But if not...

            Red lights are spinning and flashing, a buzzer is sounding and a computer voice is booming, “Warning! Warning! A statement that could be considered religious is about to commence!”

            We’ll give you time to leave the room before we begin. Wouldn’t want anyone offended now would we? Look around. Is it safe? Everyone gone that’s going? Ok then let’s begin!

            I love how stories in the bible sometimes get fancied up for the Sunday morning crowd. I really don’t but I’m trying to keep this thing positive. We talk about how Job (in a thundering southern Baptist preacher voice) “was blessed twice as much in the latter as he was in the former!” We speak of David anointed as a boy, slaying Goliath then ascending to the throne of the king. Oh and what about “Father Abraham” he had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. You remember how God sent the angel to save his son and sent a ram up the other side of the mountain to take his place. Are there days when you feel more like the ram and less like the son? I got news for you; you are not alone!

            There has been more than one day that I have been looking for the angel to show up and fix the mess. It didn’t! I have thrown every rock in my pouch at my giant but I keep missing and he keeps running at me. I have declared my royal status as a child of the King and announced the many blessings and promises afforded to me by God’s word only to hear my statement echo in canyons of emptiness. What do you do? What do you do when you prayed and you believed that your friend would be healed but they died? What do you do when you believe and live right and go to church and don’t kick kittens and smile and be nice and hold doors for old people and do what the preacher says and and and… and then your world still seems to be leaning all it’s bad toward you? What do you do?

            I think I know what some people are thinking, “If my life would just go the way the stories in the bible go, I would be set. I would be ok.”

            Really? You do understand that David had an infant son to die and another son to try and overthrow David as king and he was killed in battle? You do understand that Job lost his entire family early on in his story as well as his wealth. How do you think David felt when he fought off the lion and the bear? Don’t pretty it up, this isn’t Sunday morning. He told the king that he caught the lion and bear by the beard and clubbed them to death. Can you imagine the blood that had to be coming from David’s body when the lion and bear finished clawing at him before they died? I have never tried it but I imagine if you interrupt a bear right before a meal and grab him under his chin, he’s not going to just lie down.

            Samson died with the enemy. Stephen died at the hands of the man that would write most of the New Testament. And Peter, before mentioned murderer turned preacher, would be escorted out of town never to be heard from again! What do we say to these stories? How does this fit your prosperity theology?

            I guess what I am trying to say is this. In this life we will have struggles. Jesus said that. But that doesn’t mean we go to a corner and die quietly. Oh no! I want to be more like David. I will sling my club at the enemy until one of us is dead. I want to be more like Samson in that if I fail, I will have the strength to finish well. I want to be like Stephen. If my enemies surround me, I will worship and praise God till they can’t stand to hear it anymore. The beauty of being a believer is not that you avoid struggles but that you never have to struggle alone.

            Oh and this is a good time to share my favorite scripture with you. Daniel 3:18. You know the story. For pronunciation purposes I will spell their names the way they sound. Shadrack, Meeshack, Abednego refused to compromise their faith by worshiping the kings statue. The king was getting ready to throw the young men into the furnace and they rattled off the great faith that they had in their God and that he would rescue them. You have to read it to get the whole tension of the moment. “Our God will rescue us, Oh King!” Then comes the verse that flies in the face of the, “You just need more faith” crowd. Then comes the verse that spiritual lunatics don’t pay attention to in the bible. Then comes verse 18; “But if not, we will never bow down and serve your gods.” That. Is. Awesome.

            So, fellow humans, let it be known: My God is able to deliver me from the enemy. But if He doesn’t, I will still serve Him. I hope you do too!

           

            Pastor Dad