Come on, God…
It is Friday. We tend to slow down just a bit. Pressing Monday morning issues have been long since conquered or will press again next week. The weather changes, the sun rises and tonight it will set. Life is what we are in. Yesterday we remembered that life is sometimes hard. It is also fragile and should be handled with prayer. For the Christian, life seems to revolve around Sunday services and gathering together with other like minded believers. For others it may be sports, hobbies, family responsibilities or just some down time. But it normally happens on the weekend and starts sometime Friday. It seems quieter at times; more jocular at others. It is Friday, the sixth day of seven. There are still places to go, things to do and people to see. Some of our friends are giving birth and some are in the last days of their time on earth. It is life.
As I read a piece over on The Internet Monk, by Jeff Dunn, bemoaning his current days of destitution, I was struck by the sheer volume of pundits seeking to weigh in with their take on his misery. I lurk over at www.internetmonk.com and this is probably the first time in a year I have dropped a thought there. I was stunned as I realized that no matter what your circumstance, it seems that everyone has an opinion about your life. They do not have to know you or anything about you and yet they can respond authoritatively concerning your plight. They can also belittle, badger and bully any other who attempts to hold them accountable for their comments.
I want to know why. I believe it is a good healthy thing to have an exchange of ideas concerning most things. But Jeff’s piece was really just a momentary “Come on God, why does it have to be so tough at times?” plea. He knows God’s loving ways are faithful and he knows he doesn’t see things as God sees them and he knows that most everyone else knows that he knows. So why is it the necessary marching orders for the army of (I’m not so sure about this) well intentioned naysayers to go on a Job hunt? (That’s Jobe not job) Perhaps it is simply intellectual freedom. Perhaps it is self aggrandized importance. Perhaps a desire to help someone see things through other eyes or perhaps the world is just full of insensitive jerks looking for a shot at brow beating the next victim.
All of these scenarios are probably true in some degree. Yet at some point I seem to want to quietly and incredulously say “really?” Are we so possessed of our own self worth that we have no sympathies or concerns for others. Now in all fairness there were those who just said, “Here’s a hug and an ear”. Usually that is the most appropriate response. Yet intellectual folks from around the world and at all levels of social standing felt it necessary to castigate the godly servant in his “Come on, God…” moment. Can some see the feeding frenzy? Just go yell fire in a crowded theater or shout “salmonella” at a large charity dinner. Life is what we are in. Life is sometimes hard. Not all of us are on such a level that we can respond with great self effacing humble utterance when something in life takes another whack at us. My reply was just a little reference to “Nothing in Life is Harder Than Now”. I hope it helps; because life sometimes sucks. Sometimes it doesn’t match the God image we see. Sometimes it is necessary to just say “Come on, God…”
(Nothing is Harder Than Now – is in the Writings section of this page)