Over the next few weeks I am going to repost a few blogs from the past year that I think are still relevant for today.
In the book ‘Dorothy Must Die’ by author Danielle Paige, which is an edgy and dark update of Frank Baum’s ‘Wizard of Oz’, there is a quote that resonated with me related to how the world seems today: “Down is up, up is down. Good is Wicked, Wicked is Good. The times are changing. This is what Oz has come to” (To be clear, I like the quote, but it is not a book I would necessarily pick up and read). That the world seems turned upside down and backwards is probably not just my perception, but it is most likely a sense that most people have regardless of their views. Additionally, if we are honest, many times even our own personal lives can feel chaotic and somewhat hopeless in this day and age. And given that we are still in the midst of a pandemic, which has created additional challenges, loss and fears, verbalizing that many people are experiencing difficulties is just way too obvious. However, I used to say to my students, if you walk down the street of an impoverished neighborhood you could imagine the difficulties that may be faced by those inside the houses along the way. But if you were in a more prosperous neighborhood, although hidden behind the doors of more expensive homes, the reality is that you would find most of the same problems. This world is harsh, life is difficult, and all of us experience adversities and hardships. So how do we manage life’s difficulties in this time of chaos and uncertainty?
First, a little disclaimer. I realize that when I write and post, I generally do not know who is reading my writings and I do not know what the potential readers are experiencing. Regardless of your views, the ultimate answer is found in Jesus Christ. I also know that there are many good helpers in the world from doctors and nurses to counselors and social workers, that can provide services for those who are experiencing difficulties. I spent almost 15 years as a social worker and another 21 years teaching others to practice social work, so I know there is good work being done by those in the medical and mental health fields. My comments about how to manage life and to deal with difficult circumstances is not intended to suggest that these services are not needed, or that I specifically know what you may need right this moment in terms of physical or mental health healing. However, what I am saying though is that the God of the Universe, the creator and sustainer of all things, who knows us more intimately than we even know ourselves, ultimately does have the answers for our troubles. And therefore, if you need help, or if you are someone who provides services to those who are hurting, if the God of the Bible in some way is not a part of the healing process, then the help you are giving or the help you are receiving is incomplete.
The text for my comments is found in Psalms 139:1-18 (NIV). “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
Martyn Iles in a message titled ‘Here I am Send me: Serving God in changing times’ noted that even in times of uncertainty like today, the Bible is relevant, reliable and sufficient. I would encourage you to listen to Martyn Iles’s talk because it provides a perspective from Australia that is also relatable for us today in the United States (see link below). Additionally, maybe we can learn from what is happening around the world to better address our own issues. The Bible is the word of God, and this is the same God who created us in our mother’s womb and who knows all the days of our lives even before we existed. God knows us better than we even know ourselves and therefore He knows specifically what we need for whatever we are experiencing. So, if God is the answer and we can know God and his answers through the Bible, then whatever we are experiencing, the word of God is where we can find the answers to our challenges and difficulties. The message that God is the answer is found all around if you look for it, including in music such as in a song by the Forbes family, as the singer notes, “There’s an answer, it’s Jesus Christ our Lord” (see link below).
In conclusion, in the Book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll, the following exchange took place between Alice and the Cheshire Cat: “Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, “What road do I take?” The cat asked, “Where do you want to go?” “I don’t know,” Alice answered. “Then,” said the cat, “it really doesn’t matter, does it?” Do you know where you are going? -Because the reality is that it does make a difference where we are going and what road we take to seek the answers to our problems.
Resources:
Carroll, Lewis (originally published 1865). Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Forbes Family (1996). There’s an Answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6T6DyGaE_M&list=PLDqCHdxkasmUZBQn8vtVLvSxgx_nTsyZ-&index=10
Martyn Iles, Martyn (2021). Here I am Send me: Serving God in changing times. https://www.facebook.com/ACLobby/videos/430714258259200/
Paige, Danielle (2014). ‘Dorothy Must Die’.
The Holy Bible (NIV).