WHEN FAITH LIES WOUNDED

Suggested Scripture Reading: The Book Of Job is unsurpassed in its poetic expression, and in its in-depth look at human suffering.

Job 42: 5 “I had only heard about You before,but now I have seen You with my own eyes.

Luke 24:19 – 34

Luke 24: 17 They stopped short, sadness written across their      faces     

There are many, who, having attained the rights of passage from adolescence to adulthood soon find a world that is far different from their expectations. The familiar is missing. The once easily accomplished now presents a frightening challenge. Things once freely acquired now bring financial distress. Coupled with these there is a conscious longing, coming like molten lead dripping on a naked brain, for the lost sense of security, and for universal friendship, all wrapped in a warm blanket of childhood’s faith.
The poet Elizabeth Akers Allen has many who borrow every night her longing:

“Backward, turn backward
O Time, in thy flight.
And make me a child again,
Just for tonight.”(1)

The longing for the simple rudiments of faith known in childhood is a universal phenomenon.they are the sign of God’s intention to equip every infant with specialized knowledge of His Heavenly Presence, for as long as they inhabit this earthly domain.
The English poet, William Wordsworth, suggests as much in “Intimations Of Immortality.”
“We come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close.
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature’s priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day.”(2)

It is erroneous to conclude that faith must be left behind as a relic of childhood, as one proceeds to adulthood. It is the expectation that faith matures along with one’s intellectual ability. The mystery of faith’s development coincides with the unfoldment of one’s spiritual prowess.

Many times spiritual growth is stymied by an attack upon faith or even a wounding of the same, with results extending far beyond the witness of the young.
Robert Browning was a master of the dramatic monologue.
In “Fears And Scruples” he expounds upon the developing faith of a child. In the voice of a child, he presents a pictorial image of God.

“Of old, I used to love him.
This same unseen friend, before I knew:
Dream there was none like him, none above him,-
Wake to hope and trust my dream was true.”

But too soon, dark clouds heralding an approaching storm begin to form on the horizon. The blast of cynical comments batters from every side.
How can you have a friendship with someone you never see?
Is your belief founded only on words of others, who have never seen him either?
What kind of a friend is he, who insists on playing ‘Hide And Seek” with you?
Is this friend always spying on you through a brick wall,–or do you have the ability to see through brick walls?”

Belief stagers and stumbles for a moment, and then rebounds, with vigor! Addressing the cynics, he retorts:

“Hush, I pray you! What if this friend happens to be –God?” (3)

Similarly, consider one who is an exemplary witness of the faithfulness and mercy of God. In the twinkling of an eye, Job changes from riches to rags. He sits alone, deprived of family and most of his friends. His fields, once a suggestion of his abundant wealth, are now empty and bare.

Is that the way God rewards the steadfast witness of anyone?
That consideration is prima facie concerning Job, throughout his Old Testament community. Who is on the throne of this universe? Is it a kind benevolent God, or is it some uncaring, malignant force of evil? Even Job’s wife despairs. ” Curse God, and die! She counsels her suffering husband. With untempered fervor, Job addresses his counselors: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.– I heard about You by the hearing of my ears, but now I have seen You with my own eyes.”

A story of greater pathos is impossible to find than that which tells of the two would-be followers of Jesus, from Emmaus. The two are returning home following the horrific experience of observing the crucifixion of the young prophet, Jesus, thought by many including themselves, to be Israel’s Messiah. But this is the evening of the Resurrection Day. Even though rumors are circulating concerning an empty tomb, in the same Garden where the body of Jesus was interred, home, the refuge from heartache and endless sorrow, beckons them on. In the attempt to explain their leaden steps and broken hearts to an unrecognized fellow traveler, their grief comes tumbling from their lips. ” We had hoped that he was the Messiah, who had come to rescue Israel–but they crucified him! And this all happened three days ago.”
Later, that evening they discover the identity of the unknown stranger traveling with them on the way. It was their Risen Lord. Their feet become equipped with wings as they hasten back to Jerusalem, to join the company of fearless witnesses proclaiming:” The Lord has risen, He has risen indeed!”

Faith may lie wounded, but it never dies. It may be shaken, but it is never destroyed. It may be eclipsed, but it is never permanently obliterated. It is the very essence of faith which God undertakes to guard. The door through which the Grace of Heaven arrives to resurrect a faltering faith always remains open at God’s command. Only a person’s conscious decision can ever close that door!

This world is awash with a flood of evil forces that seeks to diminish or even destroy the original beauty of belief, and trust in God. The hour is now when all believers must’ stand firm in the faith,’ and without fear or intimidation announce: “Jesus Christ is Lord, and our God reigns forever and forever.”

PRAYER TO FOLLOW THIS MEDITATION

Father. I don’t ever remember seeing the Evening Star perform in such a magnificent pageant as it did this evening!  The whole western sky seemed poised to let the glory of the Evening Star be seen. The sky provided a backdrop of blue velvet for it; the exceptionally black clouds on the horizon revealed their more tranquil nature, in breath-taking splendor, in colors of crimson and gold. And there, center stage, seeming of the whole universe, was Your Evening Star!

The Light radiating from that star had to be a light shining from a window in Your Heavenly Home. Father, was that Your way of reminding us that Your light still shines in the darkness of this world, and the darkness has never extinguished it?  Was the appearance of this Evening Star, to remind us that you share the glorious light from Your Heavenly Home with us always, even when clouds obscure our sight of it. You have fixed the light of Heaven in each person’s spirit; Jesus, the Christ, is our abiding Evening Star.

Father, some will scoff at my simplistic faith and discount the expression of my belief. But I ask You to give me the courage to”Stand Firm In The Faith.” May I always remember that if the light of the Evening is the light from Your window, that You are always at that window keeping watch over us all. ” While he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and had compassion on him ,and ran out to meet him.” And that is always our story. Thank You, Father. Amen

Hymn: Son Of My Soul

https://youtu.be/hxeYGSJuZto

 

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

 Here and throughout this meditation, the quotations
from the Holy Bible are from the New Living
Translation, Unless otherwise noted in the text.

1. Elizabeth Akers Allan. In, Rock Me To Sleep, Mother,                               Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912.
2. William Wordsworth, in Ode. Intimations Of Immortality,                     Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
3. Robert Browning,  in. Fears And Scruples.                                                     https://www.gradesaver.com/robert-browning-poems/e-text/fears-and-scruples
4. Photo: Unknown                                                                                                                    ” They that wait upon the Lord                                                                                Shall renew their strength.                                                                                    They shall mount up on wings,                                                                           like an eagle”.