank God for?" To quote further:
So why not try what God says for a change? Worries and anxieties are a daily event for many. It shouldn't take long for the next opportunity to put this into play. The next time you feel overwhelmed by worry, simply stop what you are doing, prayerfully enter into the Lord's presence, and give thanks. Thank Him for your salvation, for the gift of His Son, and all of His other blessings. You can even thank Him in the midst of your trial for the opportunity to strengthen your faith. I think that you will find that as you stop and give thanks, the anxiety will be replaced by peace. How can God work such a magnificent change? Well don't ask me. He said it "surpasses all understanding."
One of the most difficult things to deal with when faced with real or possible sufferings is the anxiety and worry they induce. All of us have had to deal with worrying at some point, and while people gifted with eternally sunny dispositions may be able to conceal their anxieties, it is a struggle for many of us to keep them from taking over. In fact, the worrying may cause more distress than the actual suffering or consequences which we anticipate. I have seen many people crippled by worrying. I myself am prone to it. Our lesson in church this morning from Philippians suggested a further study of Paul's instructions for dealing with this.
Many in the Christian community would suggest that worrying is a sin in and of itself. It represents a lack of faith in God and His providence. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul stated, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (II Tim 1:7). Since God does not give us a spirit of fear, to be fearful means to disbelieve Him. Or conversely we do not have a sound mind. Clearly then, the worrier has a defective faith or defective mind.
Sometimes we are simply told to stop worrying or stop being afraid. It is indeed true that we can exercise control over what we think about and how we feel about things. The Christian should not be a slave to his thoughts or feelings. But to suggest that we should all have immediate and total control over these things may be unrealistic. For some, it takes a lifetime to master the firing of nervous impulses throughout the neurons of our brains. It is somewhat like trying to lasso electricity itself.
Probably the best author I have ever read on dealing with such problems was D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and he deals with worry and anxiety in his book, "Spiritual Depression." Before telling you his advice, let us look at Philippians 4:6-7, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Yes, there is a command there, "Be anxious for nothing." And as we discussed before, if we are disobedient to God we are sinning, so if we are anxious for anything we have not followed God's instructions. How many of us are never anxious about anything? God would not give us a requirement without a way to carry it out. He does not give commands which cannot be followed. He would not tell us to float four feet off of the ground by sheer willpower.
I believe Lloyd-Jones gives us the secret. He says you cannot just, "stop worrying." You cannot just slap yourself in the face and say, "Get over it! Pull yourself together!" We are to approach God in worship. We are not to rush into prayer with our requests for this awful thing we are facing to be taken away, or for God to immediately stop our anxiety. We should enter into His presence humbly, even forgetting our problems for the moment. We should worship Him. And then we should give thanks.
As Paul says above, "with thanksgiving." As Lloyd-Jones says, "If we go on our knees feeling that God is against us, we may as well get up and go out." We must ask, "What can I thank God for?" To quote further:
I may be in trouble at the moment, but I can thank God for my salvation and that He has sent His Son to die on the cross for me and for my sins. There is a terrible problem facing me, I know, but He has done that for me. I thank God that He sent His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, into the world. I will thank Him for rising again for my justification. I will pour out my heart in thanksgiving for that. I will thank Him for the many blessings I have received in the past.What God promises us if we do that is His peace. Lloyd-Jones is careful to say that we do not give ourselves that peace but that it is a gift from God in return for our taking our worries to Him in this fashion. The real key here is thanksgiving. Just as our little girl in the story above found it hard to stay mad with ice cream in her mouth, it is hard for us to stay worried and anxious when there is thanksgiving in our hearts. I can attest to times of great turbulence and difficulty in my life, when all seemed beyond hope, when it would have been easy to succumb to worry and anxiety and fear. In days gone by, I would have appealed to God to remedy my situation immediately. Now I first go to Him and give thanks, and in return He gives me peace. It is easy to come up with an endless list of things for which to be thankful.
So why not try what God says for a change? Worries and anxieties are a daily event for many. It shouldn't take long for the next opportunity to put this into play. The next time you feel overwhelmed by worry, simply stop what you are doing, prayerfully enter into the Lord's presence, and give thanks. Thank Him for your salvation, for the gift of His Son, and all of His other blessings. You can even thank Him in the midst of your trial for the opportunity to strengthen your faith. I think that you will find that as you stop and give thanks, the anxiety will be replaced by peace. How can God work such a magnificent change? Well don't ask me. He said it "surpasses all understanding."
Monday, July 8, 2013
Fly Until You Die
As we finished the Fourth of July weekend, we are reminded of the fight for independence that began this great nation. Although The Declaration of Independence from England was voted into effect on July 2, 1776, it was not formally announced until the fourth. Of course, by that time, the Revolutionary War was over a year old, having begun at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775.
Many other battles and wars would be fought following that first War. Technology progressed from muskets and sailing ships to rifles, machine guns, tanks and battleships. Many thousands died to ensure our freedoms and the liberties of other nations in the decades to come. Modern mechanized warfare reached its most widespread application in World War II. Our youngest surviving veterans of that war are now in their late eighties; a few years ago, around a thousand World War II veterans were dying each day. Their numbers continue to shrink. There are only 10 surviving World War II Medal of Honor winners still alive.
Back in 1941, when America entered the War, only Great Britain stood between Western European freedom and the Axis armies. France had long since capitulated. Germany and Italy controlled most of Eastern Europe and North Africa. The Royal Air Force had held off the German Luftwaffe, preventing an invasion of England. And it was from there that the United States was able to join their former enemies, the British, in fighting back.
England turned into an immobile aircraft carrier, and we covered the southeastern countryside with American air bases. The English had been combatting Germany with nighttime bombing raids, bombing whole cities in an effort to destroy targets. The American approach would be to attack in the daytime, using heavy four-engine bombers flying at 30,000 feet, and precision bombsights that would allow hitting specific targets. These bombers, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator both had a crew of ten men-- a Pilot and Co-pilot, Bombardier and Navigator, Radio Operator, and five other gunners.
The missions flown by these men and planes are scarcely believable today. In the early days, the groups of planes were small, taking off in the pre-dawn hours. Climbing over England to five miles high, they would assemble and begin heading over towards targets in France and Germany. At these altitudes, temperatures were twenty to fifty degrees below zero, and the planes were not heated or pressurized. Oxygen masks and heated suits were required; removing a glove could result in frostbite. For a long time, we did not have any fighter aircraft that could accompany these bombers. They would be subject to attack for hours by enemy fighters. Once over the target, the enemy fighters would leave and refuel while our bombers had to fly through heavy anti-aircraft fire. A straight-and-level approach was needed to bomb the target, making the bombers themselves targets for the anti-aircraft attacks. After leaving the bomb run, the enemy fighters would return, assaulting our planes all the way back to the English Channel.
The losses were astounding. It was not uncommon for twenty per cent of the bombers to be lost on a single raid. Many were wounded in those freezing high-altitude aluminum cans, bleeding and dying in the hours before the plane reached home. There was a near certainty of eventual death. It has been said that once aerial combat began, the life expectancy of the tail-gunner in a B-17 was a little more than two minutes. The requirement was that a bomber crew had to complete 25 missions before they could be sent home. The average number of missions completed was only 12-14 before being shot down, and only twenty per cent of crews were able to survive to complete the required number of missions. In fact, one of the first to do so, the crew of the "Memphis Belle" became something of celebrities for making it.
Because the chance of survival was so low, the unofficial name for such a policy was, "fly until you die". Most knew that they would not be coming home. They climbed into these lumbering, noisy machines for each mission knowing that there was a good chance that it would be their last. They did it so that our country, and others, would enjoy the freedoms we do today. Their suffering was not in vain.
Although the vast majority of us will never have to show such courage, in our own way we, too, must "fly until we die." As Christians, we deal with the pains of life, knowing that, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (II Timothy 2:12). Each day that we begin we are not guaranteed to finish, but the difference between us and those brave airmen is that we know that as Christians it is when we die that we go home. At 30,000 feet, the bomber crews were five miles closer to Heaven, yet when our mission here is over, within an instant of dying we shall join God in peace. Let us give thanks for these courageous fliers and others that risked their lives for posterity, and as we look at Independence Day give God thanks for our freedoms, the Independence of our Country, and our Dependence on Him.
Many other battles and wars would be fought following that first War. Technology progressed from muskets and sailing ships to rifles, machine guns, tanks and battleships. Many thousands died to ensure our freedoms and the liberties of other nations in the decades to come. Modern mechanized warfare reached its most widespread application in World War II. Our youngest surviving veterans of that war are now in their late eighties; a few years ago, around a thousand World War II veterans were dying each day. Their numbers continue to shrink. There are only 10 surviving World War II Medal of Honor winners still alive.
Back in 1941, when America entered the War, only Great Britain stood between Western European freedom and the Axis armies. France had long since capitulated. Germany and Italy controlled most of Eastern Europe and North Africa. The Royal Air Force had held off the German Luftwaffe, preventing an invasion of England. And it was from there that the United States was able to join their former enemies, the British, in fighting back.
England turned into an immobile aircraft carrier, and we covered the southeastern countryside with American air bases. The English had been combatting Germany with nighttime bombing raids, bombing whole cities in an effort to destroy targets. The American approach would be to attack in the daytime, using heavy four-engine bombers flying at 30,000 feet, and precision bombsights that would allow hitting specific targets. These bombers, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator both had a crew of ten men-- a Pilot and Co-pilot, Bombardier and Navigator, Radio Operator, and five other gunners.
The missions flown by these men and planes are scarcely believable today. In the early days, the groups of planes were small, taking off in the pre-dawn hours. Climbing over England to five miles high, they would assemble and begin heading over towards targets in France and Germany. At these altitudes, temperatures were twenty to fifty degrees below zero, and the planes were not heated or pressurized. Oxygen masks and heated suits were required; removing a glove could result in frostbite. For a long time, we did not have any fighter aircraft that could accompany these bombers. They would be subject to attack for hours by enemy fighters. Once over the target, the enemy fighters would leave and refuel while our bombers had to fly through heavy anti-aircraft fire. A straight-and-level approach was needed to bomb the target, making the bombers themselves targets for the anti-aircraft attacks. After leaving the bomb run, the enemy fighters would return, assaulting our planes all the way back to the English Channel.
The losses were astounding. It was not uncommon for twenty per cent of the bombers to be lost on a single raid. Many were wounded in those freezing high-altitude aluminum cans, bleeding and dying in the hours before the plane reached home. There was a near certainty of eventual death. It has been said that once aerial combat began, the life expectancy of the tail-gunner in a B-17 was a little more than two minutes. The requirement was that a bomber crew had to complete 25 missions before they could be sent home. The average number of missions completed was only 12-14 before being shot down, and only twenty per cent of crews were able to survive to complete the required number of missions. In fact, one of the first to do so, the crew of the "Memphis Belle" became something of celebrities for making it.
Because the chance of survival was so low, the unofficial name for such a policy was, "fly until you die". Most knew that they would not be coming home. They climbed into these lumbering, noisy machines for each mission knowing that there was a good chance that it would be their last. They did it so that our country, and others, would enjoy the freedoms we do today. Their suffering was not in vain.
Although the vast majority of us will never have to show such courage, in our own way we, too, must "fly until we die." As Christians, we deal with the pains of life, knowing that, "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (II Timothy 2:12). Each day that we begin we are not guaranteed to finish, but the difference between us and those brave airmen is that we know that as Christians it is when we die that we go home. At 30,000 feet, the bomber crews were five miles closer to Heaven, yet when our mission here is over, within an instant of dying we shall join God in peace. Let us give thanks for these courageous fliers and others that risked their lives for posterity, and as we look at Independence Day give God thanks for our freedoms, the Independence of our Country, and our Dependence on Him.
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