Glorifying God in the dark times (Part 2)

It’s on to part 2 of Brett Ferguson’s remarks on glorifying God when times are difficult.  Once again, he gave these at his dad’s memorial service in 2002.  Incidentally, as I said last time, Brett also gave thoughts on glorifying God in happiness and in death on that bittersweet day.  Perhaps I will share those points one day as well, but now, I want to just focus on this category.

Number 3: we glorify God in the dark times “by knowing there will be joy again.”  Let me give a contemporary example of this.  Almost a month ago now, Pierce Brosnan recorded what was called a live watch along.  It featured Pierce watching his first appearance as James Bond 007 – the film “Goldeneye” (which was released back in 1995) from his home in Hawaii.  As he watched the film, Pierce shared fascinating behind the scenes stories about it.

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing this watch along on a you tube video.  This was quite relevant for me because it was actually the iconic Nintendo 64 video game – based on this movie – that introduced me to the character of James Bond in the first place.  A little over 30 minutes into the video Pierce said, “How is everyone doing?  I hope you are well…I send much love to you all, in these harsh times.  They will pass…one has to keep good faith and strength.  It’s almost like a Bond movie, the times we are living through here; an extreme Bond movie [with] not many laughs.”

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_btdGN9uUeY)

Pierce’s confidence assertion on how this chapter won’t last forever was an encouragement to me.  And it ties to the point Brett made about knowing, in the dark times, that there will be joy again.  The Psalmist said, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).  As Brett pointed out, “the land of the living” is here and now.

 

The fourth and final point is “by learning what God wants us to learn.”  In one of his last sermons before his unexpected home-going, Rick Ferguson shared that his life verse was John 15:5.  This is where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  He that abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; apart from Me, you can do nothing.”  Brett pointed out that it was only after a time of very intense suffering in Rick’s life when John 15:5 became a driving force in his life.  There are lessons, Brett contended, that can only come from pain and suffering.

Matt and Beth Redman’s book “On the Road Marked with Suffering” has been a source of help for me on these difficult days.  They have a wise word that I want to share, as I conclude.  They write, 

“A word of warning: we’re not trying to advocate that every kind of suffering is merely a blessing in disguise.  That could be a massively insensitive stance to take, especially in light of major world tragedies…Or even in the light of something far more individual and personal, such as losing a loved one.  We can’t simply tidy away the issue of suffering into an “every cloud has a silver lining” drawer.  The issue is far more complex than that – and many times we ourselves cannot provide a satisfactory answer to the question of why suffering occurs.  To always attempt an explanation may at times put us at risk of belittling someone’s experience of suffering…Some situations are far beyond our fathoming.”  And all those in the grip of suffering said “amen!”

Kevin