DEUS EX MACHINA

2 Kings 4:18-5:27; Acts 15:1-35; Psalm 141:1-10; Proverbs 17:23

“’Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, “Go and wash and be cured!”’ So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!”

“We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

“Take control of what I say, O Lord, and guard my lips. Don’t let me drift toward evil
or take part in acts of wickedness.”

I am very partial to the idea of miracles. Thinking the Lord cares enough to bail us out of life’s difficulties in a supernatural way is extremely appealing. The human desire (and recognition of our need) for divine intervention is embedded in our DNA.  We instinctively look for the miraculous whenever life throws a pitch at us we cannot hit, even when we deny belief in the only God capable of the wonders we seek. This reaction is so ingrained in our collective psyche that there is even a recognized, theatrical term for it. Deus ex machina refers to any artificial or improbable device that resolves the difficulties of a plot. It is about as close as the secular world gets to confessing the reality of miracles. The problem is, when we spend our lives looking for miracles, we tend to miss completely the simple reality of the Spirit, along with most of His relatively elementary solutions to life’s problems. Like Naaman, we are almost disappointed when God’s solutions to our issues appear so ordinary. Bathe seven times in the Jordan? Put Christ first and do unto others what we would have done to us? Things can’t be that easy.

Of course, the idea that loving God with all our hearts, minds and souls and our neighbors as ourselves is simple belies an ignorance born of inexperience. Those who think it’s easy have never tried to make the Great Commandment a consistent lifestyle. But that’s for another day. The point in Scripture today is that the Lord’s solutions most often lie in answers we feel are beneath us. Consequently, we fail to see them or refuse to accept them. As a result, we remain mired in our pain and impotency far longer than we need to.

Maybe it was silly for Naaman to take a long river bath. Perhaps, for some reason that escapes us, it was even humiliating for him. But just maybe, that also was part of the point. Until we humble ourselves enough to submit to God and accept that His answers to life’s problems are usually much more simple than we would like them to be, we are just playing spiritual games with ourselves, and with the Spirit. We have overwhelming (often, overblown and exaggerated) problems. We expect great and complex answers. When our “cures” are found in the commonplace, we almost feel disappointed. For example, sometimes, we’re too embarrassed to simply confess our sin or ask for forgiveness. Give what we have to the poor and follow Christ? There’s nothing complex about that. It is frequently more honest to say we are looking for magic than to claim faith in the plain remedies of God.

The first step to living as the Spirit intends is to quit treating Christ as if He is some kind of magician who is present only to entertain and make us feel good about ourselves. Depressed? Serve others. Confused? Study the Scriptures. Lonely? Pray. Feeling insignificant? Meditate on the Cross. God’s answers do seem simplistic, almost platitudinal. They are anything but easy in execution. Regardless, they mark the path Christ has blazed, and His course is the only way to eternal life and peace with God.

Humans have never lived according to any script. Our tendency to ad lib when we ought to be following the Lord’s commands usually ends up causing a lot of unanticipated “plot twists” we are not prepared for or humanly capable of resolving. But might I suggest a different approach to our hours of most desperate need? Instead of grasping for great and glorious miracles, or some other deus ex machina, let’s start with the proposition that we already have the right to claim the greatest and most illogical miracle of all. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God actually cares, and the Spirit really will guide. Let’s not miss the guidance because we are looking too high up or too far away. The answers begin with a faithful and humble heart which sees worldly problems from an eternal perspective.