Excuse Me...And Your Tragedy Is?

A friend recently asked me what my Tragedy was!

Now, that's not the sort of conversation which usually comes up while waiting in line at Starbucks or chatting with someone next to you on the Tread Master at the gym.

It's the sort of rhetorical question ministers ask in a sermon were you can hide in the silence of the service.

Some might think it an irritatingly, morbid question, since we spend the lion's share of our time staying too busy to reflect on the painful areas of our lives. Reality avoidance is the name of the game we play with a vengeance.

No, my friend is not an "ambulance-chasing-councilor." And she was sincere when she spoke about walking in public places, searching the faces of strangers, wondering what their tragedies. As one who works in a service industry, I encounter people with the full range of emotions. Most people are dealing with their life situations well...but there are the few who can't wait to share the lava of their disappointments with whoever crosses their path.

TRAGEDY: Drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance.

As 21st Century Americans were raised to believe that “Life is Fair.” It is not suffering that troubles us,…it is Undeserved suffering. Growing up, if we disobeyed our parents, we were punished for it. When that discipline was connected with wrongdoing, there was a sense of justice connected to it.

But when we get older, and we see there is no correlation between the amount of wrong we commit and the amount of pain we experience, it can be devastating. An even larger surprise can come when we do RIGHT and we get kicked down for doing it. Thus, the full impact, the large capital TRAGEDY!

For the Protagonist (Hero), anger is only the first of many emotions, depending on the duration of the experience. For some the Tragedy proves lethal, life threatening, overwhelming, hope-less. As one who has swam in these dark pools of despair on more than one occasion, the last thing I needed was the know-it-all, pious answer-people who visited.

We don’t like to see people suffer. As Christ-followers, we like to have answers to the Why behind suffering. The truth is, sometimes we don’t know Why. And it is no reflection on our faith or on God if we can’t speak for Him.

In the Book of Job, his friends tried to speak for God, presuming to know what Job’s sin was or that he was suffering for his pride and hidden sin. Job's comforters' assuptions and advice was hollow, superior, and spiritually presumptive. At the end of Job’s trial, God appeared to those friends and said….

Job 43:(7) “After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz … and said, “I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me - not the way my friend Job has. (8) So here’s what you must do. … go to my friend
Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own behalf. … My friend Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer. He will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and for not being honest with me, as he has.” (9) They did it. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what God commanded. And God accepted Job’s prayer. (10) After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune - and then doubled it!

Those are sober, cautionary words for me to remember any time I speak to a friend going through the crucible of pain. I am more likely to weep with them than quote volumes of Scripture exposing my ability for Biblical literacy, but lack of personal sensitivity. I’m also learning, by personal experience, that there are times God withholds Himself from the believer, not in punishment, but in an act of love for the child who would seek Him and the treasure of His presence.

In this world of microwave, instant, credit card gratification, we have forgotten God’s delight is still in those who SEEK him.

Psalms 119:2 "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that SEEK him with the whole heart."

Proverb 8:17 "I love them that love me; and those that SEEK me early shall find me."

Jeremiah 29:13 "And ye shall SEEK me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

The word “seek” means “search or frequent a place, tread a place.” There is a diligence implied. Something more than an infrequent, quick prayer fire to heaven at meal time.

If following Christ had been so easy, He would have never told the rich, young ruler to forsake all and follow him. We have forgotten conveniently "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

Now, I'm not advocating those tragedy-ridden people are the only seeker-serious followers of God. Some sufferers have chosen to curse God for their situations. It is a choice on how you will respond to your circumstances. And the resulting bitterness will only extend the effects of suffering and its impact on those around you.

If you've been spared great trial to this date, it's God's wisdom. The book of James tells us the Father will never allow trial more than our maturity or ability to bear it. The reality is for millions of Christ-followers, taking up the cross daily means painfully more than simply wearing a silver cross around their neck or putting the fish sticker on the back of their car and getting hassled about it.