I must admit...some problems appear unsolvable. There have been times when certain problems, no matter how hard you pray, or how much counsel you seek, remain stubbornly unsolvable. Even the internet yields no solution! [imagine that...tough on some who give almost sovereign status to the modern technology of the super information source].
Of course this unsolvable-ness of some problems appears on the earthly plane. I am not suggesting God does not have the answer or could not reveal the answer should He so choose. What I am suggesting is the possibility that some problems may be allowed to remain frustratingly unsolvable by God. The word of God will give us help in coping with the unsolvable problem, but may not give the answer to the problem itself. I am not saying the Word of God is not sufficient. Just the opposite. It is totally sufficient for coping with any issue. BUT...those unsolvable problems...they seem to hang around to bug us.
As I think about these kinds of problems, I am wondering if God is not deliberately reminding us that we will always need Him...that our confidence and faith in Him is an ongoing necessity, and that...were it not for some of those unsolvable problems, our prayer life would debiliate into something resembling an anemic and pathetic whimper, instead of a robust cry for help.
Think about it...man with all his genius and inventive prowess is allowed to hit a brick wall quite regularly in unsolvable problems [The Iraq war may be one of those unsolvable problems or that difficult human circumstance for which you cannot seem to get an answer]. Just maybe we need God Himself more than we need the answer to that problem. God may allow that problem to hang around for awhile unsolved. Maybe even until we get to heaven. Can we live with that?...I don't know. I must admit...I don't like living with unsolvable problems. But then...I am not calling the life shots, am I? And my friend, neither are you! I am learning to pray for grace to live with some things that just don't seem to get solved.
Cape Cod scene
Light...at the (w)right place
2 comments:
This entry brings the serenity prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr to mind, "God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other." (original version)
I totally agree with this unsolvable thing. I think it can apply to the little mundane "unsolvables" Just this morning my wife and I couldn't find her purse with her ATM card in it. We thought we had lost it. I finally got on my knees (after looking everywhere...or so I thought) and prayed for help to find it. I made a phone call to the bank and then picked up my coat to leave and there it was under my coat. God knew this...it was small, but God knew I often live independantly. I think God does these things not to frustrate us, but to draw us to sweet fellowship and dependance on Him. He is kind and when something doesn't work, or is lost, or a problem is unsolvable, we can rest in the fact that He doesn't waist our frustrations. He is categorically for us. If God didn't spare is own Son but gave Him up for us, how will He not with Him freely give us all things. (Romans 8)
So the next time I lose my keys, or I have a software bug at work, I need to be reminded that the only way I ever remember my keys or write software that works is by God's grace. I will trust God to help me remember that, even if it means frustrations.
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