It’s the paradox of this fame-starved generation. We’re told to hunger for world-wide significance, when all the while that banquet table is bankrupt. This isn’t Hollywood. The average person will not become famous, while those who do live under the constant scrutiny of their so-called admirers. The sooner we let go of the pursuit of self-exaltation, the sooner we’ll find contentment.
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I recently attended a birthday party where my kids received tokens to play games for which they could win tickets. After depleting their supply of tokens, they took their tickets to the exchange counter, hearts hopeful their few hours of play would earn a decent prize. With expectancy in their eyes, they gazed up at the toys, games, and oversized stuffed animals looming before them.
How disappointing when the desk clerk re-directed their gaze to the sparse supply of mini-candies behind the glass counter. Yes, 1,000 tickets would earn a prize. Three bite-sized candies.
At least my kids are easily contented enough to be satisfied with a night of fun and a few chocolates. But I’ll have to admit, my calculations of token cost to ticket wins to actual prize results left me doubtful I’d return to that venue apart from another party invitation. All that work earning tickets failed to yield a worthy result.
It got me thinking of another promise of a greater exchange: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Here, we are told that ALL THINGS will be used for good by the God whom we love. The blessed. The bad. The painful. The tear-rending. ALL will one day be redeemed. ALL will be used for good.
And we will not be disappointed.
God makes good on his promises. He will not give us a handful of candy in exchange for our trials. One day, whether here on earth or in the glory of heaven, we will see. God, the master designer, weaves good from every thread of pain wrought on this earth. That’s what makes him God.
He alone is able to redeem the worst of circumstances to bring forth something beautiful.
A precious woman named Corrie ten Boom endured the deepest of hells in a World War II concentration camp. After losing her Father and her sister to the ravages of suffering, she was able to stand and say, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” I can’t imagine coming through such horrors with confident assurance of God’s goodness. Yet Corrie knew that somehow, in some way, all her suffering would yield a greater return both here and in the age to come.
We may think that all the suffering life brings is reason enough to end our own. But the knowledge that we have a God who is able to bring beauty from ashes, joy from tears, and praise from despair is reason enough to live.
Now my kids’ short-lived disappointment in getting a less-than-expected prize is nothing compared to the disappointment many of us have experienced in life. But it serves as a timely reminder that IN GOD’S HANDS, nothing is wasted. He will exchange all our suffering for something good. We can’t see it now, but one day, we will see. And it’s gonna be worth it.
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Here we have a choice. We can wallow in the mire of suffering until it overtakes our resolve to live. Or we can finally declare: “It’s not about me.”
Photo Credit: File:Fork in the road near Pillaton – geograph.org.uk – 1029422 …
In a sea of carnage, engulfed by enemy gunfire and immersed in the ravages of war, Desmond Doss had every reason to join his comrades, scale the cliff, and return to the relative safety of the military base. Instead, he remained in the hellish battle; rooted in the knowledge he was there for a purpose though despairing he couldn’t hear God’s voice amid the clamor of war.
Until a faint voice cried out in the distance. “Help.”
Armed only with a ragged Bible, Doss scoured the grisly landscape of death for signs of life. One by one he snatched devastated bodies from the grip of the grave, lowering them with painstaking care over the side of the cliff; again and again he returned, risking his life with each venture until some 75 comrades were lowered to safety.
I can’t imagine emerging from even five minutes of battle unscathed mentally and emotionally. The average person would drown in the unmerciful memories. War would seem the ultimate weapon in conjuring 13 Reasons Why to give up on life.
And yet, in the midst of one of the fiercest of World War II battles, Desmond Doss found a reason to live. “Give me one more, Lord,” he prayed repeatedly until his mission was complete, staying true to his conviction: “With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don’t seem like such a bad thing…to want to put a little bit of it back together.”
Any honest person could easily come up with a list of 13 Reasons Why to plan a swift escape from this sin-sick world. Maybe if pain weren’t standing guard before death, more of us would already have left the madness of earth far behind.
But here we have a choice. We can wallow in the mire of suffering until it overtakes our resolve to live. Or we can finally declare: “It’s not about me.”
Desmond Doyle survived war without a weapon in hand, emerged from the fire a hero because of this one choice he made. He did not cower in fear of the greatest giant known to mankind. He did not succumb to complacency, savagery, or despair.
Instead, he listened for that one voice crying, “Help.” And then another, and another. And little by little, he put a small part of the world back together.
Maybe if we adopted this grand mission of putting even the smallest pieces of our own corners of this world back together, we would find our purpose is far greater than ourselves. And we would find that is more than enough reason…to live.
though earth give way
and mountains shall crumble
and all that we’ve trusted
one day will fail
the curtain’s been torn
between light and darkness
and in the end, light
will always prevail
Source: Where Are You God?
Photo Credit: File:Curtain of Water.JPG – Wikimedia Commons
If suffering can be overcome, and is overcome, and has been overcome through all of history, there must be a reason. There must be something greater. Something worth living for.
Photo Credit: Aurora Over The Valley | I was driving home from a photo eve… | Flickr
Is life worth living? This question haunts the most honest of souls. When shrouds of darkness roll in, it’s tempting to wonder whether it’s worth fighting for another breath.
13 Reasons Why deals with the aftermath of the death of someone who came to believe her life was not worth living. And it deals with the before-math—-the events that brought her to this sad conclusion. The screen adaptation of the story has stirred up controversy, with some saying it will awaken viewers to the plight of those considering suicide, and others saying it may inadvertently glamorize the idea.
In the midst of the battle of words, we overlook the sheer hopelessness at the core of the death-set heart. Convinced the darkness of earth outweighs the light, the desperate are driven to pursue death, believing it their only escape from our sin-sick world. But what if instead we set before our eyes a litany of reasons to live, instead of a recitation of reasons to die?
While we could use the evil of the world to deny purpose for life, what about the good? A history of suffering men and women found enough good in this world to keep living, to keep moving forward. Would we be here now, if not?
Men and women from the beginning of time lived through famine, sickness, plague, holocaust, war, slavery, death, and more. And yet the common theme is each found a reason to persevere. Must not the good outweigh the evil, if generation upon generation has survived through the deepest of hells?
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” Helen Keller, herself suffering incredible loss, spoke these words of truth. If suffering can be overcome, and is overcome, and has been overcome through all of history, there must be a reason. There must be something greater. Something worth living for.
In the midst of darkness, on the precipice of battle, Samwise Gamgee spoke these words to his friend Frodo. Though spoken in the realm of fiction, they ring of truth in our non-fiction world of suffering: “By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories…the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer…Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something…that there’s some good in this world…and it’s worth fighting for.”
My prayer for you is that you find that something worth holding onto. Cling to it through all the darkness that is and that lies ahead. And that you come to see this shadow is a passing thing. In the end, light will always prevail.
Photo Credit: Free photo Texture Cave Structure Drain Background Stone – Max Pixel
This Life & Beyond 
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