1 February 2014 - perish school

1 February 2014 - perish school


“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

We face many storms in our lives, some of them of our own making.  The first problem we struggle to understand is that there are storms at all.  We feel that once we are walking with Jesus everything should be hugs and puppies.  If God is God shouldn't he fix these external circumstances?  He is near us but seems to be asleep in our boat.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

We just barely understand why there is pain in the world at all.  But we really can't see how there can still be all these waves, how there can still be this violent squall, and how our boats seem on the verge on sinking even in the presence of the God Man.

We try to resolve this difficulty the wrong way.  We become fatalists.  We think, 'if God is allowing this now he will allow it forever.'  But this is often not the case.  He brings us to trials in order to bring us through them.  All he wants from us is faith.

Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified?
Do you not yet have faith?”

The disciples' response is not the worst possible response.  They cry out to Jesus for salvation.  Jesus honors this response by calming the storm.  This is so profound for the disciples that it becomes a theophany, a revelation of the divinity of Jesus.  Here is Psalm 107 which it must bring to mind:

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
The storm is not wasted.  They perceive in Jesus the one who makes the storm be still and hushes the waves.  They cannot help but say, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”  Hopefully the next time Jesus is asleep in the boat they won't be terrified.  Hopefully they can realize with Therese of Lisieux that only "rarely souls let Him sleep peacefully within them."  Therese faces storms and yet she can let Jesus sleep.  She does this without becoming a fatalist.  She does not ask herself if Jesus cares that she is perishing amidst the aridity and dryness of her live.  She knows he does care.  She knows he is the one whom the wind and sea obey.  She is able to trust him even in the storm.  She is able to believe that Jesus will stop this storm at the very moment it should be stopped, whether he seems asleep or not.  She is like Peter when he briefly walks on water.  Her eyes are fixed on Jesus and she does not sink even amidst the waves.

David, for his part, creates a storm of his own when he brings about Uriah's death and takes Bethsheba for himself.  Nathan puts what he has done in context for him.  When he looks at the situation objectively he is quick to say that "the man who has done this merits death" and that he must "restore the ewe lamb fourfold".  He hears Nathan say, "You are the man!"  He knows he is guilty.  But when David finds himself in a storm, even one which he himself causes, he knows enough to turn back to God.

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

The temptation is to expect what we deserve from God.  Especially when recovery is gradual we can come to see the sufferings that don't disappear as things which we need.  We are again tempted to think, 'It will always be thus.'  So David is forgiven and might be tempted to think that the loss of a child is simply what he deserves.

Nathan answered David: “The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin:
you shall not die.
But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed,
the child born to you must surely die.”

But David does not give in.  He "besought God for the child."  He does not become a fatalist, accepting the consequences of his sin because he knows something about the heart of God.  He knows that no blessings he receives are deserved.  Therefore forgiveness and healing are always possible.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.

There are no doubt things in our lives about which we believe the LORD does not care.  Let us beseech him, "Create a clean heart in me, O God."  Let him teach us to trust him enough to believe that he does care even when he seems asleep.