Monday, September 10, 2018
617 - When the Worst Happens
Spirituality Column #617
September 11, 2018
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
When the Worst
Happens
By Bob Walters
“So do not fear, for I
am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you … with my
righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Perhaps the
single most important, useful, always true lesson I’ve learned through several
years of Bible study is to read the Old Testament as a precursor to Christ, not
as an all-time, works-defining, life-lessons rule book.
The Old Testament explains who God
is, who we are, and what the world is.
Its central theme thread is that God is good, Satan is bad, and people
are broken. A key, all-time Bible lesson
is to not worry about observing the Sabbath as a day of the week; but of living
in Christ as the totality of our peace, strength, and rest from spiritual
labor: Jesus is our Sabbath always.
There is plenty of wisdom in the Old Testament, and its wisest
proclamation is the coming truth of Christ. That is what Isaiah is talking about.
Jesus – the
New Covenant of faith in Christ – brought into humanity a whole new ball
game. The Old Testament Law wasn’t
abolished by Jesus; it was fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection (Matthew
5:17). Jesus is what the Old Testament
is leading up to; its stories and prophecies explain the predestined truth of
the eternal reign of Jesus Christ. We
won’t see the finished product in this lifetime; we must take it on faith.
It’s always
a little curious to me that nobody around Jesus actually “got” what He was
doing; at least not right away. The
Twelve Disciples were not towers of theological study, but they were Jews who
observed the Law. The Pharisees, knowing
prophesy, should have understood but resisted furiously. The Apostle Paul knew, lived, and was as
passionate about the Law as any character in the Bible; yet it took a personal,
knock-me-down visit from Jesus for him to accept as truth all that the prophets
had said.
Christianity
still wanders in and out of New Testament truth. All this “help” the Old Testament promises is
embodied in salvation through Jesus Christ, not God’s acquiescence to our daily
human whims or deliverance from our temporal discomforts. I believe
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are active in our daily lives, that our
relationship with the divine is real, and that prayer “works” as long as we
understand and accept that God’s way is ultimately the only way, no matter what
we are dealing with at any particular moment in our lives.
I’ve
learned that often the most important listener to my prayers – crazy as it
sounds – is me. When I listen to what
I’m sharing with Jesus, His truth has a way of overcoming my suppositions. There are also those fretful times for any of
us when we, in suffering panic, simply cry out for God’s help. Even if we know Jesus is near, we also have
to know that God’s righteousness plays the long game we cannot see.
Deliverance,
in other words, won’t always be immediate and on our terms.
My brother
Joe captains the Lake Superior research vessel Kiyi, which in responding to a
help call Aug. 30, rescued a woman miles from land. She survived a kayaking accident in which her
husband and their three young children died.
How does God’s righteousness handle that one? How – if given the opportunity – do we
minister to her? How does trust in Jesus
provide comfort for that woman ever again in her life?
One thing
for sure: the Law can’t fix it. And
another: Jesus is grieving, too.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows “Help!” is a great prayer starter.
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