Silly Christian, crying is for unbelievers! (Part 2)

"Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."  (Psalm 42:5)

OH how many times I've sung this!!!  How many times have I cried and then when I'm done, wondered what in the world I was crying for?  As if I had no hope, no God who was mighty to save?
 I mean, if I think it's ridiculous once I've regained my composure, how does GOD feel about it?

I have a very strong feeling that God is NOT okay with us resorting to tears and complaining at every little setback.

The Israelites did their fair share of complaining against God.  Even after seeing God's signs in Egypt, including the parting of the Red Sea, they complained as soon as they became thirsty. (THIRSTY!  They just watched God turn water into blood, flood the land with frogs and flies and all kinds of plagues, bring down a pillar of fire from heaven, split the sea for them to walk across, and the minute they get thirsty they start crying that they're going to die?!  Because, well of course God can split the seas, but giving us some water to drink, now that's a different story!)  Time after time, God provided, and time after time they complained once they became thirsty and hungry again, as if they had totally forgotten that not only was God totally capable of providing, but He desired to.  And while God was merciful, allowing for a bit of a learning curve,  He would not tolerate it forever.  There came a point when their complaining cost them everything.

Sometimes, in reading about the Israelites, I want to jump through the page and shake them all.  "You have seen with your own eyes the power of God!!!  You are SO close to the Promised Land!!!  You're RIGHT THERE!  Just GO IN!"  The Israelites had reached the Promised Land, but when they heard of the giants in the land, they doubted again.  They reduced God's power to be insufficient next to the people who lived in the land.  The same people who had witnessed God's power in Egypt now believed that He had not enough foresight to see this obstacle, and that He'd made a promise He couldn't keep.  They begged to turn back to the shackles in Egypt rather than believe God's promise.  For that, they wandered in the desert until the complainers died off, and their children inherited the promise. 


The funny thing is, as much as I want to shake the Israelites, I'm just like them.  So many people, including myself, have asked the question "if God is God, why doesn't He just show Himself?  Why doesn't He come down, and fix our problem with a miracle?" (Where's my pillar of fire?) Well, we see how well that worked with the Israelites.  I can tell you a lot of miraculous and unexplainable things have happened in my life.  It may not be fire from heaven or parted seas, but it has been obvious on several occasions that God has stepped in to sustain me.  And yet, when the next setback comes, despite ALL that He's done, I almost unfailingly question God.  I may as well be crying as if I was an unbeliever and I had no hope.

We all have setbacks, and we will continue to have them until we go home to be with Jesus.  But if you are living, and if you are breathing, then God has sustained you.  I cannot count the many times that I've felt like the world was crashing down, only to survive the situation and totally forget about it.  In the moment, it seems monstrous and insurmountable, but looking back it's like holding a polaroid picture up next to an album full of your life story -  it is completely miniscule.

I'm still in this swamp, but with God's direction, I'm finding my way out.  I want to live in the reality of how big God is.  When I'm met with a difficult situation, I want to immediately remember how God has never once left me on my own.  I want to make it to my promised land.

"Who among the gods is like You, O Lord?  Who is like You - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?...In Your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed.  In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling."  (Exodus 15:11-13) 

If you missed it, read Part 1 of this post here! 

Silly Christian, crying is for unbelievers! (Part1)

I've had enough.  I am totally and inexplicably fed up.  For eight years now, I have been wandering in this swamp called "defeat".  At times, I stepped out of the muck, and even made some ground walking away from it, but always returned whenever the obstacle proved to discourage me more than my desire to leave encouraged me.

Can I be transparent and admit to something?  After awhile, the muck even started to feel soothing.  It became soothing to waltz slowly through the junk that weighed down my life.  It became typical to shut down, and almost zombie-like, return to the place of self-pity, self-loathing, and self-everything.  Obstacle coming further on up the road?  No problem, I'll just go ahead and head back now.

That is, until the most recent string of obstacles hit.  At first, a few arrows split the air and pierced me in a few different places.  I was already heading over to my place of wallowing despair when the last one hit.  The initial shock and sting of the situation, as usual, brought confusion and the typical "where are You, God?" questions.  But as the tears started to blur my vision, and the songs of "why me" began to play, it was as if God Himself stood up and cried "ENOUGH!".  It was as if He stretched out His hand and froze time, and while I sat there crying, (and now frozen), He grabbed me out of the muck, set my feet on solid ground, and wiped my tears away.  And when I blinked, I was standing, and the most beautiful song of praise filled the air.

There are only so many times you can resort to tears.  Don't get me wrong, tears can be wonderful.  They can show the overwhelming emotion of happiness when the love of your life proposes, or when you hold your child for the first time.  They can flow from the natural pain of losing someone you love, and they can also pour from a heart that's deep in worship, overflowing in awe of God.  In the right moments, tears can be very cathartic.  Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for everything, and it includes weeping and mourning.  However, God did not create us to be ruled by our emotions.

In Joshua 7, the Israelites suffer a small setback at the hands of their enemies.  Joshua tears his clothes, and falls on his face before God, staying there until the evening.  He cries to God, and starts his own string of "why" questions (that sound hauntingly familiar).  "Why, God, did you bring us this far to leave us?  Why couldn't we just stay back on the other side, why did we ever believe that we could have more?  We're ruined now, no good can come from this.  How could You possibly turn this into good for Your glory?"

The thing I find probably the most interesting, is that it seems like Joshua is doing a very holy thing here.  He's on his face before the ark of the Lord, crying to God.  That's what we're supposed to do, right?  God's not having any of it, though, because then He says, "STAND UP!  What are you doing down on your face?"  Seems kind of cold, right?  I think it's just the opposite.

When I read God's response, I get the feeling that He's thinking "What are you talking about?  Who told you the fight was over?  Who told you the battle was lost?  GET UP and take care of what needs to be done!"  God desires for us to win the battle.  He's not into wasting time moping and being downcast.  He knows what a field day the enemy has when we're on our face wallowing in despair.  Sure, there are times to lay face down, humbly before God.  Those are the times when we are overwhelmed by awareness of the goodness and power of God, humbled by His grace.  But during those moments when we are so consumed by our situation, we need to be looking up in order to see where our help comes from, instead of burying our face in the sand. 

I wonder if Joshua felt a little foolish.  Here he was making a big spectacle over it that even the elders got involved, ripped their clothes, and covered themselves in ashes.

I feel like as Christians we've learned to make a big ceremony over setbacks.  In a weird way, it seems as though some Christians parade around, wearing their "trials and tribulations" like badges, and the more you have, the more faithful a servant you are.  This may sound a little cold hearted, but when the Bible talks about "trials and tribulations", flat tires and speeding tickets just aren't the first things that come to mind.  It's become a joke to talk about "first world problems", but the reason why people laugh is because it's a sad, sad truth.  I guarantee you we all have been to that place where we find ourselves falling on our face before God because our week was just full of these "attacks by the enemy".  Alarm clock didn't go off, late for work, no parking spaces up front, spilled coffee on your favorite blouse, car was towed because you parked in a no parking zone, got a flat tire on the way home, burnt dinner, bounced a check...are these things REALLY testing our faith?  The "arrows" we're suffering daily don't really have to puncture very deep to get us to flinch, do they?  Meanwhile, there are Christians in other parts of the world being jailed and executed for believing in Jesus.  There are Christians in hiding, starving and fighting for their lives and religious freedom. 

I'm not saying that our problems are nonexistent or that we shouldn't cry out to God over them.  I've had plenty of situations that have dropped me to my knees.  Our battles are our battles, and when you're trying to figure out how you're going to pay the bills sometimes it feels like the world is just crashing down around you.  There are so many people with broken hearts, people weighed down by depression, and people who are sick and hurting.  We each have legitimate scars and suffering and I am no one to minimize that.

 What I'm saying is that when we drop to our knees in prayer, we should be quick to acknowledge God's omnipotence and authority over even these little earthly things, and not allow the enemy to paralyze us in despair.

One of the most emotionally painful things a woman can go through is barrenness.  I love to read about Hannah.  She was beyond broken in spirit, she was crushed.  She fell before The Lord in prayer, sobbing and pouring her heart out to God.  After Eli blessed her, though, she got up, dried her eyes, and moved on.  The Bible says her "face was no longer downcast." (1 Samuel 1:18).

 If we truly saw our situations in light of God's glory, in light of ETERNITY, I think we'd be quicker to truly believe Him when He says "for I know the plans I have for you...not to harm you, but to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).  How many of us know that verse, quote it, yet don't rest in the truth of it?

If we truly saw our situations in light of God's glory, I think we'd be like Hannah, quick to cast off the robes of mourning and move on with our day, confident that God had heard our cry.   We'd be quicker to recognize our situations for what they are - temporary setbacks that have nothing against the One who holds all things in His hands.  After all, are we not worth so much more to Him than the birds and flowers of the field? (Matt. 6:28)

Read Part 2