Yesterday we explored our questions, and what then happens when we approach the Bible with them. Sometimes the Bible answers directly, but more often the Bible seems to offer a different question. There are many reasons why this is so. The Bible is more full of story and poetry than it is full of direct advice and equations-for-life.
In John chapter 9 Jesus' disciples ask why a man was born blind, but their question comes out as, "Who Sinned, this man or his parents?" There is so much in this passage! What I want to point out is simply that Jesus re-oriented their way of thinking, and that taking the Bible on its own terms can produce the same experience. We have our question; sometimes the Bible answers it, sometimes Jesus will answer another question, and sometimes the Lord gently re-orients us to a better question - or, like a postmodern thinker, Jesus will reject the categories we bring into our question and then deal with what we were really asking.
In the midst of the first part of John 15 - the passage we dealt with yesterday during our worship service - Jesus describes the darker seasons of life as "pruning". Let me say that better... He does not say they exist for the purpose of pruning (growth in character, sympathy, affection), but that the suffering that is inevitable for all people in some form (there are different kinds: calamitous suffering one will never account for, sin-suffering we bring upon ourselves or our loved ones bring upon us by poor choices...) will affect growth in those men and women who are attached the "The True Vine", Jesus of Nazareth.
What does this have to do with sickness? Again, it is indirect (read: annoying). But, in this case the Bible is re-assuring, not in the sense that we who are sick understand WHY we are sick, but we know that it is not out of God's control and we know that He will use it in his overall redemptive purposes. Maybe you expect more comfort from the Bible? Me too. And, it is there - particularly in the Psalms, where many of the writers were likely sick. But, at the end of the day I think that adding some purpose and explanation to suffering is more honest and believable than a trite answer. I think it is more realistic towards humanity-since-the-Fall than a simple black/white answer. I think that I feel like the Bible takes my sickness/suffering more seriously than that, and that is comforting.
Thoughts???
Discuss...
-Matt
PS - Those are Shiraz vines...
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI have thought long and hard about your blog and, like most of us I suppose, have not come up with an answer. But I do have a comment. A very long one, so bear with me. I have never had an illness that has affected me in any momentous way - I tend to be the "accident" and self-inflicted pain" type of person (such as falling off a cliff while hiking). But I have been thinking back a lot about a tragedy in my life, and how that has changed me...
Years ago my father, who everyone adored, committed suicide. For weeks, when I would come to church, the looks all said, "Oh, there's the girl whose dad killed himself." The constant hugs, words of encouragement, and the "How are you doing" became nauseating. I hated that people treated me differently, that life and relationships revolved around this tragedy. But the thing I hated the most was that I WAS different, that even the air I breathed and the sky seemed different somehow. I just wanted not just my dad back, but my life back. I wanted my life to return to normal so that I would not have to struggle to difficult questions. But God said "No," He could not and would not let me return to the person I was. He loved me too much. And so, once I began accepting this fact, God was able to use this tragedy to change me in a positive way, namely, that I have no control over things in my life and that was a good thing. He would hold my hand, walk me through it, and see me to the other side. The scary part is that we don't know what the other side is, and I have for the most part given up trying to always figure that out. Whatever it is, He has already been there.
My daughter once described me as being a lot like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She said that I walk through the tragedies of life searching for God, and along the way I tell others about him and take them along with me, knowing that when we finally meet Him face-to-face, all my questions will be answered.
So...I think God allows things happen so that this pursuit of Him becomes focused and determined, and our trust in Him becomes more pervasive. And the ultimate result is that He, and not our tragedies, becomes our focus.