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(This is the second in a series of thoughts on the eternal question all struggle with.)
What can pain teach? Well, let me tell you what it can teach, not often. not often enough. but what it can teach sometimes.
They were a young couple, in Iove with
each other. and in love with God. Together they went to the Far East as
missionaries and for fourteen years labored alone with qui t diligence at their task.
Then in the fourteenth ycar of their marriage, God blessed them with a child. They could not have been happier.
They were busy at work for the Lord. Their child was healthy and happy
and brought them a wealth of joy. and then it happened.
Dread death struck.
Swift.
certain, unpredictable, and their little girl was dead. As they stood
by the casket, on the day of burial, the father said, "One day we shall
see God in this too." "If we are going to lose her." he had said as she lay dying, "we won't have her snatched from us like this. We will offer her back to God."
Could
you do that? At the grave of your child? Before the agony of death? The
question is relevant, for God is either good and powerful, or powerful
and not good. Either we pray to a Creator who cares, or a despot who
doesn't. What you can believe and what you can say is very relevant to
this business of suffering. So start taking stock.
GOD-the word is sometimes curse, sometimes a prayer, sometimes a definition. What
is it to you? Is He a person, a spirit, a reality, or a myth? Can you
call to Him for help when you need it? Almost everyone does, but does He
hear?
A
long time ago I decided, "Yes." I have had more than once to test this
decision. Sometimes His presence has flooded me with warmth, sometimes
He has seemed a million miles away; but never have I felt He did not
exist or that He did not care.
The
psalmist decided the same thing long before I ever came to the
conclusion. He wrote, "He telleth the numbers of the stars." "He healeth
the broken in heart." Psalm 147:4, 3.
There
are only so many things you can do if the world gives you too much
disgust. You can fight it and find spice in battle; you can try to
understand it and accept the fact that there are some parts of the
disorder of this universe you will never understand; or you can retreat.
Pack up your phobias, close your doors, shut out the world, and act as if becoming a hermit is really a solution. You can retreat from life and mock at its Architect. You can say God made a mistake when He made the world. You
can climb in a psychological or spiritual shell and say that because
there is some ugliness nothing is lovely or worthy of love. But what does Jesus teach? Certainly not escapism. He says, "Yes, there is darkness, so go be a light."
"Yes, there are the spiritually depraved; now you . . . go out and hunger and thirst for righteousness. "
Just because things are bad is no excuse for you to go and make them worse.
(To be continued tomorrow)
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POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THOUGHTS ENTITLED "Are you a Peacemaker or a Peacebreaker?"
Someone has said thatpeace is merely that brief, glorious, moment in history when everyone stops to reload their weapons.
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Yes, God loves you the way you are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
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DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND
MARTIN LUTHER
To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and
appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his
strength."
Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an
extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the
spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the
President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn
"Wyrick
has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and
readable book that has a rich depth of information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister
"When
it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions,
politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr
once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because
he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the
Almighty. As Wyrick
says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more
impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he,
president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was
doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between
both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.'
Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of
politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book
for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career,
Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."
Dr. Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"v. Neil
Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's
Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should
have a wide readership."
James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read
by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most
complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United
States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so
often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip
service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real
God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight
and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure
as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear
and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the
character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very
well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as
relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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