Life: God’s Version of “Take Your Child to Work’ Day”

Week 9 – He Cares for Us! But Dad, You Promised!

Psalm 91:9-14

† Jesus, Son and Savior †

May the grace, mercy, peace and comfort of God be yours, as you endure life in this broken world!

• Intro:  Scratch out that title

This morning I need you to do something.

I need you to take a pen, or one of those little stubby pencils. Got it?

Now open your bulletin to the title page. Come on – this is important!

Now scratch out that crazy title – that He cares for us!

No, not just a line – scribble over it, I don’t want to see those words! Think like a 5 year old, throwing a tantrum.

Now, write in, “But Dad, You Promised!!!!”

Ever have one of those days when you were doing something with your dad and mom, and there was a promise to do something after?  Then when the task was done, for whatever reason we find unacceptable, they couldn’t fulfil their promise?

“But Dad, You Promised!”

• Is Frustration a Sign of Weak Faith?

That’s my reaction this week to the reading from Psalm 91, as a mixture of emotions, none of them positive—pour out when I read,  “If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, ¹⁰  no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.”

On Monday, I thought about talking about how much God cares for us for the promises in this passage are quite clear!

By Wednesday, and the day of 10 critical prayer requests, all involving illness and physical afflictions (which is part of the idea of plague—not just anything that is an illness – but anything that stresses you physically and emotionally. I began wondering if the angels fell asleep or went on vacation this week, for the passage promises, “For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. ¹²  They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.” I mean, if we can’t blame God, maybe the angels got held up in a spiritual battle,

what part of this promise God forgot, and by Friday, I was beginning to question whether we haven’t made the Lord our refuge, we haven’t made him our shelter, all bets and promises are off.

So did God forget, were the angels lazy or delayed, or have we somehow spiritually failed?

And does my even asking that question raise a question of whether I trust God?

Where does doubt turn to sin?

And where does doubt turn to unbelief?

With promises like this, my heart cries out, seriously cries out at times, “But Fathr, You promised!”

And I struggle with the need that we have to cry that, and the fact we do…

So what is the answer? How do we explain suffering, illness and trauma, knowing the promises of God. How can I trust those promises, when it appears they aren’t kept?

I will protect him…

I will ask this again,

• How can we trust those promises, when it appears they aren’t kept?

We can’t just dismiss this seeming contradiction – we have to honestly deal with out doubts, and we can.

Of course, my private devotions didn’t help this week!  From reading of the God ordained suffering in Ezekiel to this famous passage from James, “²  Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4 (NLT2)

I use other books as well, and whether from Luther or others, everything seemed about suffering and struggling, and how we are blessed. The one based on St. Francis was pretty blunt as well, “Even though he was completely worn out by his prolonged and serious illness, he threw himself on the ground, bruising his weakened bones in the hard fall. Kissing the ground, he said: “I thank you, Lord God, for all these sufferings of mine; and I ask you, my Lord, if it pleases you, to increase them a hundredfold. Because it will be most acceptable to me, that you do not spare me, afflicting me with suffering, since the fulfillment of your will is an overflowing consolation for me.”^[1]

So on one hand, we have promises that  God will protect us wherever we go – and in another we have the promise and evidence that Christians do have many challenges to deal with—but here is the caveat—what is the result of all of these challenges?

What does Francis see, or James, or King David—who wrote this Psalm but whose life…had its challenges, or Paul with his thorn in the flesh?

How come they can, in on moment cry out “Father God, you promised,” and then a moment later sing his praises, or find comfort in their struggles? It is as if they believe that other promise, that God uses all things for good for those who love Him and are called into His purpose.

That’s how they get there, and how we get there, as we stop seeing the challenges as challenges, but the opportunity to see God at work, doing the miraculous to bless us and others through the suffering.

So seek your refuge in Jesus, find your home, your shelter in the presence of God. There you will find yourself held onto through the storm, even as you hold onto God. There you will find you know His name, because He has given it you as you were made His child.

The greatest example of this can be seen when Satan confronts Jesus with this passage. Jump off from these heights – angels won’t let you land hard! And while Jesus doesn’t due that, can anyone really say that evil didn’t try to conquer Him?

It did not conquer Him, although He was afflicted more than any other.  He endured the cross, despite the pain and the shame the book of Hebrews tells us. But how can a sacrifice that results in your salvation be evil? Not only you – but everyone who trusts and depends on God.

There is our faith! That is why the sacraments are so powerful, as we again realize that God has brought us into His presence, as we come to the altar, as we receive His precious Body and Blood – as we realize as Francis said, that it is okay, because we are more convinced of His will, and desire it more than our comfort in this life.

This is a time of healing, this is the time where we can pour out the doubt, the questions, the pain and stress. This is the time we look at the baptismal font and the altar and take a deep breath – and remember the love of God, and that He calls us by His name-the name by which our salvation and the promise that these challenges will result in good is made…

And then, instead of crying out, “but God, you promised” we cry out, “yes God, you promised, You are my refuge, You are my Home, You are my rescuer, and my Hope! ” as we sing His praises…

AMEN

^[1] Pasquale, G., ed. (2011). Day by Day with Saint Francis: 365 Meditations (p. 274). New City Press.