Good Morning!
In his work of fiction imagining the apocalyptic mechanical future British author Aldous Huxley predicted that unlike Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 where books are burned when found or George Orwell’s 1984 in which the government comes up with false narratives to manipulate men and women for the purposes of rule that in the days to come the authorities neither needed to ban books nor change truth for “soma”, a drug that caused people to be docile and happy, would be enough to control society. As long as folks are distracted and at peace the monsters can play and do what they will. While there are elements of both Orwell and Bradbury which have arrived on our doorsteps in the last couple of decades it is Huxley who really nailed what we are experiencing today. As long as our creature comforts are cared for we don’t really feel like we have much need for anything. If the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn’t exist, then making life seem easy may be his second best.
In our catechism question today we are faced with a quandary. Q. #19 says:
Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
We were told in previous answers that Adam sinned, and we all sinned in Adam, and now we receive the penalty of his transgressions with the entrance of death and misery. Calvin’s tiger friend Thomas Hobbes was fond of saying that life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Yet while we still deal with illness and death all things considered the world really ain’t all that bad. Think for a moment about the difference between Hobbes’ 17th Century England and your 21st Century South Carolina. You have access to aspirin. It may not seem like much, but imagine existing in a time where your best bet to deal with pain was a swig of cheaply sourced booze. That is not exactly a healthy way to get a handle on discomfort. Have an abscessed tooth? Get the pliers and a couple buddies to hold you down. Now we get to watch TV while a sweet lady puts us to sleep and wakes us up when the dentist is done.
Which would you prefer?
While it may seem strange to talk about societal changes over 400 years it says something about why the “miseries of this life” don’t speak to us as much as they used to. When you are in constant agony from a problem we’d take care of with a trip to Congress Street in York and visiting our local pharmacy the need to find the reason why this was all happening would be much greater. Our providential blessing in the revelation of further knowledge has made us soft. Why do we need to gain an understanding of the sufferings of being a human if we don’t really suffer all that much? It’s not accidental that in parts of the world where persecution is greatest, and governments are doing a lot more physical torture of Christians than “cancelling Christmas” fellow believers will do anything they can to gather together to worship. For the Lord of glory alone is able to relieve them of such agony and He alone is worthy of praise. If all you need God for is the time to come, then He’s not much use to you in the here and now. Unfortunately that is where the American Church is today.
If nothing is really that bad you don’t really feel the need to give thanks as much.
There of course is nothing new about this.
In days of peace in Israel the covenant people of God wandered away as well. They looked out their window and saw no threats, no trials, and therefore saw no desire to give honor to the Lord or to seek his help. I am sure that if you stopped a random male Gadite in the streets of Ramoth he’d confess his faith in Jehovah, that he and his family served God and even had a copy of the Pentateuch on his coffee table. There might even have been a “Moses is my Homeboy” bumper sticker on his donkey. Every person who knew him would say he was salt of the earth, a good person, someone you could count on in a pinch. But when the Sabbath came he would make his monthly, quarterly, or yearly appearance do his duty and get on with his day. No real need for the mid-week meetings or spiritual mess. He got his grace booster shot and was good for a while. There was little desire in his heart to learn more or grow in his faith.
If you think I am exaggerating or doing a little psy-op thing for the present the prophets of old had this same common complaint about the people. They loved to go through the motions. (Isaiah 1:12-15, 29:13). They enjoyed the outward identifiers about religion, but not the actual religion itself. This was all because as long as things were hunky dory on the outside the inward sacred stuff didn’t matter. But as soon as the Assyrians or Babylonians appeared on the horizon immediately they would run to the Temple, but what does God say to them at this point?
“When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.”
Seems kind of harsh at first. However, think about it for a second. If you don’t need God when things are good, why would He be obligated to help you out when things were bad? Well that really is the problem isn’t it. Our material blessings blind us towards our true need. Far too many of us were born on third base thinking we hit a triple. Ever consider for a moment that the reason why we are so fortunate is because the Lord who has made all has given it to us out of His sovereign will and pleasure? If things are good instead of making us think we don’t need God, it should actually drive us to need Him even more. Our desire to pray and praise should be raised higher and higher in times of plenty.
The slothful servant of Matthew 25 was punished because he did not use the talent that his master had given him. How much more so will it be for those who enjoy the earthly mercies of God, yet neglect the weightier matters of spiritual life and worship?
A question worth considering.
Here is some reading for today:
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/what-misery-does-sin-bring-2020-03/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church