"This Too Shall Pass"

"There's no place like home." - Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz

A simple statement. Used and overused many times over. But Dorothy echoes my thoughts tonight. There really is no place like home.

I take great pleasure in actually having a day to rest and take a breather. For the first time in months, I didn't feel the overwhelming need to be on my feet doing something or preparing some kind of assignment for class. I could just take an afternoon cat-nap, eat my traditional Sunday dinner, and be with my family. It's so good to be home again after a bitter winter term. It makes me thankful that home is a mere 40 minutes away. A blessing, indeed.

One of the greatest things about today was going back to the Blackburns' Sunday School class. I've missed that a lot, and enjoyed seeing Doug and Karen again. We got to participate in some intercessory prayer this morning as the church staff asked all the classes to pray for each other. Ours was the 3-year-old class, and so we stood just outside the door and quietly prayed for them, their families and teachers, their future as teenagers and adults as well as their coming to know the importance of growing in Jesus. Also, Annie Ruth Yelton saw us leaving and called us over to pray for a special situation. Apparantly, the church can no longer afford to hand out beepers to parents and teachers of pre-school children, and so they need to find a new way to stay in contact and maintain a safe, comfortable environment. Praying about beepers may seem weird to you, but child safety is a very big deal.

Our lesson today focused on Jeremiah, and how he prophesied about the coming of Christ in the midst of heavy persecution under the Babylonians. The lesson used a theme/heading that stuck with me: "This too shall pass."

Lots of people have used this as a 'feel-better' statement. Something to get us through the trials and difficulties of daily life. College life getting you down? This too shall pass. Feeling frustrated in the workplace or a relationship? This too shall pass. Bedridden by Old Man Flubug or hospitalized with an unknown ailment? This too shall pass. But is that all it is? Just a be-all, cure-all tiding to make us feel better? Or is there more to it than that? I think so.

A little research into the topic led to an interesting story about King Solomon:

"The origin of the saying "this too shall pass" appears to date back to a story told about King Solomon. It is said that the King, feeling blue, asked his advisors to find him a ring he had seen in a dream. "When I feel satisfied I’m afraid that it won’t last. And when I don’t, I am afraid my sorrow will go on forever. Find me the ring that will ease my suffering."

Eventually an advisor met an old jeweler who carved into a simple gold band the Hebrew inscription "gam zeh ya’avor" – "this too shall pass."

When the king received his ring and read the inscription his sorrows turned to joy and his joy to sorrows, and then both gave way to equanimity."

Our feelings, good and bad, are very fickle. We're not always going to feel a certain way 100% of the time. 'This too shall pass' refers to our whole range of emotions. It's true that bad times are temporary. But so are the good. We won't always wallow in the pit of despair and sickness any more than we'll always stand on the mountaintop. More often than not, the best option is an even keel. To keep our emotions steady and not allow them to rule us.

I'm not saying we should live our lives as emotion-less automatons. The ability to feel, to express joy, to grieve in times of sorrow is one of God's biggest blessings. It's part of how we live. What I am saying is if we let emotions drive us instead of trusting in the life-sustaining power of the Holy Spirit of God, then we end up like Solomon. Afraid of life. We start to fear being happy because it doesn't last. We fear sorrow because it always seems to last. I don't think anyone can live like that. How can we truly live for Jesus if we allow feelings to be our master? They don't sustain us, no matter how raw or deep. They are all too fleeting. Trusting in Jesus means surrendering all control to Him. He is our mountain guide and anchor in the storm. He never fails. He's so much more reliable than human emotion. When we trust him like that, we look to Him with awe and praise in good times and bad.

Jesus is all about shaking us loose from our restraints. Many times, that includes our own selves. We're our own worst enemy sometimes. We have a tendency to make masters out of anything other than the one, true Master of all creation. Whether it's money, intellect, ego, or feelings. Control is a tough thing to relinquish. It's very tempting to withold it from God. To keep trying to do things our own way. To listen to Satan's lies when he says we can make it on our own steam, and we need not listen to God. Very often, it takes us falling flat on our face to wake up to the sobering truth: everything about us is finite. In fact, it's less than finite. It's empty. The lowest negative on the scale. We're not complete until we are willing to surrender it all to God. The only One who is in control.

It's always nice to be reassured that dark, distressing times will pass. But it's good to be aware of that even when we're not suffering. If not, then it's easy to get complacent. To become comfortable with the way things are at the moment. To put down roots and get fat and lazy. And then when something yanks the rug out from under us, we feel lost and don't know how to respond or where to turn. This is why it's so vitally important to keep our prayer lives strong at all times. To constantly seek God, and to receive fresh infillings from the Holy Spirit as often as we can. This is how we stay grounded. We express joy and grief, but with the full context of God's will in our minds. We know full well that at any moment, things can change. Lives can change, sometimes drastically, sometimes in smaller ways. The question is, will we be ready to praise God? Or will be run in fear when "this too shall pass?"

Song of the Day: Jeremy Camp - "This Man"

Verse of the Day: "I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together." - Psalm 34:1-3