A Response to Car Troubles

It would be unfair of me not to provide a counterpoint to the previous post, as dolorous in tenor as it was. Without going in to the details of the car (except that it still looks like it will end badly, that is, with it being sold for parts), I should like to address how the Lord has answered my complaints and queries.

In essence, He spoke to me through the eighth chapter of Romans, which I had been approaching as part of my regular Bible study in the mornings. The chapter begins with Paul explaining the difference between the old man and the new man. One walks according to the flesh, the earthly way of being and doing and thinking and feeling, while the other walks according to the Spirit, because the Spirit lives in him. And because the Spirit lives in him, he is set free from fear (15), and is a son of God.

This served as a balm to my raw and swollen soul. This was comfort and consolation, the affirmation of my new position in life, my freedom from sin and fear, the opportunity to draw upon the resources of God. It helped even out my emotions through quiet consolation, a still, small whisper of love.

But the Truth came next, the bolstering up of my spirits, the renewing of my mind. Verse 18: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Well, that rocked me back on my metaphorical haunches. I was suffering last night, and Paul's suffering is worlds' worse than mine will ever be, in all probability. It was a kind of dope slap upside the head: Wake Up! It's just some light and momentary troubles!

Which brings me to the famous passage beginning with 31: "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" He goes on to say that God's no skinflint, a niggardly Scrooge doling out coals that barely generate heat on a cold winter's day. He sacrificed His Son for us; do we really think He'll blanch at trifles like money, physical health, relationships, and the like? What are they but hay and stubble? "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (35). Are we that stupid as to think that the things of this world can break bonds forged in the blood of God's Son, God Himself? Even an unutterable tragedy like a car breaking down a few times can't come close to being in the same universe as the provision that blood-soaked cross and empty tomb made for us.

To add to my shame, the next verses talk of facing death, equating themselves to slaughtered sheep, before we come to arguably one of the most triumphant verses ever penned: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (38-39). We are to be more than conquerors in these things, never forgetting how we do this, "through Him who loved us," and gave Himself for us (37).

So this morning was a gentle dope slap and a spiritual hug.