4/20/08 Evil And The Love of God
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PSA 57:1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.

PSA 57:2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.

PSA 57:3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

PSA 57:4 My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.

PSA 57:5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

PSA 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it.

PSA 57:7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!

PSA 57:8 Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

PSA 57:9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations.

PSA 57:10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds.

PSA 57:11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

To say that this has been a difficult week for a number of people in our community is an understatement.

I think by now

most of you are aware that

one of the members of our Mexico mission team,

sixteen year old Scott Barker,

tragically chose to end his own life a week ago.

Though he was a newcomer to our youth group,

and had only just begun the process of building friendships in the group,

he was the nephew of Ted and Trish Notter.

Ted has been our church treasure and a member of our Elder board for many years,

and both he and Trish were deeply involved in Scott’s life.

When an event like this takes place in our lives

our minds just naturally desperately try to make some sense of what has happened.

The first thing we often look for

is some explanation,

some reason why this would happen.

We want to be able to sift through Scott’s life

and find there some huge, tragic issue

that would explain why he would feel as though this act was the only answer available.

What we want are answers that satisfy,

answers the explain,

answers that justify such tragedy, such loss.

But the truth is that

at least in Scott’s case

no such answers exist

apart from the answers that are bound up

in the nature of adolescence.

This has never been an easy world in which to grow up,

but in our nation

it is harder today than ever before.

During the past century

we have highly refined a culture

in which with every TV show,

every song,

every movie,

every sports broadcast

we tell our children

that their success in life,

their acceptance into adult society,

their happiness and fulfillment

will depend upon how high they score

on the measure of physical beauty,

intelligence,

athletic ability,

and possessions.

The higher they score in each category, the more they are worth

and the greater their hope of happiness.

And yet when they look at themselves

through adolescent eyes

far too often all they can ever see are their failures,

and their faults,

and their flaws,

and their inadequacies.

And then, when we add to this

the nature of adolescent emotions,

it gets even worse.

The emotions we feel during the teen years,

both the positive emotions

and the negative ones,

are at times incredibly intense.

It is not at all uncommon

for a teenager to feel something -

to feel physical attraction,

or embarrassment,

or fear,

or shame,

or a sense of failure,

or anger,

or rejection,

or deep depression

and be certain that no one else has ever felt what he or she is feeling with such intensity,

and no one else could ever understand.

Certainly mom or dad could not understand.

It’s obvious to the teenage mind

that the adults in their world have never felt what they feel,

and trying to share those feelings with them would be impossible.

And there is one additional aspect of teenage emotions

that makes it all the worse.

Because our life experience is so limited in the teen years,

unless we have been well equipped with the truth,

it is extremely easy for the teenager to believe,

and not just to believe,

but to know with absolute certainty

that what they are feeling at any given moment

will be what they will continue feeling for the rest of their lives.

And if what they are feeling at the moment

is intense sadness,

or depression,

or hopelessness,

or anxiety,

or shame,

or fear,

the thought of facing a future

in which those feelings go on and on forever

can be utterly overwhelming.

Some time ago I saw a TV program in which scientists talked

about the development of the human mind during the teen years.

And the discoveries they made

were unsettling to say the least.

Of course we are all aware

of the dramatic physical changes that take place

in an incredibly short period of time during adolescence.

I was watching a teenager this past week

as he consumed a huge amount of food,

easily three times what I was able to eat.

And as he was poking the last few bites into his mouth

he said,

“You know the really weird thing

is that in an hour I’ll be hungry again!”

Welcome to adolescence.

But what we are less aware of

is that there are equally dramatic changes

taking place within the actual structure of the brain.

And one of the things they’ve discovered

is that there is a special section of the human brain

that governs impulse control.

It is the part of the brain

that allows us to control feelings, emotions, impulses

through logic and reason.

Basically, it is that part of the brain

that enables us to make rational choices

when we are faced with irrational impulses and feelings.

And wouldn’t you know it - that part of the brain is the last part of brain to develop,

and usually is not fully developed until late teens or early 20's.

What that means, of course,

is that our teenagers

frequently literally do not have the mental ability

to make rational choices on their own.

There have been times, in fact many times

when I have watched the conduct of a teenager

and wanted to scream at them, “WHAT?!! ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD?!”

And the correct developmental answer to that question is , “Yes!”

And when we wrestle with a tragedy like the one that took place in our community this past week

it does help if we have some understanding

of the true nature of the teen years.

And having said that,

I’ll also say that if we have teenagers in our home,

or will have teenagers,

or work with teenagers,

the more we understand about the teen years

the more we can help them through this time of their life.

We need to prepare them for the intensity of the emotions they will face,

we need to let them know that all emotions are temporary - both the good and the bad,

and that everything they will feel we have felt too.

And even more than that,

adolescence, more than any other time of life,

is the time when we need to bathe our children in grace.

It’s all so deceptive -

because we have what is obviously a young adult body in the home,

we can easily expect and even demand adult behavior.

But the truth is they have neither the life experience

nor the mental development to deliver what we so often want.

There are very few direct comments about parenting given to us in Scripture,

which tells me that the ones that are there

have exceptional significance.

And to my knowledge

there is only one statement that Paul ever made directly to fathers

concerning their relationship with their children.

It’s found in Colossians 3:21 where Paul says,

Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.

I believe that statement has special significance during the teen years.

I’m not suggesting that we should necessarily lower the standard of conduct we hope for,

but I am saying that we must find powerful ways

of communicating to our teens

the message that our love for them,

our acceptance of them,

our delight in them

is in no way linked to how well the perform on the basis of that standard.

The teen years,

more than any other time of life

is the time when we must bath them in grace and compassion and kindness and love.

But there are greater questions we face at a time like this, too.

At the top of the list

are questions about our God.

How could He allow such tragedies to take place?

And how are we to respond to Him when we face them?

The response I will offer to the first of those two questions

will not satisfy.

But it is what I know to be true.

This life we live is not a game that God is playing with us.

It’s not a pre-established script that has been forced upon us.

We live in a world system in which there is both real evil

and real free will.

It is the only world available to us at the present time.

If we did not have the ability to choose evil

neither would we have the ability to choose God.

What we think we want

is a God who will put what we consider to be reasonable limitations on free will,

limitations that prevent us from succumbing to certain levels of evil,

and certainly limitations that prevent us from being the victims of certain levels of evil.

But the truth is that no such limitations exist,

nor can they

because if they did

then true free will would not exist.

Some of the most accurate windows into the true nature of this world that we will ever have

are the prayers that we have recorded for us in Scripture.

Through those prayers

we gain a remarkable insight

into the real intensity of the warfare raging around us.

Let me show you just a few examples of what I mean.

I came across a prayer just recently

in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.

In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2

Paul says to his readers,

“ Finally, brethren, pray for us that ...we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith.”

Now, I find that to be a powerful insight

into the true nature of life in this world.

The clear intention of Paul’s words

is to alert us to the fact

that there are very real and powerful forms of evil in our world,

evil that is committed to our destruction,

and he wants us to know that we urgently need to pray for God’s direct intervention in our lives

and in the lives of those we love

in order to prevent that evil form having power over us.

And I’ll tell you right now

that I do not understand that.

I do not understand why our prayers are needed,

or why they make a difference.

I just know they do.

And I know, too,

that it helps me to hear Paul say what he said

because after being involved in the lives of teenagers for the past 40 years

there is one thing I have come to understand with certainty -

God alone has the ability to change a life.

And when it comes right down to it,

there are really only two things we can do

that we are certain will make a difference in their lives.

We can love unconditionally

and we can pray desperately.

Even then there are no guarantees,

because that’s the nature of free will - no guarantees,

but if we dare to care about another human being

that caring will give us a longing to do something

and those two things at least we can always do -

love them unconditionally

and pray for them desperately.

And what do we pray?

At this time in my life

I mostly follow Paul’s lead.

I pray for their protection from evil men and women,

and I also pray...

well, I pray what Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3:14-19,

that they would be able to understand the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of Christ’s love for them.

And then, let me offer just a few thoughts

on how we need to respond to our God

at those times when evil and tragedy blasts into our lives.

Or rather, I want to allow King David to offer us a few thoughts.

I began our time together this morning

by reading the 57^th Psalm.

I read it because it is one of the many places throughout Scripture

in which we can so clearly see the heart of our God for us,

and the way He responds to us in our pain.

When evil blasts into our life

or into the life of someone we love

it is our nature to wrestle and churn with the “Why?” questions,

with the “If only...” questions,

with those thoughts that drive us to say, “If I would only have done that then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

But when we have exhausted ourselves through our churnings,

and the answers we’ve come up with really don’t satisfy,

then what we need most of all

is the love of our God and the certain knowledge

that He is still with us,

and He cares enough and is strong enough to get us through the pain.

That’s why I was drawn to David’s words in this 57^th Psalm.

The first three verses of this Psalm

give us the information we most desperately need

at those times when our spirits run to our God in our agony.

He begins where we begin when we reach out to our God in our pain.

PSA 57:1 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.

Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me...

We know, of course,

that we have not earned the right to run to Him,

nor could we ever hope to do so.

Our only hope and our great security is His grace poured out on us.

And then David creates for us

the mental image we so desperately need -

For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by.

In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge

until destruction passes by.

It is the image of a tiny, helpless, terrified baby bird

sheltered, protected, guarded, safe behind the great wings of his parent.

It helps me to hear David write those words.

This is David, the mighty warrior.

This is David who while still in his teens

stood without fear before Goliath, the most terrifying enemy on the earth at the time.

This is David who speaks casually about his killing the lion and the bear,

David who was credited with killing ten thousand enemies in battle.

But it helps me to know

that with David, as with me,

there are some enemies of his soul,

some forms of evil that utterly overwhelm him

and cause him to run in pain and helplessness

into the arms of his God for help and comfort and protection.

Then, the next thing he offers us

is the assurance that our God really is big enough

and cares enough

to bring us through the darkness we face.

PSA 57:2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.

PSA 57:3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

It’s interesting how it is...

As long as things are going along according to our plan

we can easily live with the illusion

that we have the power to control

everything that needs to be controlled

in order for our lives to go according to our own plan.

But there is a powerful cleansing process that takes place within us

whenever evil enters into our lives.

If we are willing to be honest,

all of a sudden we see life and God the way He really is,

and we see that His involvement in our life is not an optional luxury,

it is the only true necessity of our existence.

And when David says,

PSA 57:2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me...,

he is expressing the one truth

that it is most difficult for us to accept -

the truth that anything that really needs to be done in our lives

can only be done by God Himself.

He is the God who accomplishes all things for me.

He is the God who knows what I most desperately need,

and the God who will find a way of bringing it to me.

And in verse three

we have David’s great affirmation of faith.

While still in his pain,

while still in his turmoil,

while still living with all of his unanswered questions he says,

PSA 57:3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

Right now I hurt.

But I know enough about my God

to know what I can expect from Him.

And these things at least I know.

I know that somehow, even in this, I will see His salvation,

I will see Him deliver me once again back into hope and strength.

And I know, too, that He will defend me against those enemies of my soul that are trying to trample upon me.

So often those enemies are not on the outside,

they are on the inside.

They are my own overwhelming pain,

my own deep fears,

my own doubts and confusion.

And just because they are internal enemies

does not mean they are any less real,

or any less known by our God.

And then David looks beyond his pain

and he sees what will come,

he sees what God will bring into his life.

God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

The time will come

when I will once again see His lovingkindness and His truth.

David goes on from there

and brings us back to the present -

to his present and the reality of the battles raging in his own life.

PSA 57:4 My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword.

But then he takes those battles he’s facing

and does a remarkable thing with them.

He says,

PSA 57:5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth.

And right here is the truth I want to end with today

because in that statement

David is telling us that the way God exalts Himself in this creation,

the way His glory is displayed above all the earth

is when He shows Himself strong on our behalf.

David is telling us

that the greatest proclamation of the true nature of God

is not found in His great physical creative acts,

it is found in His choosing to involve Himself in the pain and suffering and need

of one of His people,

showing Himself strong for them in their deepest need.

That, more than anything,

more than everything

displays the true glory of our God on this earth.