Pain brings up the most persistent questions for me; most likely for you, too. The question is age-old: “Why does a loving God let suffering happen?” No answer is perfect. For me, there is one answer that is inescapably true. C. S. Lewis wrote that “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” When life is rich with sunshine and resources, we become self-satisfied, increasingly wrapped up in ourselves. Many develop a kind of conceit, deluded into believing that they have created their success, and all so often, so ready to accuse those in difficult circumstances of being less capable, or even lesser persons!
Levi Lusko is a young pastor from Montana, a man of many gifts and abilities. In a book he titled, Through the Eyes of a Lion, he tells the story of his daughter’s death. Lenya went to visit her Grandparents for dinner and a few hours later, her life here on earth came to an abrupt close during a severe asthma attack. Told without self-pity, the story urges us to grab onto God’s promise of eternal life and the Resurrection. Levi does not gloss over the grief, nor does he diminish the real struggle that accompanies loss. This is no simplistic tract of triumphalism! He offers, instead, a template for applying the Word of God to life, signposts to the path of faith that will protect us from despair.
In one chapter, he talks about the new facets to his life that emerged after Lenya’s death. I could identify with his realization that his pain had broken up hard places in his life and made him much more tender. It has happened to me, too. Once a man who resisted tears, who was too often brusque (I have a ways to go on this), I am now touched easily by pain, much more empathetic than I once was. Yes, God used pain, awful loss, to break my heart, in a good way.
But, even more important, Lenya’s dad speaks of a new ‘anointing’ that flowed into his life. In a section sub-titled, Crushed Like An Olive, he explains. In the Bible priests and kings were ‘anointed’ in a ritual that involved having olive oil poured over their heads. Here’s a reference – “…the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.” Psalm 133:2 (NLT) This olive oil that marked that person as God’s own, as one prepared for service, as one empowered by the Spirit was the product of a crushing.
A press applied great pressure to the olives and it produced the oil that was used for anointing. Now it gets good. “Jesus, who is both King and Priest forever, when to Calvary, but first he went to the Garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means ‘olive press.’ …. Beyond the ceremonial oil, there in the Garden, Jesus knelt down and was in such agony (of spirit), under such great pressure that He sweat drops of blood. There He was crushed before He went to the cross. … You cannot get to Calvary without going through Gethsemane.” (Lusko)
My greatest desire is to be used by God to do His work. More than money, fame, or fun times I want to know Him and make Him known. But, I cannot do that without an anointing of the Spirit. Nor, can you. The cost of that anointing is crushing! Isaiah said that the Redeemer would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3, NIV) And, Jesus was that! But, from His crushing and anointing flows the Life for me, for you, for the world.
Do you desire to be an intimate of God, ‘anointed’ for service? Pain is part of the process! A. W. Tozer writes that “It is doubtful whether God could ever bless a person greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” You may have to think about that for a while before you add your agreement.
If you are walking in a hard situation, if you are wrestling with pain, grief, rejection, loss, temptation – whatever is actually so common to the human experience – offer it to God for His purpose. Ask Him to make you tender, to sharpen your spiritual hearing, and to release the sweet fragrance of His anointing in your crushing.
No, I am not making it a poetic, romantic notion. It is simply the reality of spiritual endeavor. Here is a word from the Word, Jesus’ own invitation. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)
The world we live in puts pressure on all us to do many things. It is a complex life demanding competency of us in multiple ways – operating a car, using high tech gadgets, maintaining a home, navigating our job, tending relationships – it’s a long list! Sometimes we are exhausted by it all, aren’t we? We have a love/hate with the complexity. Very few of us want to give it up and live in an Amish kind of world, even though we know that the pace at which we live is beating us up every day. God invites us to a different way where we learn to do what He calls us to do. In that place, we give it all, but find renewal and rest. “Really,” you ask, “how is that possible?”
For a couple of weeks I have not felt well, dealing with nausea and pain, constant, but in varying degrees. A visit to my physician on Thursday was inclusive but given my medical history an intestinal blockage was a real possibility. Worse than the actual physical symptoms was the fear that began to take hold in the quiet moments. “What if … “ became a constant presence in my mind. I relived the days when I walked first my Dad, then my Mom, and then Bev to the door of Heaven.
I danced with self-pity on Wednesday afternoon. I moped around wondering “why me,” questioning the fairness of it all. In the process I lost my balance, failing to account for a thousand blessings, seeing only the pain. Yes, the losses in my life are undeniably significant but it is also a fact that I enjoy many blessings and I own the promises of God through Christ Jesus. Fatigue plays a part in my loss of perspective. Thoughts like – “God, I can’t take it anymore” or “You are so unfair to those who love You” tend to gain traction in my mind when I am tired. Discouragement takes over when I let the important things go because of the pressure of the urgent matters!
Borrowed from military operations, the word ‘breakthrough’ is about that moment when an obstacle is finally overcome, when a scientific advance opens a whole new field of knowledge, when a level of achievement lifts a person to another level. It was first used of that moment when an army penetrated the lines of the enemy, breaking through defenses creating the moment for final victory. Have you ever experienced a ‘breakthrough,’ a moment when you pushed through a struggle to find resolution or to discover new opportunities?
The man tried way too hard to be funny, engaging, telling bad jokes. He made himself ridiculous, his manner so forced that, at times, he was actually offensive. I felt sad for him, wanting desperately to pull him aside and say, “Give the act a rest and just be ‘you.’” He is a ‘wannabe.’ The dictionary define ‘wannabe’ this way: “a person who aspires to a role or position, who imitates the behavior, customs, or dress of an admired person or group.” Sometimes they are funny, sometimes pathetic, and in time a wannabe is just annoying.
Eclipse fever took hold of America yesterday. Networks broadcast from locations along the totality path. Millions bought special glasses to see it or turned cereal boxes into viewers. Millions more posted pictures on Facebook (this writer included). The big build-up left some underwhelmed by the actual event! Unless you were in a narrow band a few miles wide along a path that stretched from Oregon to South Carolina, you did not get the experience of darkness in midday that most expected!
A couple of months ago I took a road trip through the Midwest to visit family. I appreciated the break from the daily responsibilities of life! We all need those times when we ‘get away and find rest and renewal in mind and body. But, after several days I was thinking “there’s no place like home!” Some will say I’m just getting old (I am) but I love ‘home,’ not just my house, but my place in this world, where I enjoy friendships, familiarity, and routines of my daily work. One of these days, I’ll go home forever.
When our daughter was about 9, we took her to an optometrist. Chris was squinting a lot, which should have been a clue that she was not seeing well. Her exam showed that she needed corrective lens. When we got her glasses and walked outside, her delight in her newly expanded sight was something of an embarrassment to us, making us feel like parents who had neglected our child. “Oh, look,” she excitedly shouted, “at all those beautiful mountains and trees. Wow, I can see the words on that sign.” She was near-sighted and never knew how big the world out there really was because she could not see to the horizons!
We love the ‘miracle moments’ in a story, don’t we? When the hero finally defeats the villain we cheer. Who does not appreciate a story about a person who, against all odds, gets an education, builds a family, and finds success? When we see success, we tend to forget the hard work – the years of training, the long days invested – that are part of the foundation.