The grapes are especially good this year. Yesterday I picked four five-gallon pails of them, and at 8:30 tonight I screwed the lid on the last of thirty six quart jars of juice. Those jars lined up on the counter are a beautiful sight, and will reward us all winter long. The four buckets I'll pick tomorrow should carry us through till the next harvest.
Just now while I was writing, Linda came in, sat down, and began to talk. I can be pretty dense at times, but I've learned the difference between regular talk and "talk." She began to talk about something that is bothering her. This particular situation has been a part of our conversation more than once before, is one of those things over which we have little control, but which can have significant consequences depending on how it is handled. We talked. Before we go to sleep, we will pray together, trusting that which we cannot change into the hands of the One who can do all things. When we were in Ohio last week, Dan, the owner of the B&B at which we stayed, sat down with us at breakfast and read a short devotional. I asked him for a copy of it, never dreaming that I'd be depending on its wisdom so soon. It read like this:
"Faith is not believing that God will do something. Because God can do it whether you believe it or not! His ability is not dependent upon you thinking he can do it.
"Faith is not believing God will do something. That is hope.
"Faith is believing God IS doing something right now, even though you don't see it."
The problems we face that don't seem to have any solution are in fact, God's testing ground for our faith. It doesn't take any faith to follow Christ when the skies are blue and the sun is shining. It's when the storm is raging and as far as we can tell, the ship is sinking that our faith is revealed for what it truly is. Years ago, William Barclay, the great Scottish pastor penned "The Daily Study Bible," in my opinion one of the best devotional commentaries ever written, because it was written with ordinary people in mind. Like Jesus, Barclay wasn't interested in impressing the scholars and religious elite. He wanted to bring credible Biblical scholarship to the masses, and did so with singular effectiveness.
Barclay's daughter was engaged to be married to a wonderful young man. After the wedding rehearsal, the two of them went for a rowboat ride on the loch. No one really knows what happened other than that the boat overturned and both of them drowned. Instead of celebrating a wedding, Barclay found himself officiating at the funeral of his daughter and her fiancee. Some time later, one of his students, filled with the fashionable skepticism of that school of German scholarship called Higher Criticism, asked Barclay if he really believed Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He thought back to his daughter's death and slowly answered, "I cannot prove whether or not Jesus actually calmed the storm that night, but I can tell you that he calmed the storm in my heart."
One of the perennial problems of prayer is distinguishing which things are problems to be solved and which are simply life's realities to be accepted. Prayer is appropriate for both situations, but the kind of prayers we offer must be different. Sometimes we pray knowing that at its root, prayer is rebellion against the status quo. Jesus taught us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking; in short, never to give up. But we know too that there are times when we cannot change our circumstances; there are realities that must be lived with. It's just hard for us to figure out which is which.
I've been puzzling over something Jesus said in John 15. He has just spoken about our connectedness to him, using the analogy of the Vine and the branches. In the 15th verse, he says this: "I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father." Paul was thinking along the same lines when he said "We have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). I wonder if both Jesus and Paul weren't thinking back to Deuteronomy 29:29 where we are told that "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Modern evangelical Christianity isn't always comfortable with the mysteries of our faith, but there are some things God insists on keeping to himself. Unanswered prayer is one of them. He doesn't always tell us why he answers some of our requests and denies others. What he does tell us is to trust him. As Charles Swindoll once said, "When we can't trace his hand, we can trust his heart."
People often imagine that pastors (active or retired) have all the answers, when in fact, we don't even know all the questions. They imagine that our families are somehow different from theirs; that we don't struggle with the same kinds of issues they face. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it just isn't so. So tonight, Linda and I will pray, not knowing if our situation is to be fixed or endured. But my grapes are harvested and canned, and that fact reminds me that God is faithful, and springtime and harvest shall not fail, and neither shall he. For that, we can all give thanks.
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