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The sermons found on this blog are selected sermons preached by Rev. Wyrick during a ministry of over 50 years. This syndicated columnist/minister thanks you for visiting.
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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 problem.
Indeed,
if you could have asked a friend of mne if he would have preferred to have two
healthy lungs or the emphysema that daily finally choked off his breathing, he
would have readily replied, “I would prefer not to have emphysema.” But for years he smoked heavily, and one day
he died. much earlier and sicker than he otherwise would have.
You pays your money
and 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 come out of 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.
Such ambitions
of one man, or a few men, 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 death of so many is
often caused by greedy men who instead of giving out the food sent to their
countries keep it for their own. When men do not practice brotherhood they
worship at an altar of brutality that leads to earthly hell.
And, yes, there
are ignorant men 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. I know that these may not always be the
reasons, but too often they are.
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
to Job in the Bible and questions he asked.
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”?
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 been given a
stone. Explain to me why I have asked
for health and been given sickness. Tell
me about it.”
And
God does, through Jesus begin 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 this source of 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 inflict 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.
In
Jonathon Swift’s book, Gulliver’s Travels,
he tells of a land were once or twice in a generation a child was born with a
circular red spot on its forehead which signified that it would never die. Gulliver imagines these children to be the
most fortunate of all people, “born exempt from that 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 seventy 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 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 no
infant 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.
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 this mighty question.
Paul said that the thorn in his side, which is never really identified,
perfected his weaknesses.
In 1982 after a hang gliding accident,
when my left arm hung limp and useless from my shoulder, paralyzed and futile,
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.
+++++++++++++
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