WHEN GOD ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION WITH A QUESTION

WHEN GOD ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION WITH A QUESTION:
Excerpted from pp 298-301 All the King’s Horses – Finding Purpose and Hope in Brokenness and Impossibility http://www.amazon.com/dp/1629984191

Bryson had come a long way since the early days when it was predicted he’d never walk or speak intelligibly, that he’d be better off living in an institution, and I was more grateful for his progress than I can tell you. But amidst the joy, fresh installments of sorrow arrive during each new season in the life of a brain-injured child, and I couldn’t keep from grieving all that was lacking in him still …

Some of you reading this book have traveled a long road fraught with difficulty and pain. Your family story differs from mine, but only in detail, not in geography. The notion that we live on a playground, not a battleground, seems absurd to you now. Just like me, you’ve experienced God’s deliverance, many times in fact, and you’ve been grateful. Yet now, after all these years you’ve again been slammed to the mat.

You didn’t see it coming. You thought you’d learned every lesson God could possibly want to teach you. You never expected that the Lord would allow you to be brought so low again in this world! But new waves of sorrow have swept in from your blind side, threatening to plunge you beneath the water line, once and for all.

Sometimes I just feel like screaming: “I get it, Lord! I know that my faith is more precious than gold. I know that I must go through various trials, tested by fire, so that the result will be praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I know that You want to polish Christ’s image in me, to prove out the will of God in my life (Romans 12:2). But I don’t think I can take anymore! It’s not that I don’t care about proving out your will. But I’m battle weary! Don’t You see that, Lord!? Can’t You just let me rest a while? Is that too much to ask Lord?!”

In reality, I don’t believe the above rant is too much to ask of our compassionate Savior. Nor do I think that He tires of hearing our anguished cries and frustrated pleas. Yet I’ve come to understand that Jesus will sometimes interrupt our rants and our questions with a question of His own:

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)

Um … Jesus, You certainly need no permission to interrupt me as I’m writing this chapter. After all, You’re King of the Universe. But if You don’t mind my saying so, I’m trying to convey something important to the readers about our mutual lack as we press on toward the goal. Now here You come, breaking right into this chapter asking a question about finding faith!? I don’t follow, Lord. And to be honest, I don’t think Your interruption is helping! Your question seems a bit out of context, don’t You think? And at the risk of being a little dense, Lord, could you be more specific with Your question? Faith in what exactly? Faith in my ability to make up for my own lack? Faith in my resolve to press on for Your glory? Help me out here Lord! I don’t get it!

When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth? His question does seem a bit out of context. If He’d just give us what we are crying out for, what we are begging for, then we’d gladly exhibit the “faith” He is looking for. But since Jesus is taking the time to ask us a question, it seems wise to lay aside our questions and consider how we will answer His. As we grope for an answer, we might let Oswald Chambers help us to consider our sometimes wimpy definition of faith:

“A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says – ‘I cannot stand any more.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly … Faith is the heroic effort of your life, (in which) you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.” (Oswald Chambers May 8)

Though we are often blind to God’s goal for us, we can take comfort in the reality that He knows what He is aiming at, and that He knows what He’s seeking to accomplish in and through our lives. There are times He will ask us to stand firm in our faith against tsunamis that have the power to wipe us, our “proven” victories, and even our cherished memories clear off the map. As He goes on stretching and performing His unseen work within us, let’s continue to be honest with each other. We’re all lacking as we seek to stand at these times, and not just a little.

Just when we think we’re mature, sanctified soldiers, that we’re no longer quite so desperate for grace, that we’re ready to do great things for God out of our experience, we can find ourselves squarely off the path. When we even begin to think we can prove anything in our lives without setting our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, we are deceived. We will never get to a place of self-sufficiency. Oswald Chambers warns us:

“It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. ‘What shall I render unto the Lord?’ said the Psalmist. ‘I will take the cup of salvation.’ We are apt to look for satisfaction in ourselves – ‘Now I have got the thing; now I am entirely sanctified; now I can endure.’ Instantly we are on the road to ruin …” Oswald Chambers

As fierce waves threaten to destroy us, God is giving us a unique opportunity to prove to the world that while we are anything but adequate in ourselves, HE has the power to deliver any person from any storm. In the midst of such tempests, what can any of us possibly render unto the Lord but the cup of salvation? Only His grace in providing for our every need is worthy of lifting up. And the only thing worth offering to any other hurting soul in this battleground world is the same stuff from that cup we so desperately need daily ourselves: the forgiveness, mercy, grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the end, if our personal stories are going to prove anything, they must magnify the Lord.

Our lives can prove that victory, as He defines victory, is not only possible for people who lack, but certain if we will trust in Him alone. My son’s lack of development as a brain-injured person was obvious. But is our own lack any less obvious when compared to the holiness of God? Let’s face it. Our performance won’t ever shine flawlessly for Christ, nor dare I say it, does He want it to. Even on our best day on earth we are all far too lacking to accurately depict His perfection. When Jesus asks if He will find faith on the earth, don’t miss His point! The victory that overcomes the world is our faith in Him, not any deceived notion of faith we can place in ourselves (1 Jn. 5:4).

And in terms of proving something, let’s be clear that God has absolutely nothing to prove. His love for us was proven beyond question by Christ’s blood shed on the cross. I’ve been walking with the King a long time now, and I’m convinced everything He allows to occur in our lives is intended for our good and His glory. I had a son born completely healthy. His brain was profoundly injured. In many respects his life was ruined before he even had his fair shot at living in this world.

Then came all those excruciating years of fighting his way back, all the impossible battles, the exhilarating victories, the demoralizing defeats, the suffering, the anguish, the cruelty, the pain. Wait a minute … Did I say for our good!? I almost wanted to die much of the time! But through it all, God gave me a front row seat as He kept working things out in His own mysterious way.

Excerpted from pp 298-301 All the King’s Horses – Finding Purpose and Hope in Brokenness and Impossibility http://www.amazon.com/dp/1629984191