Introduction
In the days since the deadly shooting at
the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado that killed 12 and injured 58 others as
of this writing, friends may be wondering if I plan on posting something about
it. Well, when I started this ministry, I didn't necessarily want my
lessons to pander to the local events of the day. This seems to be the lowest
common denominator for many Sunday sermons and I didn't want to capitalize on
someone else's pain or manipulate people's emotions. Furthermore, this
particular ministry has the added dimension of being read around the world
including some countries where senseless and gratuitous violence is often a
daily reality. Because I haven't specifically mentioned the many instances of
awful violence around the world to this point, I don't want my readers in other
parts of the world to think that I am less heartbroken by the pain they
experience by only highlighting the horrendous event in Aurora, Colorado.
However, in light of this incident of violence as well as the recent bus
bombing in Bulgaria, the church bombings in Nigeria, the daily killings in
Syria and the many senseless killings elsewhere in the world as well as a
myriad of other heartbreaking losses from various causes, I wanted to repost a
lesson from last year with a few additions.
“Do You Believe In
God?”
“She was 17 years old. He stood glaring at
her, his weapon before her face. ‘Do you believe in God?’ She paused. It was a
life-or-death question. ‘Yes, I believe in God.’ ‘Why?’ asked her executioner.
But he never gave her the chance to respond. The teenage girl lay dead at his
feet.”[1]
17-year old Rachel
Scott lay dead at the feet of evil and hatred. And here’s a bit of cruel irony.
Not a month before she was murdered, this is what she wrote in her personal
journal; “I dare to believe that I can start a chain reaction through acts
of kindness and compassion.” Instead, the story that was to be her life was
over and we want (often demand) to know why. We find ourselves asking, “What
about the rest of the story?” We want the rest of the story! Where do we go
when we don’t know the rest of the story –when the world is crashing in on us?
To whom can we turn? There was a man, a king really, named David who answers
some of our questions in one of the Psalms that he wrote. It’s Psalm 11 and I’d
like to take a look at it together to see if it contains some answers to the
questions we cry out when life begins to break down. Take a minute to read
through Psalm 11:
Psalm 11
1 In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: "Flee
like a bird to your mountain. 2
For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings
to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being
destroyed, what can the righteous do?" 4 The LORD is in his holy temple; the
LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine
them. 5 The
LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his
soul hates. 6
On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind
will be their lot. 7
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.
Can I just be
honest with you for a minute? I really struggle with this. I don’t mean that I
don’t believe it or know it to be true. What I mean is that sometimes that
truth doesn’t make it the 18” or so from my head to my heart. I don’t know if
your faith ebbs and flows like mine, but some days I believe that God is the
answer to all my questions and other days I don’t think anyone has the answers
to my questions. I wonder if this may have been the case for David as well
because in Psalm 13 David starts out saying, “How long O Lord? Will you forget
me forever?” I don’t know but certainly on the day he wrote Psalm 11, he
believed God was the answer to all his questions.
I’m not really
convinced of the exact circumstances surrounding this Psalm. Some scholars
believe it was written during the time when David was being hunted by a crazed
king Saul. Others believe it was written while David was hiding and on the run
from his murdering son, Absalom, who was bent on taking David’s throne by
force. Regardless of the precise circumstances that precipitated the writing of
this Psalm, these two events (and there were many others) demonstrate that
David endured some very dark moments in his life. At times, these troubling
times must have generated some serious life questions for David. Questions
like, “Why me?” or “How long is this going to last?” or maybe even “God! Where
are you?” Nevertheless, this Psalm shows us that David could still say, “In the midst of fear and trouble, God is
still in control!” David is telling us that we can, “Trust God because He knows the
rest of the story!”
Here’s how the
verses break down in terms of their application. The first three verses
introduce us to the difficulty in David’s life. Even though David experienced
and endured some very difficult events, we don’t have to be hunted by a crazy
king to be able to relate to him. For example, you might have a boss who is
constantly riding you about your work. Or perhaps you have a teacher who
unfairly criticizes your hard work. You might even be experiencing an illness
either personally or through someone close to you that has dramatically
impacted your life. Or maybe you are in the midst of a marriage that just isn’t
what it used to be or what you hoped it would be. Regardless of your particular
circumstances, you have the same response choices as David. Among other things,
these verses teach us that we can respond to fear and trouble in one of two
ways--we can either run from God or we can run to
God. David is calling us to Trust God
because He knows the rest of the story! Verses 4&5 tell us that God is
not caught off guard but instead He sees all things. Nothing is or can be
hidden from God. Think about this for a minute. Do you really think God is in
heaven looking down on the struggles in your life wringing His hands saying,
“Wow! I didn’t see that coming. I’m gonna need some time to figure out what to
do with that.” Do you think that when we cry out to God that He says, “Gosh
Joe, thanks for letting me know about that. I’ve been kind of busy over here
with Sarah’s problems and I kind of lost track of what was going on in your
life.” Instead, we can agree with David when we say that God is never surprised
by the fear and trouble in our lives—we can Trust
God because he knows the rest of the story! Finally, the last two verses
close the loop by showing us that God will punish the unrighteous and reward
the righteous. This is really the part that is most important to us,
particularly because we don’t always experience immediate relief from our fear
and trouble. In fact, relief often doesn’t come to us in this life but only in
the life to come. In any event, we only have a perspective of the present and
the past. So David shows us the big picture of how God works so that we can
say, “Trust God because He knows the rest
of the story!”
Let me show you
how this has worked in my own life. When my oldest daughter was just 6 years
old, she slipped on the wet bathroom floor and broke her leg. When we took her
to the hospital for treatment, we were shocked when x-rays revealed a tumor in
her leg that caused her femur to weaken and break. Our lives crashed when we
heard two words; “Pediatric oncology.” During the days and weeks that followed,
we pursued less invasive treatment options to start with and I prayed
desperately for healing. The alternative treatment was surgery and a long
recovery. At the end of the initial treatment period, it was immediately
determined that the less invasive treatment was unsuccessful and that the more
invasive procedure was required. Honestly, I was disappointed with God. I knew
He could heal her through the work of the doctors, but I didn’t want my
daughter to have to go through the trauma of surgery. Ultimately, although the
surgery was successful, I struggled with the nagging question of why God didn’t
answer my prayer. About a year after the surgery, I was putting her to bed on
some particular night and we talked about the previous Sunday’s message on
being thankful. I asked her if there was anything she was particularly thankful
for. She said she was thankful God was with her during her surgery because it
brought them closer together. I saw no redeeming purpose in what she had to
endure, yet God was using it to develop a deeper relationship with my daughter.
I didn’t understand because of my limited perspective. So instead of
questioning God, I should have Trusted
God because He knew the rest of the story. Don’t misunderstand what I’m
saying, I was fortunate to find out the rest of the story but not everyone is
that fortunate. We witness and endure many tragic events without every knowing
God’s purpose behind those events. In other words, we seldom find out the rest
of the story. For example, after 9/11, lots of people had lots of questions.
Questions like, “Why would God allow something like this to happen?” and “What
good could possibly come from this?” Honestly, I’m not sure we’ll ever know the
rest of the story behind the tragic events of that day during this life. But,
sometime after the events of 9/11, the folks at The King’s College in New York
in partnership with Priority Associates produced a little booklet titled, remembrance-fallen but not forgotten,
with heroic stories and other words of encouragement for the people of New York
and elsewhere whose lives were forever changed by the events of 9/11. A man
named Darrell was one of the contributors to this piece. He wrote.
“Shortly after hearing the
news of our nation’s multiple tragedies, I wrote this simple poem:
The pain, it
seems will never end
The hurt is
here to stay
The agony
within my soul
Will never
go away
It seems
that it’s impossible
For me to
‘make it through’
(I know that
feeling, precious friend, for I have been there too)
I won’t
attempt to offer cures
That will
not ease your pain
But I will
say, the life you lost—
It was not
lived in vain
It’s been
dispersed in memories
That now
reside in you
And in the
months and years to come
They’ll help
you make it through
Today you
feel the dark despair
Today you
mourn and cry
But from the
seeds of memory
That life
will multiply
The torment
seems too much to bear
The whole
world seems insane
But if their
life reflects through you
They did not
die in vain!
I’m so grateful that I chose
to turn to my Heavenly Father for strength and comfort in my own personal loss.
There I found the courage to forgive, the strength to ‘let go’ and the ability
to see beyond the tragedy to a divine purpose that has slowly emerged with
time.”[2]
That
beautiful piece was part of a chain reaction that has brought comfort and
encouragement to thousands. You see, Darrell was uniquely qualified to write
this piece because of the tremendous loss he experienced in his own life.
Darrell lost someone very close to him. I’m sure you know her. Her life and
especially her death inspired thousands and it inspired him to reach out to a
hurting world with a message of hope and encouragement. We wondered at the
beginning of this lesson about the rest of Rachel Scott’s story. Would you say
that her death was really the end of the story of her life? Not if you knew
that the author of the 9/11 poem was Darrell Scott—the father of Rachel Scott…Trust God because He knows the rest of the
story!
Dr. Larry Crabb, gives voice to God’s heart when he writes,
“God
says, never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that
rises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle
even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with
joy.
I
want you and all My people to know that nothing catches Me off guard—not even
Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden. Nothing has happened or ever will happen that
I am not using for my purposes.
But
what I allow seems to contradict my holy and pure character. I require you to
live in the tension between the evil that prospers, whether in the church or in
secular society, and My plan to restore the beauty of My character in this
world.
Know
this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make
their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite
desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your
eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?
The
price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful,
self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated
desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in
My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see
My glory from the mountaintop of faith.
Only
those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to
struggle well and to wait with confidence.
Struggle
well! Wait in hope!”[3]
Laura
Story wrote a beautiful song titled Blessings
and there is a line in the song that is particularly important to me in light
of the above narrative. The lyrics read: “What if my greatest disappointments
or the aching of this life is a revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t
satisfy.” Our sorrow, disappointments, pain and brokenness say something very
important—they say “I don’t understand, it’s not supposed to be this way, it
can’t end this way!” And we’d be right. It’s because we weren’t made for a
broken life or a broken world but this is precisely where humanity’s sin, our
sin, has placed us. However, for all those who recognize and accept Jesus as
their personal Lord and Savior, this life isn’t the whole story. Revelation
tells us that one day “He will wipe away every tear from their [believers]
eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old
order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) I’ve included a video link below where you can listen to Laura Story’s beautiful song. While we are
in the storm, it is difficult to consider the storm a “blessing.” Yet God has
written a grand story and this life is not the end of the story. Jesus’ life,
death and resurrection has made it possible to live forever in right
relationship with God. Knowing this leads me to say, “Trust God not only because He knows the rest of the story but because
he is the rest of the story!”
[1] dc Talk
and The Voice of the Martyrs, Jesus
Freaks, (Tulsa, OK: Albury Publishing, 1999), p. 17.
[2] Kings
College and Priority Associates, remembrance-fallen
but not forgotten, (New York, NY: King’s College and Priority Associtates,
2001), p. 7.
[3] Larry
Crabb, 66 Love Letters: A Conversation
with God that Invites you into His Story, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson,
2009), pp. 170-172.
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