Obedience, Testing, Tragedy & The Blues

We are Bible-believing, born-again Christians.

We take God seriously. We believe He is a “hands-on” God when it comes to what goes on here on earth. We believe we are part of His plan and pray for His will to be done and His kingdom to come. We pray for provision and protection, prosperity even. We walk in forgiveness so that we can have God’s forgiveness. We love God with all our heart, mind, and strength. We strive to love one another as Jesus commands. We are Christians.

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My atheist friend said, “The world is such a mess: wars, sickness, accidents, poverty, homelessness, addictions, abuse, hate, greed, crime, natural disasters, genocide, slavery, etc. How can you believe in a benevolent Creator with the dismal state of His creation all around you?”

I respond, “How can you not believe in God with all the abundant beauty, complexity, and the joy of life in the universe that is so overwhelmingly amazing?”

My friend then asks, “If everything that is good is from God, and all evil is from the Devil, why doesn’t God just kill the Devil and be done with it?”

I say, “I don’t know, but I still believe in a loving God because I have had this undeniable born-again experience with Jesus.”

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In this dialog with my atheist friend, I lied. I said, “I don’t know …”

We are Christians. The very Spirit of God is within us. We are seeking God’s kingdom. He has sent anointed teachers to help us. Our trust in God grows as we embrace the truth revealed to us. God has given me an opportunity to share the Gospel with my atheist friend. I’m concerned that my friendship with this person will evaporate in the heat of proselytization. This feels expensive in a number of ways. Will I pay the price? The Holy Spirit whispers, Jesus already paid; you are good to go.

I don’t know everything about the “why” of suffering. But I know enough to know that what goes on in the world is designed to drive us toward God, not away from God. This is God’s will.

I believe that every single thing we experience can be considered a test designed to reveal deep truths about ourselves. Everything from a minor irritation to a crushing tragedy is an opportunity to progress in our transformation to becoming the bride Jesus wants us to be when we get to the wedding.

We can become embroiled in the distraction of trying to figure out the how and why of these tests. To endlessly pursue the understanding of the logic of it, and hold God hostage until He reveals it. The most difficult ones, like what was done at Auschwitz or the reality of serious childhood illness, are right in front of us.  God is God; we are not. Evil is always trying to block our view of the truth. Yes, some of God’s logic is impossible to fit into our worldly framework, but we know the end of the story. Trusting God is the only answer. Every other path leads to disaster. This logic is easy to see.

The Gospel teaches us to have faith, trust God, love God, and love one another. The transformation of ourselves through a lifelong combination of blessings and testings is the love of God in action. Obedience and gratitude are the responses that propel us forward. Even gratitude that, in failure to obey God, we know we will get another chance to make transformational progress. God is patient and loving in His pursuit of our changing. We get to stay on the roundabout and repeat the exam until we find the “trust God exit,” which no doubt will lead to another roundabout as we get closer and closer to being like Jesus.

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Last Saturday night I listened to live music drifting through the neighborhood. It was the annual village Blues Festival in full swing. I woke up Sunday morning thinking about the idea of the blues. To be "blue" most commonly means feeling sad, low in spirits, or melancholy. "The blues," of course, is a famous genre of expressive, soulful American music born from hardship and deep emotion.

Somehow the words “blues” and “festival” appearing next to one another don’t square with my theology. It is the completeness of grieving and lament where the word festival fits; after, not during.

This kind of music has a way of reminding us that we all have gone through times of hardship, disappointment, loss, questioning God, and the like. Christians have Jesus to lead the way to a healthier place while we are on the blues journey. The musical reminder of these times and the glorious emergence from them is worth celebrating over and over.

I fear that too many sitting on those lawn chairs at the festival are somehow stuck, wallowing in their own version of the blues. Having given in to what seems an endless trap. A roundabout of self-deprecation and despair. Not good. Some even seem to be trying to be happy about their sadness. Round and round they go. Has Satan got them convinced that this is how life is supposed to be for them?

Regarding the blues, the elderly blogger would say: talk through it with those other Christians who love you, walk through it with Jesus, hold no offense toward others for it, resist Satan, who would have you stay forever in it, and trust God with it. Festival time is in your future. Hope trumps the blues. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6 NIV).” Take the transformation exit toward your wedding.