By Way of our Personal Experience

  

Dr. Schmutzer tells me of this God who is anything but aloof. He says this God doesn't send out people as boomerangs, hoping they will return. Instead, he says, this God always goes with, and He goes before, too. He says this God knows the suffering of man, because at the cross this suffering became his own. Apparently, when someone is hurting, or sick, this God identifies with them, and climbs into the grief Himself. All the while, this God remains fully capable, and fully intent to bring them both out from the mess's midst. This process, Dr. Schmutzer says, will never be lost on God. For though He is sovereign and infinite and just, He is most certainly a God who feels.

        I want to say that I believe my professor's words. On one level I do. It all sounds good, and even biblical. Yet for some reason, something in me resists. Something in me does not recognize the actions of "this God" from personal experience. It seems I don't identify "this God" with my God. It seems others join me in unbelief; we all shake our fists. A loving God? What about the Holocaust, abortion, 9/11, the war in Uganda, and hurricanes Katrina and Sandy? We shake our fists because it doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. So what do we conclude? Anything more than a pitiful, intellectual faith seems too risky. We cannot stake our lives on a bystanding God. 

Teach us therefore, O God, to connect our knowledge of You 

with our faith, worship, and living.

Teach us to think more rightly of You.

Teach us that theology is but a means-

a means to a rich and infinite end.

Teach us that Scripture really does speak of You in truth,

and that you match perfectly all of its claims.

May we sing of your lovingkindness that Moses learned in the desert,

                        of your ability to satisfy that beckoned David to his knees,

                        of your sight and care for the afflicted that invited Hagar to worship,

                        of your attention for the least of these that bewildered Your disciples,

                        of your mercy which freed the thief on the cross.

It is not that You are but a revelation of Your Word, 

but that Your Word is but a revelation of You.

Teach us that suffering is a part of this sinful world-

not something that jeopardizes Your goodness. 

Thank You that you long to show your care and compassion 

by way of our personal experience. 

You will do away with all pain.

In the meantime, teach us to invite You to grieve with us,

especially since You are already there.