There should be a parallel between our supplications and our thanksgivings. We ought not to leap in prayer, and limp in praise.
We must depend upon God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We must, to the same degree, depend on Him to enable us to do what we must do for ourselves.
It is clear in scripture that we are to live our lives to the fullest in service to our Lord and fellow man. It is how we fulfill our responsibilities as good ambassadors, stewards and children of God. We are called to run with endurance as one striving to win the prize. Yet God also understands how He designed us and that part of living well is rest, respite and repose. In one sense these are all synonyms as reflected by the definitions of rest that I have found. However, they each carry a slightly different connotation.
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Questions, doubts, and struggles are not the antithesis of faith. The opposite of faith is a decision to not trust God. The man who cried out to Jesus, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief’ did not demonstrate faith with zero doubts but a willful decision to trust in God even in the midst of questions and doubts.
Today has been a rough day. My symptoms have been flaring and I have found it difficult to keep moving and be productive. Fatigue and lack of focus are making it rough to think and to write let alone maintain a healthy attitude. That’s often the case for those of us struggling with illness. Whether it’s dealing with our infirmities in general or the various symptoms that present themselves, days are regularly difficult and require much effort to endure. Many trials offer similar effects. It may be grief, caring for a dying loved one, attempting to redirect a rebellious child or any of the other life traumas that completely overwhelm us, but whatever “it” is, we are easily shut down and find it difficult to manage the affairs of the day let alone be industrious or thrive.
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With what little time we have left for making life meaningful, too many of us find ourselves going through the motions and achieving very little of lasting value. We live as if we have all the time in the world, when the truth of the matter is that our time on earth is short. We truly are ‘here today, gone tomorrow,’ making every second precious.
I’ve been on the road the last couple of days. While I basically know my route, I haven’t driven it enough nor have I driven the area my mother-in-law lives in often enough to navigate without a bit of effort. Heading home, I needed to take route 95 south to the toll road. The last time I left, I went north to toward the beach instead of south toward our home. This time I had a series of wrong turns that cost me some time and took me into the heart of Boston which is not a particularly easy drive. Even though I knew where to go, in the moment that I should have turned, I only saw half of the signage that reported the northern part of the route and chose not to turn as I didn’t want to repeat my last mistake. I wasn’t terribly worried as the next road would take me to route 1 south which was the reverse of how I had come on the trip north. What I didn’t know was that getting from route 1 south to 95 south was not as easy as going north. Consequently, I missed another opportunity to take the correct path. I had another chance to get back on track, but because I was totally ignorant of the path, the signage and the lane changes, I missed it as well despite using GPS. Finally, by following the instructions that GPS was providing and being able to see on the map what I was to do, I got back on track. I lost about 45 minutes in time, but I was finally where I needed to be. As I reflected on my errors, I couldn’t help but see the parallel in our spiritual lives.
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We are a soccer family. My wife was a soccer manager in college; our daughters started playing in elementary school and continue to play, our younger daughter met her husband through soccer; and our grandsons have recently started playing. Christine and Corey love to play defense on the soccer field. Their motto is: “forwards win games; defensive players win championships”. The point is that the players in the background preventing the other team from scoring are as important as those scoring the goals. It takes the whole team…not just the ones in the limelight. It’s like that in the church body as well.
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Perhaps we’re meant to learn that the richest hope permits the deepest suffering, which releases the strongest power, which then produces the greatest joy.
“Contentment … has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances.”