Last week, I bemoaned the fact that I am too “ancient” to understand the “talk” of the modern younger generation. But I can get even. I, too, speak a language that is “foreign” to them!
Take for example, this conversation I had with my son yesterday after learning that his Valentine’s date didn’t happen:
“So you got ‘stood up’, did you?”
His response? “What? Stood up what?”
In the end, I had to explain to him what the expression meant…
Yup. I do know how to get even with their text talk!
Last week we saw how God’s Word is written in “code” so to speak, so that it cannot be understood without the help of God’s Spirit. But as I think farther about all of this, it occurs to me that God’s Word isn’t the only thing that can be hard to understand in the life of the Christian! Is there an “interpreter” for why we have to go through trouble? Why we get sick? Why we have money problems? Is there an interpreter who will help us understand why our loved ones die?
Yes, in the midst of heavy trials, the “meaning” can be as obscure as the expression “stood up” was to my 20 year-old, and we stress out with questions of “why me? Why?”
Early this past Thursday morning, I awoke with an upset stomach. It wasn’t long before what began as a tiny tummy ache escalated, and I soon found myself being purged of my most recent meals, with symptoms lasting well into Friday. I would learn later Thursday morning, when I called in to work to say I was sick, that I was one of five who were suffering similar symptoms, and by Friday, I was one of ten. Each of us had been at a Baby Shower on Tuesday evening, and there were suspicions being raised as to the purity of the food at the restaurant we were at.
But not everyone got sick. At least 25 people at that shower did not! Why me? God? You promised to protect my health! Why couldn’t You have made me one of the 25 who didn’t get sick???
Yup, I definitely needed an “interpreter”, ’cause I just didn’t get it!
Friday morning dawned dark and snowy. We were in the thralls of a major winter storm that dumped upwards of 35 cm of snow on our region. Now this is considered to be a lot for the region I live in. In fact, it is being called the worst storm of the past five years. Schools were closed, many places of business were closed, and citizens were all encouraged to “stay off the roads”. Naturally, not everyone could followed this advice, and as a result, the police and tow-trucks were busy clearing up accidents and pulling cars out of ditches.
Unlike the schools, my place of work never closes. (Understandable! I work in a hospital!) But whenever a storm comes through, I must take my life into my hands and slip and slide to work. It just isn’t fair!
But this year I didn’t have to put my life, and the lives of other motorists on the road, in danger. Why? Because I had contracted a vicious stomach bug! Thank you, Lord!
It’s true that the reason behind every problem that comes our way is not so quickly “interpreted”, but if we are open to God’s Spirit, He will open our blind eyes and help us see!
Take, for example, the car crash my kids were in last summer. Totalled my car. But in the end, my car was in better shape than it had been before the crash, and I was only $350.00 out of pocket.
And then there was my recent bout with Breast Cancer.
:Now hold on, Lyn,” you say, “Even you can’t find anything to be thankful about with that!”
Oh, but I can!
You see, I now take a certain medication. Although I was dreading it, it has turned out that as a result of the medication, which came as a result of the cancer, I no longer suffer from the multiple, severe gastric symptoms that have been dragging me down for the past 15 years! And even more, the lessons I learned, and the closeness I felt to God through this experience, made it all worthwhile!
And if I think back to every “bad” incident that has happened in my life, I see where God has worked it out for God somehow. I can truly understand God’s advice to us in His Word: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…” (Jas 1:2, NKJV). But I have to be open to seeing.
My son is open to learning my expressions. He, in fact, invites my explanations because he wants to understand.
In the same way, I have to be open to seeing things from God’s perspective. I need to allow Him speak Truth into my life, I need to listen for His Voice of Truth, that still, small voice that is so easily overcome by the screams of circumstance. I need to “seek” that voice: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (Jas 1:5, NKJV)
Friends, the next time you find yourselves in a situation that is difficult to understand, I invite you to open up your hearts to seeing things from God’s perspective! When you do, I can assure you that you, too, will understand!
And maybe you’ll learn a bit of new vocabulary, too!
Ta ta! (sorry, that’s pretty ancient vocabulary for the younger generation…)
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the entire “Of ‘Ish’ and ‘Stood-up'” mini-series, please click here.)