Take Two Aspirins and Call Me in the Morning

Most of my immediate relatives are at that place in their lives when they creak in the morning, take stairs one at a time, and swap stories about which medicines and herbs work the best for relief. Like birds on a freshly sprinkled lawn, we all hunt for the illusive worm of content that will satisfy us, make us happy, and cause us to open our beaks and sing. Yet all solutions are temporary. Something may "work" for a while, then we are back surfing the web, not for games but for cures. All of us have lived longer than someone else and that means, on the human scale of longevity, our final breath is closer than we think. What really cracks me up is when an eighty-year-old refers to a sixty-year-old as a "kid."

The healing miracles of Jesus are important to us. We read them and think on them. We hope to see them duplicated in our lives, perhaps for our friends and certainly for ourselves. The Jews were particularly impressed with Jesus' miracles because they had been taught that suffering is a sign of God's displeasure (see Psalms 6 and 38 for example). When we are sick, is that God correcting us? Does God bring illness and death as a mark of His wrath? There is no question that ancient Jews believed that. There is no question that modern Americans believe that too. "What have I done to deserve this? is asked fairly often when the unwanted diagnosis comes down hard.

One of the characteristics of the kingdom of God is that there will be no pain there, no more tears, and God Himself will comfort us. That is what the Revelation says (chapters 21 and 22). This means that God is working for our good, for our real life, and to give us a picture of the future that is compatible with His own great heart of love. I know of no more perplexing question than the one about why we have pain. On one level I think we hurt because that is the way of human life. Why do I have cancer? Because you have cancer. Why am I likely to die of heart-related problems? Because that runs in my family big time. If I have a stroke or heart attack, is that a sign God's is unhappy with me (to say the least!)? No, I really don't believe that. Could God use illness to bring about His will? He has done it in the past.

The spiritual tradition that has shaped my own life with God says I should be patient in pain, that God allows things in my life that I would not wish on others, and that God is very close to me when life teeters on the brink. I believe that. I can't explain everyone's pain or why certain things happen to certain people, young and old. I believe God can alter the course of one's life and bring about a cure where a cure looks impossible. But I have lived long enough to know that whatever the cure, it is a temporary solution to a big problem. I have learned to live my life without having to blame God when it goes sour. I am learning, more slowly than I like, to see God at work in situations others think terrible. I am saying that the great God loves us, is involved in our ups and downs, and wants us to live with Him forever. None of that answers my "why" questions but it does provide "how" responses. Respond with faith, patience, hope, and love ... that's how.

Jerry Mercer