Life is so often a mystery.
I tend to be insatiable when it comes to life's questions. "Why can't there just be an answer? Why is this happening? Why would God let that happen?"
On Saturday morning, I was at the funeral of a good friend's father. He passed away unexpectedly at 51 years old. It was an emotional morning for everyone. Understandably so. The priest spoke, and it was great to get a more clear picture of who this man really was. His brother and best friend also spoke about his life's accomplishments, and how he has impacted the community and changed the lives of numerous individuals.
His wife also spoke, accompanied by their three daughters. Her words were beautiful and inspiring. She relayed her thanks for the outpouring of support with cards, emails, flowers, visits, meals, etc. Later, she said how she never got to say goodbye to her husband of almost thirty years. It was an intensely surreal moment. Just after that, though, she continued with "In God's world, there are no mistakes." What a beautiful picture of trust. Here is a woman grieving the loss of her husband, and the words from her mouth convey nothing but trust in God.
I feel like this is something God has been teaching me lately. Trusting Him amidst the world's harsh realities.
I can't say I've been a good follower, but I've come to realize that walking with the Lord does not guarantee me anything in this world. Yes, God is sovereign and His love is unending - He wants nothing more than to see me walk in His ways, and I strive to do that daily. But, for some reason, a relationship with God connotes happiness, and I don't know if that's true.
I say this with the idea that joy and happiness are two separate things. May it be that the Christian life requires more suffering than we want to admit? There is no doubt in my mind that God is incomprehensibly good, and that He is the one to be praised for the countless blessings in my life. I do have much to be thankful for, and I'm certainly not depressed or experiencing doubt. I recognize that life has its ups and downs, its triumphs and failures. I just feel like there is a general feeling in the Christian world that the storm clouds clear when your life is captivated by Christ.
I guess my main point is that God is so far beyond our comprehension. My view of life is so minute and clouded by my worldly perceptions that raise questions that I think I need answers to, but really I do not. He is in control, and all I can do is seek Him more - give Him more - love Him more.
Still, I ask - does hope always mean happiness?
"No one ever said it would be easy; He only said I'd never go alone."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like this.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand what you are saying, and you said it beautifully.
God is sooo good even in this crazy, broken world.
First of all, I'd like to say that I found this because someone sent an email to OBP saying "Joel just totally used the word connotes on his blog." So props for that.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, as for actual beneficial conversation...
In the Old Covenant, there was a definite correlation between obeying God's law and physical blessings (Deut 28 and whatnot). I've heard it said that in the New Covenant, there actually seems to be an inverse relationship between the two. Working harder for the Kingdom will result in less temporal wellbeing. Phil 3:10 says "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."
Now, joy is something that only comes from the Spirit, so logically, it is unlikely that you could be truly joyful and physically well-off at the same time. So if your definition of happiness correlates with physical wellbeing and safety, then I would submit that happiness something that we are not promised and, moreover, should not pursue (suck it, Jefferson).
Thankfully, I think you nailed it in what you said about joy and hope. Loving God brings joy, which in turn brings peace, which is something that vanilla happiness could never do. And peace isn't the cessation of trials, but the attitude to put up with them, to take up your cross in life.
Overall, great post, great things to think about. I look forward to reading more in the future :)
I wrote something similar to this the day after the funeral. Maybe some day I'll finish putting the blog together and make it public. Well it's public at the moment, just not completed.
ReplyDeleteBut very well put. I'm in class and can't really write anything specific, but I enjoyed what you had to say.
1 Peter 5:10 "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
ReplyDeleteI read that today. GOOD stuff. Reminder of the hope that does exist and does not deplete.