We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a fool. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
-Job 2
You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?
Whispers in our pleasures
Speaks in our conscience
Shouts in our pain
Is it God who changes his tone, or is it us who change our position?
Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?”
-1 Kings 19
God's voice stays the same. A Still small voice. It is our ears that change. In pain God's whisper feels like the loudest of shouts, but it is always simply a whisper.
We can ignore even pleasure.
This is what I've been thinking about recently. Why do I ignore pleasure? Why can't I realize with the same attention as pain when things are going wonderfully?
I'm 26 years old. My body is perfect right now, no joint pain, no balding, no broken bones, no back pain, no limits right now. I see elderly brothers and sisters struggle to walk. I see them slowly shuffle. I know that sort of life is soon to be my own but for now I am young in the present.
And yet I can't seem to acknowledge it. I can't seem to realize how blessed I am because I haven't been old yet. But once we are old, we cannot gain back a single second of youth. And here in lies the mystery of time.
You don't know what you got till it's gone.
What if I try? Is it possible God? Can I try to know what I have while I have it?
Or do we humans always look to the next thing? Do we always see greener grass elsewhere?
As spring melts away winter's cold I find myself again forgetting the beauty in front of me. Winter's cold is replaced by spring's cloudy rainy days and my complaining persists only to be replaced by the complaints of Summer's heat.
Job is absolutely right and wise:
Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?
What is "good" and "bad?"
I'm not saying there are not absolute truths, there are. But I am saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder and likewise so is good and bad.
You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.
-Genesis 2
Once we bite the fruit of the knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil in that moment we're dead.
Here we are walking zombies critiquing, analyzing, judging, complaining, evaluating the beautiful creation God has gifted us with along with the precious life God has graciously given.
I spend my life ignoring pleasure and hating God for pain.
I stand and shout in God's beautiful loving face "How could a good God let this happen? You don't fucking exist, You're cruel and evil"
But what sort of world would we live in where a wooden beam becomes soft as grass when it is used as a weapon, and the air refuses to obey me if I attempt to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies or insults?
If not for our freedom we cease to exist. The boundaries between individuals blend into one blob of God's controlled puppet show.
Natural disasters occur but without wind and water to create hurricanes how could we fly kites and quench our thirst?
We ask God, "How could You let this happen?"
And God replies, "Sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world."
When bad happens God asks if we will let the bad master us or if we will respond with love. God has hope for us and knows we will respond with love. It's why He died for us.
The question is no longer, If God is good why do bad things happen?
The question for me is, Why can I not seem to find God in pleasure?
How do I honestly thank God for each and every meal before me?
How do I honestly thank God for the health of my body?
How do I honestly thank God for my mind?
How do I honestly thank God for today's beauty?
Why do I seem to be blind to the good and only see the bad?
Why do I not know what I have until it's gone?
I want to change to the upside down Kingdom thinking. I want God's tone to be a shout in pleasure and in pain.
The Neighbourhood - Afraid
― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job replied, “You talk like a fool. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
-Job 2
You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God—why not also the bad days?
Whispers in our pleasures
Speaks in our conscience
Shouts in our pain
Is it God who changes his tone, or is it us who change our position?
Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.” A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper. When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there. A quiet voice asked, “So Elijah, now tell me, what are you doing here?”
-1 Kings 19
God's voice stays the same. A Still small voice. It is our ears that change. In pain God's whisper feels like the loudest of shouts, but it is always simply a whisper.
We can ignore even pleasure.
This is what I've been thinking about recently. Why do I ignore pleasure? Why can't I realize with the same attention as pain when things are going wonderfully?
I'm 26 years old. My body is perfect right now, no joint pain, no balding, no broken bones, no back pain, no limits right now. I see elderly brothers and sisters struggle to walk. I see them slowly shuffle. I know that sort of life is soon to be my own but for now I am young in the present.
And yet I can't seem to acknowledge it. I can't seem to realize how blessed I am because I haven't been old yet. But once we are old, we cannot gain back a single second of youth. And here in lies the mystery of time.
You don't know what you got till it's gone.
What if I try? Is it possible God? Can I try to know what I have while I have it?
Or do we humans always look to the next thing? Do we always see greener grass elsewhere?
As spring melts away winter's cold I find myself again forgetting the beauty in front of me. Winter's cold is replaced by spring's cloudy rainy days and my complaining persists only to be replaced by the complaints of Summer's heat.
Job is absolutely right and wise:
Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?
What is "good" and "bad?"
I'm not saying there are not absolute truths, there are. But I am saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder and likewise so is good and bad.
You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.
-Genesis 2
Once we bite the fruit of the knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil in that moment we're dead.
Here we are walking zombies critiquing, analyzing, judging, complaining, evaluating the beautiful creation God has gifted us with along with the precious life God has graciously given.
I spend my life ignoring pleasure and hating God for pain.
I stand and shout in God's beautiful loving face "How could a good God let this happen? You don't fucking exist, You're cruel and evil"
But what sort of world would we live in where a wooden beam becomes soft as grass when it is used as a weapon, and the air refuses to obey me if I attempt to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies or insults?
If not for our freedom we cease to exist. The boundaries between individuals blend into one blob of God's controlled puppet show.
Natural disasters occur but without wind and water to create hurricanes how could we fly kites and quench our thirst?
We ask God, "How could You let this happen?"
And God replies, "Sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world."
When bad happens God asks if we will let the bad master us or if we will respond with love. God has hope for us and knows we will respond with love. It's why He died for us.
The question is no longer, If God is good why do bad things happen?
The question for me is, Why can I not seem to find God in pleasure?
How do I honestly thank God for each and every meal before me?
How do I honestly thank God for the health of my body?
How do I honestly thank God for my mind?
How do I honestly thank God for today's beauty?
Why do I seem to be blind to the good and only see the bad?
Why do I not know what I have until it's gone?
I want to change to the upside down Kingdom thinking. I want God's tone to be a shout in pleasure and in pain.
The Neighbourhood - Afraid