Facing Life’s Challenges
Joshua 3: 1 – 17; Matthew 23: 1 – 12
Adversity is the friend that makes us strong and deepens our faith roots.
The story of Joshua is worth noting. I used it in ‘Children’s Time” last Sunday. Joshua led the people through the river Jordan into the Promised Land. At first the people were frightened by the new opportunity. They hesitated until Joshua, strengthened by God, led them into the Promised Land. The Ark of the Covenant, carried by four priests, led the way. As the priests walked into the water the river ceased to flow. While the priests stood holding the Ark of the Covenant standing in the middle of the riverbed, the people of God walked across dry land into the Promise Land. Now I am not going into whether it actually happened or not. There is no evidence to either support or deny the Biblical story. However we can say with utter confidence that the people of God did not believe that they had entered into their future land in their own strength. Their success depended upon God. They honoured God for God’s faithfulness.
Now what struck me as I read this story again was verse 15. They crossed the river when it was at its highest flow. We read, “Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest”. When I read this I saw a powerful spiritual truth in this story. God makes a difference for the good in our most difficult times. Rivers are always more difficult to cross when they are running full. The people of God had wandered for 40 years and more in the wilderness under Moses’ leadership. They had escaped slavery and become a people. They had developed religious practices that supported their belief in God. God had supported them in difficult times. God had rescued them. God had guided them. They were given the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments to represent respectively the presence of God and a map for life .
The truth here is that our great successes are due more to faith and intuition than to calculation and planning. As much as it is important to reflect, plan and set goals – I do that a lot – it is also important to note that these exercises often prepare us for the surprises that expand our horizons. I once studied the scientific process of acquiring knowledge. The physical chemist, Michael Polyani, researched how scientific discoveries are made. Michael Polyani noted that some of the greatest advances in our scientific understanding came as a result of play and intuition. When Polyani asked Einstein how he arrived at the theory of relativity, he replied saying that he had being playing with the idea as a boy. Einstein came to Relativity through intuition rather than the scientific process. The scientific method was used to demonstrate the truth of intuited knowledge.
What I am trying to demonstrate is that our scientific discoveries have as much to do with intuition and play as any other human processes. In fact some of the great ideas emerge in our recreation. They come like a light bulb experience: a little revelation: similar to spiritual growth. Polyani makes nonsense of the simplistic conclusion that scientific discoveries all happen in the strict environment of the science laboratory. The great ones are not. We might say that the mind that allows the divine in life to speak uncovers the truth. What may be significant here is that we are more open to God in times of deep need or when we are quietly at play relaxing and listening. The busy person will seldom see the new.
Graeme Clark, the founder of the bionic ear, spent years of research trying to develop a hearing aid for the deaf. He faced obstacles of a lack of funds and collegial disbelief that it could be done. A break through came when he was on beachside vacation. He was playing with a shell and then noticed the grass in the sand dune. He conceptualised using the seashell to replicate the human cochlea and the grass blades, which were flexible at the tip and gradually increasing in stiffness, to represent the electrodes.
The Christian faith’s expansion had more to do with divine intervention than human planning and effort. There was Peter resting on the rooftop when he sees a vision of all kinds of unclean foods place in a sheet before him. He is told to eat. Bemused he is roused from this vision to received a call to go to a Gentile house. This began a new direction for the Church as it moved into the Gentile world. Those Jewish apostles soon learnt that God had accepted the Gentiles just as God had accepted the Jews. [Acts 10] This was a revolutionary understanding for a Jew. This is why our planning and goal setting needs to be preceded by deep prayer. This is why our well laid plans and calculations are always subject to review.
The story of the crossing of the river Jordan into an unknown world was a challenge. It was stressful. It was threatening. The river crossing alone would be frightening. I want to suggest that adversity is not something we should avoid when it comes, but rather something we should approach with faith and courage. I want to suggest that the challenges of life can be see as trials God gives us to help us grow and deal with life’s troubles. I am not suggesting that they should be sought, but that when they come use them to let God grow you stronger.
I see the need for something like the ‘assisted dying act’ that our State Parliament is considering. I also see it as a symptom of a people, religious and secular, who want to be rescued and saved from all life threatening situations, and when the going gets too tough (who discerns that) they want to escape by taking their own life. I hear the Church repeatedly praying for healing to the exclusion of praying to persevere joyfully.
Adversity causes us to consider and find solutions not thought of before.
Sickness puts us on our backs so we can look up from our sick bed and see God.
What does this say about our praying in times of trouble? Should we not rather pray for the sight to see God’s way in the trouble? Should we not be praying, ‘Lord, what do you want of me?’ Or do we stick with, ‘God, help me – make me better’?
The trouble we face tests our faith, our intuition, our ability and we learn that with God the impossible becomes the possible. As we grow in our faith in God’s action in our lives we will be able to face the adversity with greater peace of mind. I try to live in the confidence that God will be sufficient for all my needs as Scripture says.
I live in the confidence that God will carry me in the difficult times, even if my faith wavers. There is that a beautiful story of Mary Stevenson. Mary was from a poor family. She lost her mother at the age of seven, during the Depression of the 30’s. In 1936, during one of Mary’s down times, when she was locked out of her home, Mary observed the neighbour’s cat leaving footprints in the snow. She pleaded to God for His guidance and was rewarded by penning the words to one of the most beloved, inspirational poems; Footprints in the Sand. She was only fourteen at the time when she penned this piece of inspirational prose.
Footprints in the Sand
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flash across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints.
Other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed
during the low periods of my life when I was
suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.
So I said to the Lord, “You promised me,
Lord, if I followed you,
you would always walk with me.
But I noticed that during the most trying periods
of my life there have only been
one set of prints in the sand.
Why, when I have needed you most,
you have not been there for me?”
The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints
is when I carried you.”
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 05/11/2017
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au