This post, by Elaine Poproski, is a reflection on the “Talking to Oneself” sermon as part of the “I Have to Do What????” sermon series.
At one point in Sunday’s sermon, Robert reminded us that “the circumstances of life have little to do with our spiritual walk with God.” He went on to remind us that when Jesus was in the desert being tempted by Satan, He was, in fact, in the very centre of God’s will for His life. This is something I needed to be reminded of this week.
It’s so easy to look at our physical health or our emotional exhaustion or our joblessness or any number of things, and believe they are evidence of God’s abandonment. Even if we don’t consciously buy into the whole prosperity gospel thing, when life is hard it’s too easy to believe God has forgotten us. In my own life, this way of thinking has a tendency to creep in – to sneak in – past my well-honed theology and my lived experience of God’s faithfulness in the midst of trouble.
More than two decades ago, I had the distinct impression that God was calling and gifting me to be a pastor in a local church. I spent a few years in school testing the call and learning how to do the job of a pastor. I worked and continued to learn and continued to be a local church pastor. At no point would I have ever said that this entitles me to anything from God. Instead, I do what I do because of what God first did for me through Jesus and through His Holy Spirit. I do what I do because God saved me – not just from hell in some unspecified future, but from myself and my own broken, disastrous attempt at a life. And I trust that God is present in my call and in the ministry that flows out of that call.
And then I came to Walmer – to a local church I know God called me to. I know with every fibre of my being that God led me here. And I know He didn’t lead me here because I’m amazing, but because He’s amazing and He wanted to give me the gift of being part of what He wants to do in and through Walmer. But some days, life at Walmer is hard. Some days, life at Walmer feels pretty wilderness-y. Some days I hear the Psalmist’s question in my own head: Why have You forgotten me? (Ps. 42:9) It’s the same question Jesus asked as He hung on the cross, dying. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He was in the very centre of God’s will for His life. When Jesus hung dying on a cross, betrayed by a friend and abandoned by others, He was in the very centre of God’s will for His life. Whether He felt it or not, whether He could prove it or not, God had not abandoned Him. And God has not abandoned me or us. Even when things at Walmer feel impossible, God has not forsaken us. Even when all the principalities and powers seem stacked against us, God has not abandoned us. Even when the wilderness is as dry as the Australian outback and fire and destruction seem imminent, God has not forgotten us. This is something I needed to be reminded of this week. Perhaps you did as well.