Shaky Foundations and Solid Rock

It is in utter dismay that the Psalmist asks, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3) This question has the answer implied in it: there is not much a person can do when the foundations are destroyed!

Foundation is basis of the existence, like a building rests on its firm foundation. A building cannot be hung from thin air! Human life also has many such foundations on which it stands. Good health is a firm foundation. When the health of the breadwinner is affected the family begins to feel the shake and eventual fall. Financial security is certainly an important foundation. I once met a man in his late sixties who lost all his money when the investment company where he invested all his retirement savings collapsed. He did not know what to do for the rest of his life. All that he has saved for the future is gone and he is too old to work.

The factors that shake the foundations are many, but they shake foundations across the board. The foundations of those who love God (the righteous) as well as that of who hate God may also be shaken. The Bible does not teach that there is no suffering for God’s people.

Though the Psalmist presented the question as if it has no answer he does have an answer to his problem. He looks down to see that his foundations are being shaken and in the process of being destroyed. However, he also looks up to heaven to see another firm foundation, which is the throne of God (Psalms 11:4). God’s throne never shaken and will never be destroyed.

Foundations will be shaken and will be destroyed. However, a believer who has made God his foundation and if his security rests on the eternal throne of God never feel the shake when he passes through struggles in life. It is the rule of God in our lives that gives stability to our lives. That is what made the hymn writer sing, “On Christ the solid Rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand; All other ground is sinking sand.” (Edward Mote, around 1834).

Betraying our Children

The Psalmist said, “If I had spoken out like that I would have betrayed your children” (Psalms 73:15). This is a confession of a man who reflected on life’s realities and had drawn his own conclusions. He realized that some of his conclusions would have destroyed an entire generation of people.

The psalmist was pondering on the question of why the wicked people prosper while people like him who lead honest life do not fare very well in life. This has led him to conclude that his upright life is a waste of time; he should have tried to be rich and not bothered about being a good person. He said, “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments” (Psalms 73:14). However, later on he took his questions to the God and received an entirely new perspective on life. He realized that the prosperity and comforts of the wicked are not permanent. He came to know that paucity with deep devotion to God is more desirable than godless prosperity (Psalms 73:28). This relationship with God is what he would long for than wealth (Psalms 73:25).

Now, having received a new perspective on life he regrets that he harboured wrong thoughts. He also realizes that his wrong conclusions about life would have misguided a generation. In sum, he realizes the potential danger of our human reflections on life that we often jump to disregarding a divine perspective. Human beings are endowed with the power to reason; however, mere human reasoning may not help. We need to know the limits of reason and admit that there is a higher wisdom available with God, which is infallible. The purpose of human reasoning is to find out that divine perspective on life’s issues. However, if we fail to do so we betray our own generation and the generations to come.

Human Possibilities and Divine Potentials

“Take stock of your talents, skills and experience. What are you good at. That is what you should focus on and that is the direction that you should take.” This is a standard advice given to young people who seek direction in their life and career. The best career is something that is in line with what you are good at. No one can question the wisdom in this and that is true when every person is on his own with no help coming from anywhere else.

However, the stories of God’s dealing with individuals in the Bible tells us that when God takes control of a person he takes them beyond their abilities. Moses is a typical example. God called him to do a job where a lot of talking was involved- reasoning, negotiating, teaching, and the list goes on! But when God called him he was not eloquent and was a man who stammerred. God takes that man with speech impediment and takes him beyond that limitation.

What about the «unschooled» fisherman who followed Jesus? For example, Peter turned out to be a great preacher and gave some crucial sermons. Their wisdom surprised the scholars at the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:13). God does not look at what we are but what we could be. Being our creator he knows best what he can turn out to be. He will equip us for that and takes us beyond our own limitations.

Trust God to take us beyond our present capabilities to his possibilities.

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Handling Abusive Surprise

All these years my work always involved dealing with youth who have left their old ways and made a commitment to follow Christ. Just as old habits die hard, so also the old friends. They have to keep the old companies for various reasons. They live in the same neighbourhood, they are the same college and there could be various ways they share their spaces. There are times of conflict as their conversion brings in new moral demands different from that of their friends. For example, a new believer in Christ who was a chain smoker finds it difficult to keep the friendship of his fellow smokers. Peter wrote to first generation Christians who were in a similar situation: "They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you" (1 Peter 4:4).

Unable to enjoy the company of the new believer, the friends begin to abuse that person. Many of us who had to part with sinful ways of life when we embraced the new life in Christ may still remember some hurting abusive words that we had to endure. However, the encouraging thing is that this abuse is the result of their surprise. Friends who shared their sinful ways with us are surprised that one of them could break away with those ways and start a new life! If our lives have caused that surprise then the abuse can be ignored.

However, this surprise and the abuse may not last long too. Moreover, it may have positive results as this story about a young soldier that I read long time ago illustrates. A young man who lived a very bad life joined the army and there he accepted Jesus as his personal saviour through the army chaplain. A few months later he had to go home and he was afraid that his old friends waiting for his return might drag him back to his life before Christ. His Chaplain had a very good advise for him. He told him not to keep his conversion a secret and let his friends know about it.

As he landed in the railway station he met one of his friends who offered him a cigar as he always used to do. This young man not only politely refused it but also told him that he is a new creation. The friend laughed at him and hurled insults at him as he walked away. Then he meets another friend who invites him to have a drink in order to celebrate his return. He not only refused it but also told him why as a follower of Christ he should not do that. The news spread in his small town that he is different. The prostitute whom he used to visit spotted him in the market and hurled insults at him. As he walked past the pub people came out and made painful comments about him. But nobody dared to force him to get back to the old ways. They had given up on him; that was a new freedom! However, it had a cost: abusive surprise.

If we can give our sinful companions a surprise, then the abuses are worth it. What is important is to shock (or embarrass) them with the radical change in our lives.

Divine Light and Human Flares

Isaiah 50:10-11 gives two options for those want guidance. One is to
depend on the leading of the Lord even though it is darkness around.
The other is to light up one's own flares and find the way through.
"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant?

Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of
the LORD and rely on his God.
But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming
torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you
have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will
lie down in torment."

Flares don't last long and they light up only the surroundings. Since
it lights up the darkness for a while and then dies out, those who
venture into darkness with them may find themselves deep in darkness
when the fuel of the flare is gone. Such people may end up groping in
darkness.

The other option for those who are in darkness is to trust in the
Lord. Trying to walk in our own light is another word for self-
reliance, which rejects the role of God in our life. This invites
trouble. However, venturing into the darkness knowing God is out there
is faith which honours God.

Nothing illustrates this aspect better than a poem by Minnie Louise
Harkins (1875-1957), which my friend sent to me recently.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,

'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.
'And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the
hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And he led me towards the hills
and the breaking of day in the lone East.

Grace that overrides genes

To a large extent our behaviour is genetically conditioned. People who
belong to certain ethnic groups have common physical and even
emotional characteristics because of the genes that control biological
and emotional aspects of their life. Certain groups of people are
prone to certain diseases while other groups totally immune to these
because of their particular genetic structure. This also means that
human behaviour is predictable and to a large extent unchangeable
unless there is genetic modification.

Paul talks about another factor that overrides genetic conditioning
that decides human behaviour. That is grace. Paul was intolerant,
violent and possibly a psychopath too. He could not tolerate a group
of Jews who considered themselves as followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
He considered this new faith called Christianity something that should
be destroyed. He resorted to violent means of arresting them and
killing them. To achieve this aim of annihilating the all the
Christians he went on a tour to the neighbouring lands too.

However, we find an entirely different Paul after his dramatic
transforming experience of risen Jesus on the Damascus road. It was
natural that his stand toward Christians was softened because he
became one of them. However, this man has become someone who willingly
suffered and even rejoiced in suffering (Romans 5:3). His attitude
towards his opponents was very accommodative (Philippians 1:15-18).

Paul attributes his transformation to "grace". He said, "But by the
grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). It was grace that
transformed him, or says that overrode the genetic conditioning of
him. The genes may control our physical look, biological factors and
our behaviour but grace that is available to us overrides "genes".
Grace is that divine element in our life, which is solely available
with God and is given to us as he wills.

So many people with inherited diseases were healed by the miraculous
intervention of God without any genetic modification. The Gospel of
grace has transformed people with criminal inclinations and who have
served prison terms to people who serve humanity sacrificially. Here
also grace has overtaken genes. The greatest of these is that change
in character that grace can bring about. Jesus Christ has ushered in
this new possibility that makes new persons out of the old; that is
called of the grace of Jesus Christ.

True Spirituality and the Vision of Peace

Terrorists who have some religious associations give religions a bad name. Recent events like the attack on Mumbai (26/11) make us think if religions promote violence only. However, the picture is far from truth.

There are narratives of conflicts, violence and bloody battle accounts in the Bible. This makes some think that Bible promotes violence. However, they miss out the many visions of peace that the bible have. One such vision is found in the prophecy of Isaiah in the second chapter. Part of this vision is inscribed on the walls of the UN building in New York: "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4).

This probably was a very popular vision about the future in those days since another prophet by the name Micah also has this in his book (Micah 4:3). Thus it should rather be called a shared vision of the prophets of the Bible in the eighth century BC.

This is a vision of peace but not just a vision of peace. Here is a vision of people of every nation dropping their weapons and bringing to an end war between them. This is not just temporary cease-fire but a permanent cessation of hostilities, as they will not be training their future generations for war. We would expect them to pile up all their weapons and set fire. The uniqueness of this vision is that it takes us beyond cessation of violence to peace and prosperity. The weapons of war will be transformed into tools of production as swords are beaten into plowshares and spears into hooks to prune fig and olive trees.

It was in a very difficult time in world history this vision of peace and development was given. It was eight century BC when the Assyrian empire was ravaging the world conquering nations after nations through bloody battles and displacing people. To add to the misery of the common man, smaller nations were instigated by superpowers like ancient Egypt and Assyria to fight among them. Violence had reduced the population in many of these countries considerably. The audacity of the vision is that it could see peace in the context of conflict and violence giving way to prosperity.

We live in a violent world, a world of uncertainties and a world of hatred that breed irrational violence. Recent experiences in India and the world over have made us to associate violence with religion. The reason for this association is that perpetrators of violence take on themselves label of some religion. The opening lines of this vision speaks about people from all over the world seeking after God and their spiritual search leads them to a longing for peace. True religion is thus a stimulus for peace and prosperity and not the other way round.

It is possible to imagine a world without violence. It is still possible to long for a world where violence will end and peace and prosperity will enter. However, this new world is not a world without God or spirituality but one of true spirituality. Perpetrators of violence have given religion a bad name, but true religion that promotes peace and prosperity is still the hope of our world.