October 3
Scripture focus: You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. Matthew 5:3, The Message
A television viewer of our NSC broadcast (CBS-TV 6 on Sunday mornings at 11:30 a.m.) recognized me while I was sitting in a local coffee shop enjoying a ridiculously high calorie confection. Tentatively, she approached my table, introduced herself and began talking non-stop. I listened as she poured out her particular story of hardship. Substance abuse, bad behaving and an unfortunate series of events have created such a firestorm of chaos in her family that something needs to change. “I am at the end of my rope!” she cried. “I hear you talk about people in this same situation on your show. Tell me. What should I do?” This woman doesn’t know it (and neither the time nor the circumstances were right for me to share this good news) – but she is blessed. You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“What do you think you should do?” I ask.
“I don’t know!” she replies despondently. She provides a list of all the things she has tried to climb the rope and explains how every attempt has failed. In case I missed it the first time, she repeats, “I’m at the end of my rope!”
It’s at times like this when a magic wand would come in handy. I don’t happen to own one. I’m pretty sure if I started in with an encouraging speech on how blessed she was, she might take her over-sized handbag and wallop me. Once in a great while, it’s essential that we keep good news to ourselves – at least for a while. Absent the wand, I quite frankly don’t know what to tell her. Does she have more reaping and sowing to do before her feeling of despair catches up to her commitment to “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1)? I don’t know. Is this woman seriously at the end? Is she ready to “let go and let God”? Dare I ask the question or make the suggestion? And if I do, how in the world will she assimilate the deep and profound theological implications of deciding to commit to a “let go and let God” kind of life? Will she expect God to swoop in with his Super God Powers and make all things right? What if God chooses to work in a subtler, more Rapha God manner? (Rapha – meaning, God heals one stitch at the time.) After a silent prayer and more conversation, I offered up the following. “I don’t know what you need to do. But I live among this awesome community of people who ask questions like this all the time. They’ve taught me that when you get to the very end of your rope, and you feel completely freaked out – there’s some hidden opportunity in the suffering. Now might be the time to consider doing something different.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?” I expected her to rise and take her indignation with her. Instead, she gave me a chance to explain.
To be continued…
Recommended reading: Job 26 - 28
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