As the global community has been deployed to provide relief to the people and land of Haiti, we still wrestle with troubling questions regarding this calamity. The fact is, we respond to world tragedies with deep, unsettling questions, don’t we? The earthquake in Haiti caused my kids to ask questions like these: Why do mind-staggering tragedies like this happen? If God is strong and powerful and loving and close, couldn’t he have prevented the devastation in Haiti? Is God punishing the people of Haiti in some way? Are the people in Haiti more unrighteous than thousands of murderers, rapists and thieves in the world, that something like this would happen to them? These questions are legitimate, but they inch me and all of us away from an appropriate personal response to world tragedy. I think I can respond appropriately to world tragedies by answering several important personal questions that Luke 13:1-9 raises – questions of mortality, eternity, and productivity.

The first question is a question of Mortality: How close am I to the end of my life?

Luke chronicles two historical events to show how indiscriminate death is. One event accounts for the evil of one man can exact on another human being. Pilate had some Galileans killed while they worshiped.  These people died at the hands of an evil man. Evil people do evil things to innocent people.

The other event (which has greater relevance to the tragedy in Haiti) shows how death can happen naturally. A tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 people. Many were caught beneath the rubble, hoping and praying for someone would intervene and bring relief and rescue. Our fallen world is filled with such tragedies that break our hearts over and over again. Tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are natural catastrophes that snatch lives out of this world each year and destroy miles and miles of valuable property. This event was so unlikely, but it happened. It was a natural disaster. Haiti has experienced one natural disaster after another. That one nation can experience so much natural disaster seems unlikely, but it has happened. This was a natural disaster. People die in natural disasters all the time, but it does not make them more sinful than anyone else.

The issue here is not the timing of death or even the cause of death. The issue is that we are mortal beings and we will all die.  We love to talk about others’ deaths and tragedies just as long as it doesn’t get too personal. World tragedy is a prime opportunity for us to discuss our own mortality. Nothing is so certain as death, and nothing is so uncertain as the hour of our death. We will die, either by some horrific calamity, evil plot, cancer, car accident, or some natural cause.  Most of us are not afraid to die; we just don’t want to be there when it happens. In light of this world tragedy, let us consider the question of our own mortality – How close am I to the end of my life?

If death was the end, then I think we could possibly live with that. I mean, we have lived a decent life, made a little money, enjoyed family and friends, and had some good times. But the question of Mortality causes me to consider a second question (next post) – a question of Eternity.

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Recently, I spoke to some Christian athletes. I asked them how did they normally respond to hardships (torn ACL/ MCL/PCLs, loneliness, being ridiculed for their faith). They responded: fear, anger, “why me?”, self pity, aggression, despair, turning to abusive behavior, apathy, and turning to God. I told them they were carriers – carriers of pain, so they could ultimately be carriers of comfort. Just as I encouraged these athletes, Paul encouraged a group of believers in a town called Corinth.

He reminded them that afflictions were inevitable for the follower of Jesus. Many were being persecuted, imprisoned, and oppressed by unbelievers – all because their relationship with Jesus. But, Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that, in the midst of their trouble, God was their source of divine help. He would come to their side and help them to have godly responses. Then Paul gave two purposes why God allowed suffering: so, they could experience direct and personal comfort from God, and then from that experience, give God’s comfort to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God allowed affliction and brought divine comfort so that the Corinthians might have the capacity to enter into another person’s pain, affliction and sorrow and bring comfort to them.

As we experience sufferings, affliction and pain of all kinds – physical, spiritual, emotional – let us remember that God will bring direct and personal divine comfort to us through his word, by the Holy Spirit and through fellow believers. Thus we are CARRIERS of pain, so we can ultimately be CARRIERS of COMFORT – God’s comfort. Sometimes we carry God’s comfort with consoling words and other times words are inadequate and get in the way. Thus, we must carry God’s comfort by the ministry of presence.

We are not comforted by God to be comfortable. Nor are we comforted by God to become consumers and connoisseurs of God’s comfort; we are comforted by God to be comforters. God comforts us so we can be CHANNELS and CARRIERS of COMFORT.  

How has this been true of you lately? How can your suffering and God’s comforting you through it, help you empathize with others? 

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Early Monday morning Grand Rapids was hit by a terrible storm. My family told me that, at one point, the storm was so intense that thunder shook the house. “Why did your family have to tell you this?” I hear someone asking. Well, they had to tell me this because I slept through the whole thing. I sleep so hard that, when my oldest was about two or three years old, my wife had him sit on my head and bounce up and down to try and wake me. I never woke up. I don’t want to even imagine the other things she’s done and does to me while I sleep. Lol!  My name is Marvin, and I am a hard sleeper. I would imagine if you are anything like me, there are times you feel like Jesus is a hard sleeper, too. I mean: 

Storms shake the house  
Waves overwhelm us 
We’re alone in the middle of the lake,
We’re groping through the darkest point of the night,
We’re straining as we attempt to make appreciable progress. 
There feels like great distance between us and Jesus 
Even if he does come, it looks like he’s blessing everyone else, and it feels like he’s going to pass by us.  

And we call on Jesus and call on Jesus and call on Jesus, and there is no answer. Like the disciples in Luke 8:22-25, sometimes we feel like Jesus is a hard sleeper, totally unaware of the relational, financial, emotional, and spiritual terrorists that stalk and terrorize our lives. 

I want to assure you that he is not a hard sleeper. He is fully aware and fully present. He sees us when we don’t see him, He comes to us when we can’t get to him, and he speaks to us when we can’t speak to him. This is what he says to us:

Take courage!

It is I.

Don’t be afraid.

When have you felt like Jesus was a hard sleeper and was unaware of your storms? How did you respond? What was the hardest part about trusting him in the middle of the storm?

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Sometimes, in life and relationships, we have to GO THROUGH this:

And ENDURE this: 

And CLIMB and BATTLE this:

In order to ENJOY the view of this:

And be OVERWHELMED by the beauty and power of this:

And EXPERIENCE the refreshment of this:

What “This” have you had to go through, endure, battle and climb, in order to get to the “This” of breath-taking scenery and refreshing natural pools? Remember, this is still “sponsor me” week. So, leave a comment.

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This morning I woke up with this weighing heavy on my heart. Have you ever cried out: “God, Enough!”

Enough pain

Enough hospital visits and surgeries

Enough medication

Enough tragedy

Enough depression

Enough stress

Enough directionless living

Enough family crises

Enough lay-offs and being let go

Enough of not having enough

Enough ridicule

Enough loneliness and isolation

Enough suffering in silence

Enough visits to probation officers

Enough arguing and fighting

Enough unfaithfulness in my marriage

Enough separation and divorce

Enough non-commitment

Enough complaining about what’s not right

Enough being invisible

God, Enough already! I’ve had Enough!

I hear Him saying to us during these times: “My grace is Enough for you. My power works best in your weakness.” (2 Cor.12:9) Read those words again and let them wash over your heart like a fresh rainfall.

About what else have you cried, “God, I’ve had Enough!?” How have you experienced his grace being Enough lately?

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We all have a choice as to what kind of affect adversity will have on our lives. Paul, in Romans 8:35-39, described how followers of Jesus can choose as to what kind of affect adversity will have on them. Paul lists seven things that a follower of Jesus might perceive as coming against or separating them from Christ’s love – trouble, hardships, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. Instead of letting these things separate and defeat us, Paul says that we are more than conquerors.

The Greek word that he uses is hypernikao – hyper (super) and nikao, (conqueror, victor, prevail). Nikao comes from the root word nike (yep, just like the shoe company). Thus, we are Super Nikes, through Jesus! A Super Nike is someone who doesn’t just defeat his enemies, adversity, and hardships, but he overwhelmingly conquers, prevails and causes adversity and hardship, through Jesus Christ, to become his helpers.  Through the One who triumphed victoriously over every enemy, we too can conqueror and overwhelmingly prevail over every enemy that comes against us. These difficult circumstances do not have to discourage and defeat us, but they can become our helpers, shaping and molding us to look, talk, think and act more and more like Jesus.  

Each day we have the difficult decision and the great opportunity to be Super Nikes. So, let’s allow Jesus’ victory over death, the grave, the devil, sin and every hardship, to be made real in our lives today – moment by moment. Through Christ,

illness can become our helper

pain can become our helper

ridicule can become our helper

financial difficulty can become our helper

a broken family can become our helper  

loss of a job can become our helper 

stress on the job can become our helper

We are Super Nikes! Will you let adversity and hardship weaken your faith? Harden your heart? Or, become your helpers in conforming you to his image? Our difficulties, in God’s hands, can lead to our good and God’s glory.

What difficulty or adversity do you need to place in God’s hands today? Think of the last bout you had with adversity. Did you run from from God or run to God?

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