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Responding Well |
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Location: Blogs Brad's Blog |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 10/1/2008 1:45 PM | Last Sunday’s sermon on Ezekiel raised some issues that weren’t covered in the sermon specifically, but are nonetheless right there below the surface. While our experience is not the same as the exiles in Babylon, their reactions of denial and despair are important to understand. When we lose control of our world, it is easy to be driven to inaction because we deny that there is a problem, or that we become so overwhelmed that we despair that there is no hope. Ezekiel’s admonition to the Judean exiles is right on target: “Love God. Trust God. Be in right relationship with God. Repent your sins. Know that you are forgiven and God will never leave you.” It is good advice, no matter our circumstances.
But a couple of you have raised some questions that I knew would be asked: does God use hard times or tragedies to punish us? To test us? The example in the book of Ezekiel seems to hint that the Judean exiles are being punished. But basically, Ezekiel tells them not to focus on that…rather, focus on your own relationship with God. But that still begs the question: WAS God punishing them? WAS God testing them?
I am enough of a believer in “free will” that I struggle with the idea that God would punish us. We choose our path. We can choose to follow God’s way, or we can stray. God gave us free will and so, the choice is ours. It has always seemed that when we turn away from God, our “punishment” is the emptiness that comes from not following God’s path. I also struggle with the idea that God tests us, waiting to see how we respond. Notice that I use the word “struggle.” I am not totally convinced that I am right, and I think that is okay. In the end, whether God tests us or not, or God punishes us or not, our response to those hard times is what is most important. To put it another way, God may or may not test or punish us, but every difficult situation we face requires a response. The nature of that response is what becomes important.
This notion has come into sharp focus the last couple of weeks with the crisis in our financial markets and closer to home, the gas shortages that we have faced. These are worrisome issues, to be sure. But how we respond in the short term, and the long term is what is important now. Most of us cannot do much about the financial mess directly. So we pray and pay attention and try to make sure our leaders know that a “quick fix” that leave important issues unsolved is not the proper response.
On the other hand, our responses to the gas shortage are very telling. There have been reports in the news of fistfights and “line jumping” (we used to call it “taking cuts”) and hoarding of gas. How do those responses reflect back upon us? Not too well. Probably not the “Christian” response, either. But what is really important to me is how we will respond AFTER the shortages subside. When I think back on the last week, I do notice that my behavior has changed. Before I jump in the car to go somewhere, I map out whether there are other errands that need to be done. Do I really need to get in the car at all? Maybe I should call ahead to make sure my errand will not be a wasted one. Maybe I can take MARTA, instead. Maybe I can drive a little more conservatively and thus save some gas. These are things I rarely thought about before. We drive a car that averages 40+ miles to a gallon and so I didn’t think so much about the rest of it. But now I do. And the question is, will I continue to think about it when there are no lines at the pump and (hopefully) prices start to drop some? That is the response that is most important.
So it is when we face a crisis that tests our spiritual strength. How do we respond? Do we curse God or do we drop to our knees and seek God’s strength? And when the crisis has passed, do we put our relationship with God on a backburner or do we stay on our knees in thanksgiving for God’s grace filled presence?
Times are uncertain. Times are confusing. Our relationship with God need not be one of the uncertain, confusing things we face. It’s all about how we respond.
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