What Lies Within

I have been working this past week on a “disturbing” message. It has at least been personally disturbing. My thoughts have been with our 20 some short-term missionaries and particularly those in the Gulf Coast. It seems to me that every time I hear someone who speaks of the devastation there, their observations are that the reality of the situation is far worse than they had imagined. For so long I have believed that the blessing of God upon the North American nations has spared it some of the disasters that have visited other parts of our world. I realize that this is most likely unfounded. Still I would have to say that I have believed it at some level. In recent years we have been visited by some natural and man-made disasters and have begun to suspect that we are not immune and perhaps as vulnerable as anyone else anywhere else.

I’ve been spared from so much in my life. I’ve never lost loved ones in natural disasters. I have been spared a possible death at the hand of an intruder in my home in the early years of our marriage. As Hugh Elkins used to say as he faced his battle with cancer, “I have nothing to complain about.”

So I have no idea of the magnitude of the loss that people suffered in New Orleans. Probably many bad people and many good people suffering equally. Why? I have absolutely no idea. If there’s a message in the suffering, it is for the one who suffers not for those who don’t.

Still I am disturbed at the whole event. I am bothered from my insular perspective at what I heard and saw from the victims(?) who stayed in the city and the deluge of immorality, the horror stories of rape, murder, looting and anarchy that followed the water flood.

I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing and seeing. When I think of it I ask myself if this is what exists in the human heart. If the damn broke above our city and the floods brought devastation to our peaceful community would the same things come with those waters of devastation? If a physical flood can wash away man’s humanity to man then what in the world do we have?

“What evil lurks in the heart of man?” was the question that introduced the Shadow in the old radio serial. The scriptures record the same concern.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”" (Jeremiah 17:9-10, NIV) [1]

It causes me to revisit my conversion experience. I thought that forgiveness was about God’s response to my recital of sins committed and that this was the great benefit of conversion.

Before Christ the people of God knew that sort of redemption. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would slaughter the perfect lamb and sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat, the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. The people’s sin was forgiven once again, but they were no different.

We have become religiously cultured over the years to believe that a trip to the altar of regret is something that each professing Christian should complete. We go and ask God to forgive us based on the shed blood of the Lamb of God from that which we have done that we can clearly see as sin. And many times in the modern church we walk away forgiven but unchanged. We get to start over again and re-offend until the weight of our guilt once more drives us to the altar. Silly when you think about it. Jesus died once for all so that you won’t have to keep coming to Calvary for forgiveness. He means for you to live in the victory of a corpse-less tomb, a Savior risen in the “dunamis”, the power of God that has paid the price for your sin and declared you innocent before God.

You see, when you come to God you need more than an awareness of your sin, you need an awareness of your utter sinfulness. You can’t come thinking that you are a pretty good person and that God is fortunate now to have you partnering with Him and helping Him. I think that you need to come to Him with a belief that buried within your heart is a person capable of the atrocities that we witnessed in the aftermath of the Orleans flood and all that has to happen for that true person to be released is some tragedy, misfortune, disaster of sufficient proportions to wash away the pretense.

Isaiah speaks to the possibility that this evil lurks within every human heart.

"Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we are in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, It will not come to us, For we have made lies our refuge, And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily. Also I will make justice the measuring line, And righteousness the plummet; The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, And the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it goes out it will take you; For morning by morning it will pass over, And by day and by night; It will be a terror just to understand the report.” " (Isaiah 28:14-19, NKJV) [2]

There are times when adversity alone can reveal the duplicity of our lives. It separates the men from the boys, the women of God from the school girls – does that work?

I think that repentance is a God given glimpse into our self-centered lives when the refuge of lies is swept away to reveal the truth. When we see ourselves as we are then we are able to understand the true meaning of repentance.

And as I see my own heart today, I ask myself what adversity might do to my professed relationship with God. Perhaps the question that we should as ourselves is, “What might it take to cause me to turn away from God? What might it take to turn me into an animal?”

The tragic or premature death of a loved one
A movie like the “DaVinci Code”
Someone who misrepresented the faith to you or treated you unkindly – a hypocrite
Offense

What kind of flood would it take me to unleash the monster? I think we need to answer that question. Most of know that answer. I can think of a couple of things myself. As I think of them I surrender them to God and ask for the help to give them now to Him, to surrender as best as I am able prior to the occurrence.

1. Trials tell us much more about ourselves than God.

Many of us want to grill God about His part in such disasters. That’s almost an immediate response from some people. I would say that in some peoples’ lives God is suspect. We are more prone to blame Him than to praise Him. When adversity comes we immediately say to ourselves, “I knew it. I just knew that He could not be trusted. I’d be better off if I just lived my life the way that I see best.”

They tell us that we think we know better. If we were God we’d do things differently. That would never happen on my watch. I suspect that if God were to sit down and explain himself to us in advance, we would have no easier time with the negative turns that we have to navigate in life.

Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

To err is human; to blame it on somebody else is even more human.

-- John Nadeau, Medford, Massachusetts

The bottom line is that we don’t like not being in control. If things are good we trust God – if not look out.

Some people are kind, polite and sweet-spirited, until you try to get into their church pew. - -- George Goldtrap, Madison, Tennessee

If in adversity there is a message from God we’d be better off trying to hear that message than we are trying to send God a message. Personally, I believe that a part of moving on is hearing the message.

2. Trials of life don’t create our problems they simply reveal them.

“It took four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it also took me four long days to figure out what was going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists—myself included—did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.” – from “The Intellectual Activist”

It’s not an isolated problem. We actually have the same problem in New Brunswick. It’s called “sin”. It’s a “me-first” mentality that puts my own welfare above any ethical code of conduct, without regard for anyone else. It takes many forms and we’d rather call ourselves most anything else but sinners. But the truth is that we are.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23, NIV) [3]

You see you can’t call yourself a Christian until you’ve called yourself a sinner. You don’t go from being “good” to being righteous.

The rich young ruler tried.

" As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”" (Mark 10:17-23, NIV) [4]

He was trying to find the “good man’s” way to heaven. By virtue of everything that he had done. When we say that we are good, we are telling God that we don’t really need Calvary. It’s thanks but not necessary. I have this righteousness thing figured out, . . . just take a look at what I have done.

New Orleans has long prided itself in it’s wickedness. They would never have said it quite like that but they represented a community without inhibition. There are some among our church folk who have been there and you know the depths of the wickedness of that city. Am I saying that God brought judgment on them? Not at all. I really don’t believe that this is the pattern of God’s dealing with mankind in the here and now.

What I am saying is that when the façade was swept away we all saw what was in the heart of that city. It became plain and recognizable. God help us to recognize it in our own lives and to repent before Him and seek His forgiveness and deliverance.

3. Many of us today are building precariously.

We are building below sea-level banking on being free from disaster. We just don’t believe that the risks will ever become reality. We build our lives to allow for the worst case scenarios to occur.

We press the limits. Just imagine a community built below sea level – living with the predictions that exactly what happened might someday happen. Still we deny the possibility and live with the risk.

What are the various risk levels of spirituality that we assume?

Sympathizer. Below sea-level. I go to church sometimes and have a good feeling/belief about God. I think that everyone should make spirituality a part of their life to some degree. It’s important to avoid a radical approach to faith ad to keep it all in perspective. I am a good person. I try to help other people. I have a Bible. I am a sympathizer.

Supporter. I go to church regularly. I’m not really exercising any of my gifts. I give a little money here and there to special projects, etc. I read my Bible occasionally because I feel that God wants me to. I try to live well and avoid evil. I am a supporter.

Shareholder. I am involved in many different aspects of church life. I believe that the ministry of the local church functioning as God would have it, is the hope for the world today. As a part of the body of Christ, I know my giftings and am employing them in and through the ministry of the church. I am a disciple, a Christ-follower. I tithe my income to the church. I am a shareholder

Sacrifice. My worldview is based on my understanding of the scriptures. I do not filter truth through life experience, I filter life experience through truth. In every activity of my life, I try to function as a Christ-follower. I believe that it is my responsibility to invest my life to God’s glory and to invest in someone else who desires to be a disciple-maker. According to Romans 12, I am a Living Sacrifice.

Response/Suggestions:

Ask God to give you a picture of your own heart. Take a good long look at it. You can’t see God as He is until you see yourself as you are.
Understand that He sees the worse in you and loves you as you are. He sees what is left after the flood has swept everything else away.
Move to higher ground. Don’t strengthen the levees – move beyond danger. Seek His transformational power in your life.
Need help? Ask someone who lives on the high ground.

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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[2] The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.