When I was younger, I loved riding rollercoasters. I rode the old, rickety, wooden coasters and then, as more technologically advanced, faster rollercoasters came along, I was eager to jump onto them and enjoy their ups and downs, twists and turns.
For some folks, rollercoasters aren’t their cup of tea. (It’s hard to drink a cup of tea on a coaster.) They start slowly, initiating a steep climb, click-click-clicking on the track beneath your feet. Then after a brief pause at the top, just long enough for you to scan the scenery below, they send you on a speedy plunge, thrusting this way and that, sometimes upside-down and even, it seems, inside-out.
Fun, fun! Until you get older, and your bones and teeth start rattling more than feels comfortable. Remember the old cereal commercial, “Trix are for kids”? With the passage of time, you realize that rollercoasters are, too.
When you think about it, life’s a lot like a rollercoaster. Sometimes the ride is smooth, calm, hardly any jostling. Then there are the slow, steady climbs, perhaps while advancing one’s educational path, getting married, having children, or going up the corporate or career ladder. We arrive at a peak and have a chance to peer across the horizon. What a beautiful view!
Then, with little or no warning, there’s a dip. A big one. As the speed intensifies, your grip on the bar in front of you gets tighter. You hang on because you have no other choice. Maybe a household emergency has put a strain on your checkbook – or unwise financial decisions in the past are catching up with you. Or your “dream job” has turned into a nightmare, making just getting out of bed in the morning feel like a major accomplishment. Or you or someone in your family has a totally unexpected health crisis and the descent seems more than you can bear.
Charles H. Spurgeon, the celebrated British preacher of the 19th century, understood this well. In one of his devotionals he wrote, “Yesterday I could climb the mountain and view the landscape and rejoice with confidence in my future inheritance; today my spirit has no hopes, but many fears; no joys, but great distress. Is this part of God’s plan for me?... The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope – all these things are just parts of God’s method of making you ready for the great inheritance, which you will soon enjoy…. Do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it.”
We dare not miss Spurgeon’s key point. When times of hardship and adversity come – and they will – we can trust God’s not caught by surprise. He’s not looking down, wringing His hands and thinking, “Oh no! What do we do now?” These circumstances are part of His plan for each of us. They’re one way the Lord uses to mold and shape us into the people He desires for us to be and to become.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told the Israelites – and everyone who has been embraced into His eternal family – “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
Unfortunately, when things are going well – all the bills are paid and there’s still money in the bank, our jobs are going well, everyone’s healthy and the car’s purring – we’re uninclined to call out to God, to cry out to Him as our Provider and Sustainer. We might offer cursory prayers but our attitude is, “Lord, I’ve got this. I’ll let you know if I need something.”
More than inconsiderate, this is almost blasphemous, as if we can be our own gods – until something happens making it clear we’re not. Anyone can handle the ups of life and times when everything’s moving along smoothly on a plateau. But when the rollercoaster suddenly takes a dive, we realize how desperately we need God’s grace, power and intervention.
The apostles, from their own experiences, understood this. To believers in Rome the apostle Paul gave this admonition: “…we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:2-4). God’s more concerned with our character than our comfort.
James the apostle exhorted his readers, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
One day Jesus Christ led three disciples, Peter, James and John, up a high mountain where they were treated to a true mountaintop experience. Jesus was transfigured. “His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus” (Matthew 17:2-3, Mark 9:3).
Their “rollercoaster ride” with Jesus had taken them to a thrilling peak they couldn’t have imagined. Their first reaction was to savor this moment indefinitely, in effect to camp out there. Peter, not yet fully understanding what was happening, impulsively offered to build three shelters, one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
But then a voice from a cloud got their attention: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7). Soon they were heading back down the mountain, descending into harsh and sobering reality of the valley below. Before long the exhilaration of Christ’s transfiguration would fade into the dark moments of His persecution, trial, scourging and crucifixion.
The gospels show the disciples riding a spiritual rollercoaster unlike anything the Lord had taken His people through before. As His followers in the 21st century, we’re also called to such a ride, sometimes coasting along without a care in the world but other times careening downward at a terrifying rate, clinging to our faith in Jesus because there’s nothing else.
At such times we have God’s assurance, “I know the plans I have for you.” As Spurgeon said, they’re part of the Lord’s mechanism to prepare us for eternity with Him. So sit back and enjoy the ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment