March 07, 2010

1^st Corinthians 10:1-13

You may have heard the story of the man Ed who lived in the delta of Mississippi.  One day a great flood descended on his town and the torrents rushed down his street.  Ed prayed to God, confident that “the Lord would provide” and he would be saved.  The water rose two feet and a neighbor in a four-wheeler drove by and called to Ed, “Come on, get in, I’m going to higher ground.”  But Ed replied, “No thanks, I’ll be fine. The Lord will provide.”  The neighbor drove on and the water kept rising.  Now at five feet, Ed was at an upstairs window when a sheriff in a motor boat came by and called out, “Climb down.  I’m going to the rescue shelter.”  But Ed answered, “No thanks. I’m fine.  The Lord will provide.”  The sheriff floated away and the water kept rising.  Ed scooted up onto the roof and the National Guard came over in a helicopter and shouted down, “Sir, grab onto the rope.  We’re evacuating the city.”  But Ed called back, “No thanks.  It’s okay.  The Lord will provide.”  The guardsman tried again, but when Ed didn’t climb on, the helicopter drifted away and water kept rising.

Inside Heaven’s gate, God was shocked to see Ed.  “What are you doing here?”  “You tell me!  I prayed.  I said over and over, the Lord will watch over me.  The Lord will provide.”  “Well, beloved Doofus, I heard you!  I sent your neighbor in the Jeep, I sent the sheriff in a speed boat.  I sent the National Guard for goodness sake!  If you were waiting for wings to fly away – well, I guess you got them now!

This story is an interesting take on human nature and speaks to this morning’s New Testament reading.  The apostle Paul has received a letter from the “vestry” of the new church in Corinth which he recently gathered and organized.  The leaders are having difficulty satisfying the membership and keeping them on track.  Going deeper and wider is proving to be a trial.  There is discord and frustration, questions and uncertainty in the body.  Paul writes back with instruction and encouragement.  He tells the frazzled, beleagured people, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.”  Translated another way, “None of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand.”  The apostle continues, “And God is faithful.  All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he will never let you be pushed past your limit.  You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength.”  With any trial, God will give you a way out so that you can stand up under it.  He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

In one sentence, two essential truths are delivered.  God does not give us more than we can bear.  God always provides saving help for the dilemmas and disasters of our life.  These statements are sweeping and bold and we pause to consider their veracity.  God does not give us more than we can stand.  God always provides help so we can come through our troubles.  I venture to say that each one of us has reason to question these claims.  Each one of us has either personally experienced or been witness to some debilitating, devastating trauma.  We know hard, terrible losses fall on good people all the time.  Folk in these pews have friends who died suddenly at age 40 from heart attacks and suicide.  Folk in these pews have lost young colleagues to lingering deaths like cancer and lung disease.  We have parents here who have watched grown children grabble and succumb to addictions and bad life choices.  We have in this body, grandparents whose grandbabies struggle to breathe and thrive.  People we care about have marriages that crumble, children who disappoint, partners who leave.  We know loss, trials and burdens that bear down. 

We also have experience with folk who do not recover.  We have friends or acquaintances who take a hit, fall to the ground and never regain their footing.  We know people who literally or figuratively take to their beds and pull the covers over their heads.  They say goodbye to their once healthy life.  They become depressed and apathetic.  They become bitter and resentful.  They take on the victim persona.  They say, oh my life is hard and unfair.  Others have no idea what I have endured.  They say sure, my friends can laugh and keep moving forward.  They haven’t been beset by my kind of hardship.  We know people, maybe even relatives, maybe even ourselves, who have become broken by their troubles.

How then can we believe Paul?  How can we trust the faithful people who came after and through the generations proclaim “God is faithful and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it?”  If God always provides, in what form does his help arrive?  If God always provides, why do some people go under?

Dear friends, experience and observation teach us that providence, that saving help from the hand of God, comes to us in three guises.  The Lord provides using strangers, using loved ones, using the resources he knitted within us.  In times of great trial, God sends us “angels,” “messengers,” “couriers of grace” bringing us relief.  God sends us help in the hands of strangers and in the unfolding of unexpected circumstances.  A young father dies.  The mortgage payment on the family’s home is too high.  A sympathetic broker looks and looks until a refinance option appears.  The family renegotiates life without Dad, but safe in the home they love.  A job is lost.  A child’s college tuition is in jeopardy.  The N.C. College Fund application is approved.  Grace prevails.  A child cannot, cannot master traditional classroom behavior.  Then in year three, he draws the one teacher whose patience matches his trying.  God intervenes.  Maybe the boy isn’t citizen of the month, but at least he doesn’t cry every morning on his way to school.  Strangers and circumstance come together and the burden is made lighter.  The trial doesn’t disappear, but the weight does not overcome. 

In times of loss and devastating sadness, God provides by sending us the hearts and hands of our friends.  Stumbling under the burden of grief, people who love us come to our aid, offering tangible help and consolation.  They come with hammers and paint and finish the kitchen left undone in the passing of the brother.  They come with casseroles and play dates as the chemo treatments continue.  They come in sixth and sixteenth phone calls to the friend who won’t get out of the house.  They come in the heartfelt card written three months after the funeral, reminding the survivor that he, that she, has what is needed to go on and make a meaningful (and one day, one day) a happy life.  God provides using brothers and sisters, fathers and teens, young girls and cub scouts who feel powerless, but who are in fact mightily empowered.  They go on with simple gestures and deep care and their small gifts belie God’s great grace.

Along with the unexpected help and surprising aid God sends through strangers and circumstance, besides the loving care God sends in the hearts and hands of friends and family, the Lord also provides by the strength he wove into our being.  Created in the image of God, we have personal power and endurance.  We have resiliency and the virtue of adaptability.  We may not wish to flex those muscles.  We may prefer to coast on neutral, but when necessary, we have an overdrive gear we can engage.  We were made with intelligence, stamina, confidence and hope.  Hardwired within us is the belief that “better” is possible.  Sadness can ebb.  Joy can return.  Tomorrow brings possibility.  God made us with hope built in.

My friends, trials, troubles and burdens are inevitable.  Sadness will befall us.  We will be tested, tested sorely, but not beyond our strength.  God will provide. In the guise of strangers, by hearts of loved ones, through the internal resources we carry within, help arrives.  And when God’s saving grace appears, it is our charge, our responsibility, our obligation to see it and seize it.  When the waters, the terrifying torrents of our lives start to rise, God will send the proverbial jeep, the boat, perhaps the National Guard.  When his help presents itself, recognize it for what it is.  Get in, climb down, hang on.  Let his prevailing grace carry you to higher, safer ground.

And when the raging waters threaten to overwhelm a stranger God has put before you, remember that you may be the provision of the Lord.  You may be the promised saving grace for this beloved child of God. Recognize the power and the gift you may be able to give.  When the scary wave descends on one you love, remember, you are not inadequate.  You could be the mighty grace God sends to save.  Your words may seem hollow in your ears, but they may arrive at the exact right, necessary moment.  When the trial comes to your door, do not be so afraid.  God made you strong.  Look over the whole of your life and see how well you have managed and come through other troubles and losses.

“God is faithful.  He will not let you be tested beyond your strength.  With the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may endure.”

When the hardships come, seek the grace, seize the grace and remember there will be times when God makes you the grace. 

Amen.