Quote from Forum Archives on May 16, 2003, 11:46 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

THE SUFFERING WE ENDURE #1/3
FINDING THE SANCTUARY OF GOD
May 11, 2003

Text: Psalm 73:1-5, 12-20, 24-28

A little girl, all dressed up in Sunday clothes, was running on her way
to church, saying, “Please God, don’t let me be late. Don’t let me be
late.” At an uneven spot in the ground, she lost her balance and fell
into a puddle. Getting up and straightening herself up as best she could,
she took off running again. “Please God, don’t let me be late… but You
don’t have to give me a shove!”

A lot of times, family life can be like that. Mothers have the best
interests of their children at heart, but our sons and daughters don’t
always want that little “shove.” Still, every mother here knows that
“someday they’ll understand.” And I think we do get around to
understanding and appreciating our mother’s lessons.

In many ways, what children experience with their parents, adults
experience with God. We don’t always understand how the lessons God has
for us benefit us. Sometimes it seems that we could teach ourselves
better than God can teach us. Well, maybe not, but we at least think we
would understand the lessons a little better.

The Psalms open to us glimpses of the soul. They were authored by men who
knew the Lord; who walked with Him. Yet, they were men; and they had good
days, and they had bad days. They asked questions from the soul. They
struggled with enemies who were sometimes physical, sometimes mental, and
sometimes spiritual. David wrote most of the Psalms, but others also
contributed. Psalm 73 is attributed to Asaph. Very little is known of
him. He could have been the Asaph referred to in 1 Chronicles as one of
King David’s musicians, a member of the Priestly lineage.

At any rate, he is seen as a godly man; that is, one who knew God and
loved Him - one who wanted to walk in the ways of his Lord. But he was
also perplexed. He presents to his readers in poetic form a struggle that
he had endured. Out of his struggle, we are offered some insights.

This man of faith expressed doubt and despair. He expressed uncertainty.
We read in verse 2, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had
nearly lost my foothold.” Another translation reads, “But I had nearly
lost confidence; my faith was almost gone.” Doesn’t this speak to us on
occasion? Aren’t there times when the burdens and uncertainties of life
cause us to wonder what’s going on? They do me.

The significance here is that the psalmist’s doubt is expressed and
explored instead of being denied and repressed. In other words, doubt is
not necessarily immoral. Doubt is not necessarily offensive to God. Doubt
is a universal phenomenon that can cause us to seek a better life. Dennis
DeHaan noted in a Daily Bread devotional that “honest doubt can be the
steppingstone to a strong faith in God.” (Dennis DeHaan, Our Daily Bread,
1986)

Doubt can lead to progress. Galileo doubted that the earth stood still.
Copernicus doubted that the earth was the center of the universe.
Columbus doubted that the earth was flat. Newton doubted that the natural
world was erratic and unpredictable. Each of these “doubters” went beyond
what was generally believed in their respective quests, and our world has
been enriched as a result.

Doubt can enrich not only the physical realm. It can enrich the spiritual
realm as well. Consider John the Baptist. Most assuredly he was a man of
deep faith and conviction. But after he was imprisoned - a depressing
situation to be sure - Luke records this question: “Are You the Coming
One, or do we look for another?” From prison, John couldn’t be sure.
“Jesus, are you the Messiah? Are you bringing the Kingdom of God? Or is
there another?” He needed the reassurance of Jesus. And Jesus responded,
“The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are
cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached
to the poor.” Jesus’ answer was to remind John of the very prophecies he
had been declaring as he prepared the way of the Lord. Prophecy was being
fulfilled; yes, Jesus was the expected Messiah. Doubt brought to John the
assurance from Jesus.

Doubt is a form of suffering. When we doubt, we are in turmoil and
anguish. Hear the agony of the Psalmist in verses 13 and 14. “Surely in
vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands of
innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every
morning.” And in verses 21 and 22: “When my heart was grieved and my
spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast
before you.” The poet was in agony.

He was in agony over the injustice he saw before him. He “envied the
arrogant" when he “saw the prosperity of the wicked.” There were wicked
people in his world who denied God. They even mocked God - made fun of
Him. “Does the Most High have knowledge?” they would ask.

The Psalmist saw what was happening to these arrogant and wicked ones:
“They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are
free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human
ills... This is what the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase
in wealth.” No wonder this sensitive poet stepped back and shouted, “Wait
a minute. What's going on here?”

Doesn’t this become a contemporary Psalm? Doesn’t it address our
situation today even though written so many years ago? We know of so much
deceit and corruption in the world. I keep reading reports about how only
the wrong few benefited from the “oil for aid” program that was supposed
to benefit the suffering Iraqi people. People everywhere seem willing and
able to deceive others so as to maintain power and grow wealthy at the
expense of another. And it seems like so many get away with it.

Even today, people make large sums of money by denying God. Spiritist
channelers and psychics and other New Age type leaders do it all the
time. They teach things like “What is termed God is within your being…
And that which is called Christ is within your being… And when you know
you are God, you will find joy.” (J. Z. Knight on Merv Griffin as
reported by Brooks Alexander, Christianity Today) Baloney! Yet these who
are successful with packaging and marketing this stuff can channel about
$200,000 into their bank account for a weekend seminar. I have a feeling
that my paycheck today isn’t quite that large - and I’m not denying God!

Don’t you think that the Psalmist faced similar situations? I do. This is
what drove him into doubt and despair. No wonder he could talk about the
prosperity of the wicked; about their “callous hearts” and mocking ways.
No wonder he could write that they are “always carefree, they increase in
wealth.” No wonder his heart was heavy as he cried out, “as for me, my
feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.”

Where are You, God? Don’t You know this is going on? Why aren’t You doing
something about it? These are wicked people, God. They deceive Your
creation. They rip us off. We are mocked and ridiculed. We can’t even
pray to You openly in our school classrooms, yet they can have their own
way on prime time TV. Am I in the wrong camp, Lord? I won’t take $200,000
to the bank this weekend. Should I not prosper like them? Should I not
mold myself into their image? “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure…”

But wait, there is something else. There always is in the Psalms. “Surely
God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” This is how the
Psalmist began the poem. He placed his conclusion at the beginning; an
expression that, in spite of it all, God is on the right side of the
argument. The Psalmist agonized in doubt and despair, but in so doing, he
was driven to the sanctuary of God. Look once more to verses 16 and 17:
“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I
entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

Like us, he tried to understand all this. He tried to work it out on his
own - through rituals; through piety; through his own logic and reason.
He tried to get it to make sense; to make God into a divine “Radio Shack”
promoter with all the answers. You’ve seen the ads: “You have questions;
Radio Shack has answers.” But it all failed to satisfy his search. None
of it ministered to his heart. Not until he entered the sanctuary of God.

I mentioned earlier that doubt and despair are forms of suffering; that
they are as agonizing as physical torture. It is at this point that God
so often works. I wish that all of us could always have peace and
prosperity. I wish that praise for God was always on our lips. But this
just isn’t so, and God reaches in to love and to heal.

The Reverend Walter Wangerin, Jr., said, “… in order for despair to be
good and blessed, we have to come to the place where we can see no
farther than the despair or grief. It’s terrible. Only when we deserve
nothing and something comes anyway, can we know what grace is. Grace is
undeserved. You can’t just toss grace around like it is any other word…
we cannot know grace until we are prepared to live the rest of our lives
as a death apart from God… and then God comes and loves us nevertheless.
We will never know the ‘nevertheless’ of God until we have suffered.”
(Walter Wangerin, Jr., Wittenberg Door, #89, pp. 18-19)

I believe that the Psalmist suffered this very thing. He reached the
point where he would be separated from God, and then he entered the
sanctuary - the grace - of God. There, God came and loved him
nevertheless. We are not told how this came about or what went on in the
“sanctuary of God.” I think it’s a good thing that we’re not told. A
frustrating thing, but good, because then it would simply become one more
ritual to mechanize and assume it should work for everyone. When my
children were much younger, I didn’t expect my doctor to prescribe for
them the same medications and doses that he prescribed for me. I expect
him to discern our different ailments and ages and then decide what to
do. Why should I expect my Savior to treat your ailments the same way as
mine? I don’t. I expect Him to address your needs as individually as He
addresses mine. And in so doing, we form the body of Christ responsive to
His grace.

One pastor wrote his testimony of the shambles he saw all around him.
There were troubled marriages; there were deaths; there were questions he
could not answer. “Why couldn’t I help these people? Why couldn’t God
help these people? I finally reached such a low point that I asked God to
get out of my life. I asked God to leave me alone. He did. And I became
desperate. I pleaded with him to come back. ‘Here I am,’ He said. I cried
out to God and asked him to save me. ‘Save you from what, Dan?’ God
seemed to say. ‘From the chaos I see everywhere. I want some answers. I
need some answers. The people in my congregation need some answers and I
don’t have any.’

‘Answers?’ ‘Yes, answers. Can’t you see all the evil?… You know what I am
talking about, God. Divorce - it’s an epidemic. Poverty, greed,
corruption, dishonesty! It’s everywhere. God, can’t you at least explain
it to me?’ ‘Reality is tough, isn’t it, Dan?’ ‘Thanks, God. That’s easy
for you to say. Come on, God. I’ve had enough pat answers in my life. You
are God. You are in control!’ ‘Who said?’ ‘You did. In the Bible.’ ‘In
control of what, Dan?’ You want it all so simple, don’t you, Dan?’ ‘No,
God. I don't want it simple, I just want it to make sense. I want to be
able to tell my two kids the truth. I want to tell the people in my
church what's wrong and what they can do about it. That's all. What's
wrong with that?' 'Dan.' 'What?' 'Dan.' 'What!?' ‘I love you, Dan. I love
you very much.’” (Wittenberg Door, #92, p. 13)

And there his testimony ends. Did Dan find the sanctuary of God? I think
so. Did the Psalmist find the sanctuary of God? Yes, he tells us that he
did. The world that he observed did not change. There were still the
wicked and the mockers and those who deceived. But the Psalmist was
changed. The Psalmist was healed. He ends his poem, “But as for me, it is
good to be near God. I have made the sovereign Lord my refuge; I will
tell of all your deeds.” How is it for you?

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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