The mystery

You think you know about love: through parents, your spouse, your children, dear friends.  But then grandchildren come along and you love with a joy that you did not even know you had inside. One that is much larger than you ever thought possible. And the second one comes along, and you just believe you don’t have room in your heart to feel the same way.  But you do…. And your heart grows even larger than you ever could imagine.  And then comes the third…………..(in NOV!) I think there is a mystery in that…..discovering something inside that was previously hidden. Einstein, a pretty smart guy, said that the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. There has been a great mystery progressing over this past year as interferon invaded my life.  How can such an arduous treatment deliver a depth of emotions that is foundationally joy? How is it that “losing” a year rewards you with an unequalled gain? How can distress that arrives day after day result in comfort far beyond the expected?  These are mysteries that have repeated themselves throughout this journey. And now, that journey has ended.  HALLELUIA!!  That might bear repeating, HALLELUIA!!! The last injection has been administered; the syringes and vials tossed in a ceremony of sorts, and in the coming week, the spiteful side effects will diminish…..and will one day disappear.  That in itself causes great rejoicing!!!!  Yet, in the midst of the cheering, the mystery of all that has happened remains and I don’t think it will vanish. No, it will continue as a thread binding me to that same power that opens my heart in unknown ways. I am reminded of the story of Joseph, Jacob’s favored son, who was given the esteemed rainbow coat from his adoring father, creating immense jealousy between himself and his eleven brothers.  Here is sibling rivalry at its worst:  the irate brothers threw Joseph into a pit and then sold him into slavery, and they allowed their father to believe that Joseph had been killed.   I might have been a little upset with my brother or sister for that.  However, many years later, as Joseph stood before these same brothers, who were prostrate in fear and guilt over what they had done to him, he spoke of the mystery of his heart “Don’t be afraid.  Am I in the place of God?  You intended this to harm me but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.” (Gen 50:20) So therein is the rugged hope that is the foundation underneath this past year.  We will not escape distress or peril or suffering or pain, but the Almighty God will make every one of our agonies an instrument of his mercy to do us good. How is it that agony is molded into hope by a belief of what that passage says? By living it each day for a year: and what was a mystery becomes a truth. Not growing up in a city of skyscrapers, the sight of dramatically towering buildings pushing towards the sky will always hold some wonder for me.   I don’t know anything about building a skyscraper, but my VERY limited knowledge of engineering would prove that the larger the building, the bigger the foundation needs to be.  When it comes to the architecture of promises, there is not a bigger skyscraper than  Romans 8:28. This structure is absolutely staggering in its size. It is massive. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  “ALL” is all inclusive.  There is nothing that exists …no hardship, nor pain, nor wretched days that is not in that circle of promise.   Living inside this massive promise is as solid as it gets. The infinitely wise, infinitely powerful God pledges to make everything beneficial for His people! Not just nice things, but horrible things…..especially the horrible things.  But what if they last for 20 years, as they did for Joseph and Jacob? Who could have convinced Jacob that grieving the loss of his son for 20 years was for good?  Yet, God did show Jacob that very thing.  And what if calamities strike one after another after another.  Read the entire story of Joseph and you find the answer to that mystery. And so it is with every misfortune of those who love God.   His sovereign grace transposes it for good. I don’t think anyone escapes “the huffing and puffing that tries to blow our houses down.”  Yet, nothing can blow you over inside the walls of this Romans passage.  “Outside all is confusion and anxiety and fear and uncertainty and straw houses of deadening drugs and tin roofs of retirement plans and cardboard fortifications of anti-ballistic missiles and a thousand other substitutes for Romans 8:28.”  Walk through the door of this Scripture, however, and you walk through a door constructed in love.  Into your life stability and peace and freedom are assembled.  You simply can't be blown over any more. The confidence that a sovereign God governs for your good all the pain and all the pleasure that you will ever experience is an absolutely incomparable refuge and security. I did not triumph over the harsh treatments of this past year…..but instead, I was the beneficiary of this foundational promise.  God triumphed for me.  He called me into this mystery, and made it a certainty.  I knew I would LOVE my children and grandchildren.  But the abundance of that love was the mystery that I could not have fathomed.   I KNEW God loves me…..but the mystery of how much has become clearer over this past year…. squarely in the central heart of the worst.   That rings a bell, like it did with Job who uttered the tangible words,   'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”  “In accordance with the riches of God’s grace, that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding, and He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ.” (Eph1: 9-10)  Or from the Message, “He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.” And so, I can say, HALLELUIA that this past year has come to a close. Yet, I can also say beyond a skinny sliver of doubt, HALLELUIA for the mystery of how something so difficult can become such a deep blessing.  Could I do it again?  I don’t need to run ahead, for God’s grace “does not follow us into our imaginations, but it is there when we need it.”  But yes, I will walk through that door of love any time.