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Everyone here this morning has had their backs to the wall, and
probably more than once. We all, without
exception, have known pain as a reality, and been forced to endure it. In short, we are all in the same boat
together. Therefore, how do we learn
better how to paddle rather than sink?
Well, first it is important to accept the truth that most likely
none of us always gets what we deserve, either good or bad.
And secondly, we do not have to pass a spiritual litmus test because
the Lord pleaded our case from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do.”
These two truths seem elementary, but
they are not. Because Time and time when
tragedy strikes, I’m met with the words, “I deserved it. Let me tell you what I did” or the opposite, “Why
did this happen to me? I don’t deserve
this!”
Have you been incredibly decent, or
terribly bad in your life on a regular basis?
Unlikely. Most folks major in
being lukewarm. Tattletale grey. Like the little girl with the curl in the
middle of her forehead – sometimes good and sometimes horrid.
Know this...God did not one day kneel
down and draw a line in the sand of life and then dare you to step across that
line? And if you did, he did not then
say, “The back of my heavenly hand to you.
You had your chance, you didn’t take it.
Go now, you deserve the punishment you are receiving.”
No!
God’s bigger than that.
There is no doubt that much pain and
suffering really comes from our abuse of freedom; moral anarchy, really bad
choices, a philosophy of life that says,
If it feels good, it’s okay, even when it’s not okay. You see, though we human beings really are
just a little lower than the angels, if we choose to sin, and then do not even
feel badly about the sinning, we court chaos.
Basic
truth: you pays your money - you takes
your choice.
“Turn left,” says God, and we turn right for the simple reason we
don’t want to turn left. “Give me
guidance,” we pray, when sometimes we don’t really want guidance, what we want
is clearance.
I remember when I was a
little boy I would ask my parents for permission to do something. And they, seeing a bigger picture than I,
would sometimes say no. At that moment I
wasn’t interested in a bigger picture, only in what I wanted. And so, sometimes I would ignore their advice
and follow my own foolishness, and then get in trouble. We do that don’t we, with our parents, with
common sense, with God. Life is like the
weaving of a rug. Often what we see is
just the tangled threads on the underside.
The beautiful pattern can be seen completely only from above by God.
Basic truth: you pays your
money, you takes your choice.
Ask the average person whether they would prefer to live in a jail
or a mansion and they would certainly reply. “I believe I would be happier in a
mansion, thank you.” And then, some of
them go out and break the law and end up living in a jail. Or court pain and problems, and end up in
another kind of jail. Indeed, if you
could have asked a friend of mine when he was young, which would he prefer to
have, two healthy lungs or the emphysema that daily choked off his breathing? I
am positive he would have readily replied, “I would prefer not to have
emphysema.” But for years he smoked
heavily and he finally died unable to breathe.
Basic
truth: you pays your money, you takes
your choice.
But what about suffering that one does not pursue, you ask. Nature on a rampage. Floods and famine and earthquakes and
hurricanes. Though I realize that insurance companies call these catastrophes acts of God, I would prefer to call the
kindness of the people who at such times come out the woodwork to help people
they don’t even know, acts of God. The worst of times often does bring out the
best in people.
What about wars? Is God responsible for them? No.
The ambitions of one man or a few men, or their anger, or their greed
does not have God’s blessing. And, of
course, once a war is started all the meanness in man is multiplied.
And I know that when on television we see thousands starving to
death, God did not create the famine.
The needless deaths of so many, are often caused by greedy men who
instead of giving out the food sent to their countries, sell it at a
profit. And those who have taken
freedom; the Hitler’s, the ayatollahs, the Castro’s. When men do not practice brotherhood they
worship at an altar of brutality that leads to earthly hell.
And yes, there are ignorant men around the world who will not let
modern agricultural methods be practiced, or allow enough wells to be dug. Or people, who in stupidity or laziness, chop
down all the trees until mud slides reap destruction or allow deserts take over
where before fertile lands existed.
It is often not that we human beings do not know better. It is that we do not do better.
But what about depression or the death of a wife or husband in a car
accident? The list is long and the
questions are not new ones. Go back
several thousand years, and Job in the Bible asked them.
A quick overview of that Biblical story: Why did tempest destroy both his house and
his children? Why did fire burn up his
servants and sheep? Why miserable and
painful sores from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes? Why all this to a man whom the Bible calls,
“…blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil”?
And move from the Old Testament to the New – the questions do not go
away. A man is born blind, though
neither he nor his parents were first class sinners.
Who and why? It is the
ultimate question to which we seek an ultimate answer. Nature gone awry. Accidents without rhyme or reason.
Jesus says, “If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good
things to those who ask Him?”
And you in all honesty reply, “Tell me about it. Explain to me why I have asked for bread and
have sometimes been given a stone.
Explain to me why I have asked for health and been given sickness.
Yeah…tell me about it.” And God does.
Through Jesus who begins to give an answer with definitions and
deeds: on top of a mountain where He is tempted by the devil, when he cast out
demons, when He calls him the source of all evil, “..a liar and a father of
lies.” And if you let theological common
sense speak to you, you begin to get a message that God allows pain and problems, but does not inflect them.
God is not a demon, nor a devil, nor schizophrenic.
If you have a problem with this answer, look at the cross. It shouts mortality…and immortality; pain…and
salvation; death…and resurrection. It
shouts that the power of the devil is transient power. Momentary victories, but not ultimately,
triumphant.
Does God use evil to bring about good? Suffering to bring about salvation? The answer is yes. Does this mean He sends evil and
suffering? The answer is no. Does than bad come from an evil devil and
good from a good and caring God? I’m
comfortable with that.
Why doesn’t God just rewrite the script of life? Edit out all pain and problems? Create paradise as a present reality rather
than something to which we go? I don’t
know completely why. But by study,
prayer and insight, I know enough to be able to live with what I don’t know.
I know that God has given us a precise and orderly world. That heavy objects don’t float and super
light objects do. I know that the bodies
we all inhabit are miracles that defy description. That because our digestive systems and
circulation systems are at the moment working reasonably well, we are
alive. That I am seeing you and you are
seeing me because the pupils of our eyes are contracting and expanding. And the miracles go on and on.
God has
given our bodies remarkable recuperative power: broken bones heal, most heart
attacks are not fatal, and our bodies adapt and continue to function at pretty
good levels.
However, He did not create us to last on this earth forever.
In Jonathon Swift’s book, Gulliver’s
Travels, he tells of a land where
once or twice in a generation a child is born with a circular red spot on its
forehead which signifies that it will never die. Gulliver imagines these children to be the
most fortunate of all people, “born exempt from the universal calamity of human
nature – death.” But as he comes to know
them, he realizes that they are in fact the most miserable. They grow old and feeble. Their friends and contemporaries die
off. At the age of one hundred, their
property is taken away and given to their children who would otherwise never
inherit from them. Their bodies contract
various ailments. They accumulate
grudges and grievances, they grow weary of the struggles of living, and they
can never look forward to being released from the pain of everlasting earthly
life.
Imagine how terribly over-crowded this world would become if people
lived forever. And the public outcry
every time a birth took place. What a
loss, if there were, in fact, no new population. No fresh starts. No new beginnings.
There are many things I do not know or understand , but one I can
comprehend is that while death at first may seem frightening and tragic, to
know I would never die would be unbearable.
Hey, I’m promised heaven and that’s one serious first class upgrade.
I also know that if a bullet is fired at us and the aim is good, we
will be seriously wounded or die. And
that if we go where disease is rampant, we may well walk away with that
disease. If we jump out of a five story
building, though someone may shout at us as we go by the third floor, so far so good, we will indeed in a very
short time go splat. In God’s orderly
world the law of gravity has not been repealed.
That below in red sent to Ashley oct 2008
There
are two types of pain – creative pain and pointless pain. Having a baby is creative pain. However, the pain endured when passing a
kidney stone seems to me to be pointless, unless by driving a man to his knees
he stays there long enough to pray. All
kinds of pain make some people bitter, and others empathetic and
compassionate. Pain, any kind of pain,
is the price we pay for being alive.
And we have only two choices when there
are too many problems and too much pain.
One is to rebel, to complain why
me? And the other is to attempt to
relate, how can I make these times of
pain and problem meaningful?
Poets, philosophers, theologians and the
Apostle Paul have mightily sought to give satisfactory answers to these mighty
questions. Paul said that the thorn in
his side, which is never really identified, perfected his weaknesses.
Or, as an known poet wrote from his
collection of pain:
I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!
In 1982, after a hang gliding accident, when my paralyzed left arm
hung limp and useless from my shoulder, I was not a happy camper. Indeed, I could have worn myself weary by
berating myself for trying to be a bird.
Instead I prayed, “Lord, make my arm well, or let me learn a lesson from
this accident. But most of all, Thy will
be done.”
He chose to heal my arm. But
even more, He did wonderful things for my psyche.
The power of prayer is truly amazing,
though to Christians it certainly shouldn’t be.
It has been demonstrated over and over that people recover from sickness
faster when people pray for them. And when we pray for ourselves, it is not
selfishness, but rather simply asking our Father for help.
Yes, some Christians even, still believe they are not good enough to
be able to pray for help.
The Bible speaks of us flying high like an eagle, which is good if
we do not forget that even an eagle needs a nest. Would you be stronger in dealing with
suffering? Then first find your nest. Or as the Bible gives directions, “Seek ye
first the (nest that is called the) Kingdom
of God.”
+++++++
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YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....click on "Voice" on the home page
and then on the list of authors click on Neil Wyrick
Recent
articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are: REFLECTIONS
GO TO ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRUTAL
VITAMINS...Neil's other
blog...over 900 stories and comments...
click on the URL below
++++++++++++++++++++
GO TO AMAZON.COM TO BUY NEIL WYRICK'S THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM
LINCOLN...still receiving RAVE
REVIEWS 8 years after it's publication.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understaning and appreciation of
Lincoln...(Lt. Colonel C.A.Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"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)
"THE SPIRITUAL
ABRAHAM LINCOLN is an extremely well written book...it is both scholarly and
very readable. I came away impressed at
Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of that President with an altered and enlarged vision of
the man. (William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer, author of Blood and
Guile, and Wild Thorn.)
GO TO SPEAKER.NEIL TO SEE NEIL'S ONE
MAN AWARD WINNING DRAMATIZATION OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
CLICK ON
THE FOLLOWING
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW...ON... ONE A DAY,
YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS BLOG....PAST POSTINGS
“WHICH IS BETTER
TO BE? A WINDOW OR A DOOR” ” “BE A
RAINBOW SEARCHER AND FINDER” “IS
YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION?
Click on the URL below to
WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE
MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES
WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER
TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS
ONE MAN
DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin
Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds
to download but is worth the wait)
CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING
V.
Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at
MAGNUS PRESS
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM’S Kindle
++++++++++++++
Below is a quote from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book
THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Available on Kindle. Amazon.com, and many other sites
It is little wonder that once the war was
over, wretched memories fed anger loud and long. Neither side could be proud of some things
that happened during the war or at their many prison camps. The meanness in some men had multiplied. They felt their uniforms allowed it.
Andersonville, or Camp Sumter
as it was officially known, in southwest Georgia is remembered as one of the
worst.
By the end of the war, it had
held 50,000 prisoners on a piece of land no larger than twenty-six acres.
Some men had called pits in
the ground their home. During its short
fourteen-month existence, 13,000 soldiers who had survived in battle died in
captivity under the most terrible conditions.
When the war was over the
superintendent was hanged.
++++++++++++++++++++
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK
"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
++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil also writes for go60.us to check out his writings...
CLICK ON www.go60.us
IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW
WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....
click on
"Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click
on Neil Wyrick
Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:
REFLECTIONS
++++++++++++++++++++++
Some of the sermon titles
posted recently on Wyrick's Writings
+++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
on Wyrick's Writings
++++++++++++++++++
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
Two stores faced each other across a very
busy street. Their owners were in constant competition
with each other. One day, the owner of
one store put out a sign that read – If
you want it, we have it!
Almost immediately the other owner put out a
sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t
need it!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN
HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN 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.
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