PAINFUL REALITIES, UNKNOWN POTENTIAL

1 Samuel 1:1-2:21; John 5:1-23; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29

“’I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.’ And they worshiped the Lord there.”

“When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’”

“People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.”

At our “White Elephant” Christmas parties, folks bring a small (usually, a gag) gift, pick numbers and then select their own gift from the veritable cornucopia of “wonders” (as in, “I wonder who would buy that?!?”) under the tree. Oh, and if someone opens a gift you actually want (some are claimed just to be regifted next year; it’s that kind of group), you can take it for your turn and send them back to the tree. Once in a while, someone will want to keep a gift. Grips relax a little too slowly for comfort. What is truly interesting, though, is how many “victims” don’t then opt for another surprise, but instead take a known article from someone else.

So it is with life. We are reluctant to let go of almost any known circumstances or stuff, no matter how they burden us, unless we are forced to give them up. We look around for other “knowns” to replace them. We don’t trust Jesus to creatively provide unanticipated blessings in place of things we lose or sacrifice. Consequently, our hands are usually so full of relatively meaningless material that we deprive ourselves of the chance to grab hold of what the Lord offers. Someone once responded to this observation with the old cliché that the enemy we know is better than the one we don’t expect. Ha, ha – NOT! His is a life obviously bounded by fear. If we don’t keep our lives available to the Spirit, and a loose grip on our stuff, we will never be able to fully lay hold of grace or any other heavenly opportunity when it comes along.

Thankfully, Christ sometimes helps those unwilling to help themselves in spite of themselves. I myself am typically a “safety first” guy, more focused on the likely adverse results of a bad decision than the potential of a good one. I don’t like being a stumbling block to creativity, yet time and again, I reject unknown potential in favor of known realities. Jesus no doubt understands but shakes His head at the blessings I miss because I don’t trust Him to have a better plan. Occasionally, He even graciously intervenes. For example, I was in a truly hateful job for several years. Money got tight. The wonderful folks I’d started with became worse than mercenaries. Morale and camaraderie were distant memories. Friendships disappeared, and loyalty had no meaning. It obviously was not the place for me, yet I stayed. After all, I didn’t know what other opportunities might exist, and the biweekly paycheck was still pretty comforting… until it did not come, either. One of my partners captured the situation perfectly: “How long can you tread water?” Still, I stayed, now beyond all reason. When they finally asked me to leave, it honestly was something of a relief – at least, deeply underneath the uncertainty and fear.

Talking much more bravely than I felt, on getting home, I quoted my wife an old Imperials’ song: “He didn’t bring us this far to leave us; He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown.” I began my job search clinging to that hope. Long story short, I never missed a paycheck (thank God for severance packages!), and the place Christ put me has been my vocation for the last 13 years. It’s a better place, a friendlier place and a place where I can be free to be more effective for Christ. It also is a place I never would have gotten to if I had not been lovingly pushed by the Spirit, in spite of my own desires.

I understand all stories of loss, fear or uncertainty do not have happy endings. Happy endings are not the point. Frankly, I doubt Hannah ever felt her five later children balanced giving Samuel back to the Lord, even knowing how things worked out. But neither balance nor justice is the point, either. Recognizing, accepting and actually grasping God’s plan as the best thing, regardless, is the only point. Jesus asked the man at Bethesda’s pool a deep and honest question, loosely paraphrased, “Do you want to give up your excuses?” Any number of reasons exist for failing to trust the Lord. There are perfectly rational excuses. But let not anger or frustration rule. Everything pales compared to the blessings He has in store. We just have to free up our hands to take hold of them. Whether we like it, or not. The next time God wrests some bit of security from our control, maybe the best response is just to challenge and trust Him to provide something better, and open ourselves to new possibilities.