BOOTSTRAPPING

Job 8:1-11:20; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28; Psalm 38:1-22; Proverbs 21:28-29

“Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty? Such knowledge is higher than the heavens—and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld—what do you know? … If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. You will forget your misery…. You will have courage because you have hope.”

“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”

“For I am waiting for you, O Lord. You must answer for me, O Lord my God.”

“The wicked bluff their way through, but the virtuous think before they act.”

Back in the days of John Wayne westerns, life seemed a whole lot simpler. Then, adversity didn’t seem quite as real, and certainly not so overwhelming. For a kid like me, it was reassuring to know The Duke could always be counted on to pull himself up by his bootstraps when the chips were down. While the fantasy he represented never quite attained immortality – oh, how I hated Bruce Dern in The Cowboys for slaying my idol – as long as we could hear that Texas drawl, we could muster our own courage and had reason for hope.

The Duke is gone now. I’ve crossed the half century mark, and the world has gotten a lot more complex. Very bad things are happening to very good people, while the wicked clearly prosper. Hope is an ever more elusive commodity. People are literally giving up on God, then on themselves. Our leaders don’t know where to turn for answers, and many of us in the rank and file feel lost and abandoned by the society and communities we helped build. This is just not how things are supposed to be, and the idea that we can simply pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and tough it out seems more and more unrealistic.

Several weeks ago, though, I committed to changing my perspective and being more positive. Doing so is easier said than done under present conditions. What is becoming clear is that optimism is not just an act of will; it is an act of living faith. It is no good - and can be downright dangerous, pardner – just to blithely ignore the obvious, especially when the obvious is getting more and more difficult to ignore. But on the other hand, we need to understand what it is we are looking for to keep us afloat in the chaos. Simply, I think we’re looking for that one sign of hope that will give us courage again. Many of us are depleted by circumstances. We need to reconnect with some source of power outside ourselves that will renew our strength and lift us up. Like Job, we don’t need comfort or criticism. We need hope.

What different approaches Zophar and Paul apply to the need for hope! Adopting a fatalistic, “you should have seen it coming and brought it on yourself” mantra, Zophar essentially tries to whip Job back into shape. Unfortunately, like a prizefighter who has taken one too many shots to the head, the only fight left in Job is to resent the ones who claim he did not fight hard enough. He has no strength to bootstrap himself off the canvas; he is down for the count and needs to know someone in his corner can and will help him up. Paul turns things completely around. Whatever our own condition, the first, most important thing he wants us to know is that Christ is in our corner just waiting for permission to lift us up. He knows what it’s like to get knocked down; He knows what it’s like to suffer for things He did not do or cause. He understands being poured completely out, but He also experienced resurrection, and because He did, so can we. This is THE matter of first importance, for without it, ultimately, all of life pretty much dissolves into vanity and futility.

Christians have reason for hope. Our faintheartedness is a reflection of our weariness, and our weariness is a reflection of our loss of enthusiasm for the new life and courage Christ provides. Cling tightly to the resurrection! When we allow our faith in the empty tomb to slip through our fingers, we give up on the only power that is really capable of lifting us up. Being more positive is not an act of bootstrapping. It is instead a recognition that God wasn’t kidding when He offered us eternal life. We walk a much surer path when we keep our eyes off the ground.