In recent weeks, I've been contemplating the increasing intensity of challenges in everyday life, not just for myself, but for everyone else around me. Certainly, life has always been defined by challenges, but the increasing prevalence and intensity of them in recent months and years certainly seems to indicate that more is going on. At a minimum, it has caught my attention. As I contemplated this phenomenon, the following flow came to me.
Anyone who owns a car understands the necessity of routine refueling stops and periodic maintenance. While we decry gas prices, we still pull up to the pumps and "fill 'er up!" We decry the need for oil changes, but the fear of the engine throwing a rod on a lonely road keeps us going back to Jiffy Lube. We lament the bill for those alignments, brake pads, radiator flushes; and yet, we acknowledge the need for them.
To be sure, we don't spend thousands of dollars and subject ourselves to years of monthly payments to buy a car just so that we can service it. We buy the car because we need it to get around, to quite literally, live! But, if we don't service it regularly, the car won't last very long or get us very far. And, even when we service it regularly, normal wear and tear results in chips on the windshield, scratches in the paint, maybe even a few dents in the door or fender.
Eventually, the road takes its toll, but by the time we go buy a new one, some of us have a hard time of letting go of that hoopty that had been with us through thick and thin. It doesn't look the same as when we got it, but because of it, we got to work, took our kids to school, went to the doctor, went out to eat, went to the movies, went to the club, and came home safely day after day.
Just like cars benefit from regular service, many of us find it beneficial to be regular attendees at religious services. The road of life is rough on our hearts and minds, and without regular service, we can wear out prematurely, gobbled up by "the world."
In the same way that there is a purpose to actual roads being rough (i.e. to provide traction so that movement is possible), there is a purpose to the roughness of life . Our challenge, as livers of life, is this: to endure the roughness of life and be purged but not consumed.
Let us consider the scripture from Malachi chapter 3:
Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
This scripture implies that the Israelite people will have to endure some hard times in captivity; but it is also clear that the captivity will end, and that God will prepare the way for His way to be re-established among the Israelite people again after the captivity. But, when coming out of captivity, God acknowledges that the Israelite people will have a hangover, not just due to having been in captivity, but also because of their behavior, which led to their captivity. So, He (through His messenger) will purge them and clean them up so that "they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness." There won't be a need to use animals as an atonement agent for their sins. They will simply do right! God will judge those who resist correction or who were deliberately leading the people astray, just as He judged that nation whom they served before (i.e. Egypt).
Then, God makes a strange statement, one from which we often draw strength, but one that compels us to take a closer look. Particularly, in the context of having endured divinely ordained oppression, it is both comforting and unusual for God (through His prophet) to affirm, "I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
In terms of us drawing strength, it is definitely encouraging that God affirms His existence, and that His existence is immutable. To the downtrodden, to those who need help and support, this is wonderful. We certainly want a God on Whom we can depend, a God that is not wishy washy, a God that won't let us down, a God Who cannot be overwhelmed by an adversarial force, a God Who keeps His promises. But, then again, for those who find themselves straying from His path, God's correction is likewise unchanging. To those who would oppress the widows and orphans, God's judgment is certain. Because God is true to His Word and to His people, the Sons of Jacob, the servant, are not consumed by the purging.
I affirmed earlier that there is a certain roughness to life by design. I contend that we can liken this roughness to the varying grades of sandpaper used by a carpenter. When working with a nearly finished project or with an unblemished piece of wood, the carpenter uses very fine grained sandpaper to smooth and polish the wood. However, when dealing with a raw, freshly cut piece of lumber, the carpenter uses the very rough, coarse grain sandpaper (or even a metal file) to first grind down splinters and saw marks and to even mold it into the desired shape. But regardless of the tool used, the carpenter isn't grinding on the block of wood just to make sawdust; he has a finished product in mind, a shiny, polished creation from his hands.
Likewise, when God looks at us, He has a finished product in mind, namely His Image and Likeness. And, God uses the roughness of life--sometimes small annoyances, other times urgent crises--to grind us, shape us, polish us, and finish us. As He taught Jeremiah at the potter's house, "As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel."
Throughout the ages it has been prophesied that "God is coming." As I have offered, the prevalence of severe trials and tribulations in all of our lives, all at the same time, is an indication that God is definitely here with His blowtorch. If the truth be told, some of us are feeling persecuted, we're wondering when this will be over, wondering when we'll catch a break, wondering what we did to justify it. But, even in our complaining, in our despair, in our weariness, we still find ourselves giving thanks for the little things... we still find ourselves getting on our knees to pray, still find ourselves making our way to attend our religious services.
In our scattered and assorted brokenness, God said, "...if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him." So, even in the midst of the roughness of life, we can endure the purging without being consumed because God is there (see also Psalm 139:7-10).
And so, we come to service to serve and to be serviced, so that the roughness of the world does not sap the spiritual fight from our hearts, and so that our minds are not consumed by the wearying rigors of life. Yet, even with these practical benefits of service, let us not succumb to the monotony of ritual service; but let us strive to perceive, and then draw strength from the Source behind life's roughness and sustenance, and connect with Him and His purpose for us. The goal is not merely to survive, but for us come into the knowing that God is wroughting a work on the wheels, a work that is shaping us, molding us, polishing us, and finishing us; a work that is purging us, but not consuming us; a work that, quite frankly, is us!
