A child dies, a parent stricken with Alzheimer’s, a group of teens die in a car crash, a cancer diagnosis out of the blue, sudden unexpected expenses, job losses, financial pressures, etc. Oy vey!
None of it makes any sense, “things were going so well, Lord, why me?”
I felt that way when my wife came down with a dread neurological disease right in the middle of our supposed “golden years.”
Away went plans of travel, leisure, hanging out with grandchildren, friends, etc.
“She didn’t deserve this, it’s not fair!” I thought. Boy, were we in for a lesson in the “rugged reality” of a life of childlike faith:
As written in Matthew 18:2-4:
“And He (Jesus) called a child to Himself and set him among them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So, whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”
A child is lowly, dependent, humble, the opposite of what our culture encourages us to be — self-seeking, proud and strong.
Sometimes God must break down our natural sinew of independence and self-confidence.
My wife and I had been Christians a long time by then, but our faith had not REALLY been tested. We didn’t know what we didn’t know. It was our time “under fire.” Still is.
How Little Do We Know
The Apostle Paul wrote a seemingly contradictory message in 1 Corinthians 13:11-13: “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
There is a difference between being “childish” and being childlike.
Jesus was encouraging childlike faith in God and dependence upon His Sovereign control of our surrendered lives.
“Whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
MATTHEW 18:4
Paul was referring to eliminating our childish tendencies to act foolishly and think we “know it all.” Sometimes that calls for painful object lessons.
Remember when God had to bring the great Old Testament patriarch Job up short with a lengthy “reality check?” Here is Job 38:1-6:
“Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind and said,
“Who is this who darkens the divine plan
By words without knowledge?
Now tighten the belt on your waist like a man,
And I shall ask you, and you inform Me!
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the measuring line over it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone?”
Too often, we think we’ve got it all figured out, so we forge ahead without reference to God. We think life is all about us. We forget how little we know in fact.
The hardest lesson of all is to learn to look away from self to God — making Him the reference point for our lives. He becomes the object of our faith, as written in Hebrews 11:1-2, 6:
“Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. For by it the people of old gained approval … And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him.”
The Old Testament saints listed in Hebrews 11 never saw the results of their faith — they died without seeing the fulfillment, yet they heroically held fast to God and their names are forever written in scripture.
How About You?
Presently, we live in a veil of tears, but in Revelation 21:4 we are promised that one day, “He will wipe away every tear from their (our) eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Don’t overthink things, just believe in God, as encouraged in Romans 8:28; 38-39
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
4-1-1
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