"Other help"

From previous post:

I have been given other help in my struggle to fathom the prevalence of evil and injustice (perhaps to be discussed in another post)

During a sermon a couple of weeks ago a most glorious light-bulb went off for me. The pastor talked about how some people's lives are filled with unimaginable suffering with little or no relief. It was different from what pastors usually say. Usually they talk about how we cope with burdens that last some months or years and don't completely upend our lives. But when he spoke that Sunday I thought about people living under persecution or abject poverty or wartime... people whose norm was abuse and degradation. In Canada in the 21st century, it's not even in the frame. But I have heard stories (vivid stories that never leave me). 

He was almost not teaching but simply acknowledging and then grieving. There are circumstances where there is absolutely no earthly balm--not even friends co-suffering. Those are harrowing, ugly places to live. 

He addressed the question I have been rolling around in my head for so long. How can I pray for the end of suffering and injustice on earth when I know God will not grant that request fully until Jesus returns? How can I ask--beg--for something that I know will not be given? I'd been afraid to even try because I didn't want God's reply of "later" to damage my faith. I didn't want to be railing on the door of my kind, present Father to find He wouldn't even open it, let alone speak to me. (How deeply that knife would cut: being abruptly, inexplicably disowned by a close family member.) That wouldn't be the reality and I know that. I know that (in Christ) there is no closed door in our relationship. But emotionally.... how do I wail and claw and grovel to ask for the end of something like sex trafficking.... and not get a yes? I can't. I can't handle the feeling that God doesn't care enough to stop it. 

The pastor didn't provide the answer and I don't even know how I "figured it out"--it's probably the case that I figured out nothing. The Holy Spirit just gave it to me: I can pray for Jesus' return. 

I can pray for Jesus' return!

I can pray for that even when I'm not contemplating human suffering. I can pray for it simply because I can't wait to be with Him. Something about asking for this and hearing, "not yet but soon," as a reply sits fine with me. My heart knows He will come in His perfect timing. My heart doesn't feel like we're being ignored or put off because He hasn't come yet. I believe He will come when He ought, and I've always believed that. 

I can pray for Jesus' return and I can rejoice that when He comes He will set everything right--and that means everything. Praise God.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Probably not what Greg expected or wanted...

I started reading a Contemporary English Version of the Bible a couple of months ago and it has been extraordinarily refreshing. 

I picked the copy off the shelf in my office because I was looking for some guidance on praying against injustice. It's got "the poverty and injustice bible" written on the front (along with the silhouette of barbed wire, trenches and explosions, and part of a child's face looking quite sad and abandoned). When I first received the book several years ago (from someone who was cleaning their office) I scoffed because 1) I don't like emotionally manipulative things, and 2) I don't like the idea of adding a lens to the Bible that really shouldn't be added. (Side note: I detest many of the Bible versions I see advertised trying to appeal to specific demographics or seasons when the very obvious motive is making money. It's like the too-many iterations of Chicken Soup for the Soul or the Fast and the Furious franchise (except the latter doesn't change for demographics). Add some designs to the cover, some devotional-esque thoughts in the margins, and a title that connects with that "hey, that's me!" voice in all of us that loves being recognised or represented and you will probably sell more than a few copies of this "new" book. It disgusts me. I think the worst I have seen is called "The Jesus Bible". THAT IS NOT INNOVATIVE. THAT LENS IS NOT MAN-MADE. I'm getting so worked up writing this. But to be clear, I'm not against any republishing of the Word, adding pretty covers or helpful devos or study notes. If you're helping people engage with the Word then do whatever you want. If you're making a cash-grab, go away. Be useful, not sneaky.)

Anyways, because this "poverty and justice" Bible I was offered contained the actual inspired Scriptures, despite the trimmings, I wasn't going to throw it away. I could never.

And a couple of months ago after much wrestling with the evil and cruelty in the world and how to fathom it, nevermind end it or pray for it, I decided I should look at this book where thoughtful people have already done the hard work of searching the Scriptures for passages showing how God views and deals with injustice. I was looking for guidance on how to pray and thought I could find passages that I might even pray word-for-word because in the face of things like sex-trafficking... I don't have any words.

Instead of flipping through to read only the highlighted passages (they're literally highlighted in orange) I started at the beginning and... I was captivated. For personal reading, work-related reading, and seminary-related reading I have exlusively used the New International Version for as long as I've ever read the Bible, probably from age 13 or 14. Somehow the different phrasing has gone so far with me.

I was absolutely captivated, interested, engaged...It felt like reading the other books of the Bible I read for the first time after I became a Christian 17 years ago. So fresh and beautiful, amazing and compelling.

"Shouldn't we be able to always read the Bible that way? It's God's Word!"
     I don't know. I feel guilty about that often. I don't know if there's a perspective I lack or something I can cultivate or conjure to come to the Bible bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every day. I bet it can't be done, because of sin and maybe simply because of how the human brain works. Maybe the Word isn't supposed to always be exciting per se.

I'm beyond thankful. I have been given other help in my struggle to fathom the prevalence of evil and injustice (perhaps to be discussed in another post?) so I don't feel in a rush to get to the orange passages in this Bible. I'm still enjoying reading Genesis afresh.

I came here to write about something profound God showed me in mid-Genesis but this post is already too long so I'll save it for another day.