Saturday, March 23, 2019
Pretending is Short-Lived
Emile Ratelband recently caused quite a stir with his unusual lawsuit. Fox News reporter Lucia l. Surarez Sang posted this take on his story on November 8, 2018:
“A Dutch businessman is making waves after he launched a legal battle to officially roll back his age 20 years – claiming he is a “young god” and dating apps discriminate against him due to his age.
Emile Ratelband, who is -- for now -- 69 years old, told a Dutch court this week he didn’t feel “comfortable” with his date of birth and wished to have it changed from March 11, 1949, to March 11, 1969… “You can change your name. You can change your gender. Why not your age?” he told De Telegraaf outside court. “Nowhere are you so discriminated against as with your age.”
He told the Dutch newspaper that his view is supported by medical and physiological reports, saying: “My biological age in the medical world is determined to be at 40 to 45 years.”
Ratelband’s attorney told the Guardian that it was high time for the courts to allow for the reversal of age. The judge in a court in Arnhem is expected to give a ruling within four weeks, Sky News reported.”
Time will soon prove Ratelband wrong. This approach to life is neither new nor rare, but it is a dishonest and ineffective way to deal with reality.
One of the great strengths of the Bible is that it tells it like it is. When telling the stories of great men and women of faith it exposes their weaknesses, there inner struggles, their bad choices and the grace that made everything work together for good.
The fact is, we will all get old, we will all make mistakes, we all have shortcomings, and none of us are self-sufficient or perfect. That is all by design. God created man to need Him most of all and one another to a lesser extent. No one is an island. No one will have it all. Even the accomplished, gifted, rich, famous and powerful among us will only find true joy when they accept that life is a challenge and none of us will survive it and enjoy it without God’s help. This truth is never more clear than when sitting in a memorial service of a loved one.
But that truth is also a great comfort when coupled with God’s promises to forgive those who don’t deserve forgiveness (see I John 1:9), empower the weak (see Romans 5:6) and give an eternal home to those who choose to live life as He directs (see John 14). Faith in God is sturdy enough for anything and is forever. Pretending is a short-lived fantasy.
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Wilderness Experiences
In the bowels of a dark, damp, musty hideout, a powerfully built soldier suddenly wakes out of a deep sleep and jolts upright. Something is not right. The glowing embers and a few rays of moonlight reveal rugged rock walls and a dirt floor that make up his lodgings. The animal skins next to him are empty, making his heart rate quicken. His captain is missing.
Jashobeam jumps to his feet noting that it seems a little chillier than last night. Maneuvering out of his cramped sleeping area, he takes note that his back is stiff, and he feels cold through and through. Sleeping on the hard ground is taking it toll. It is not quite daybreak so he tiptoes past his fellow soldiers who are still asleep, knowing that, ultimately, it is his job to make sure nothing happens to their leader, who is not where he should be.
As he moves toward the cave entrance he hears what sounds like whimpering. Carefully, after moving closer toward the sounds he determines that the noise is more of mumbling combined with moaning. Then he sees him, head between his knees--crying. It is the famous shepherd-turned-soldier; his vagabond leader is sobbing. Huddled before him on the ground is a legend. Even as a Jashobeam had heard the story of David and Goliath. He, like most of his countrymen knew that the prophet Samuel had anointed that shepherd boy to be the next king. But tonight, David is hunkered down near the cave entrance where he has been forced to seek shelter from the mad monarch – his father in law, King Saul.
Jashobeam was one of David’s mighty men and had seen a great deal of suffering in his years of soldiering, but this seemed like one of the saddest situations he had ever witnessed. It was so much worse than battles like the one David had fought with the heathen Goliath, because King Saul (the man to which David had been so loyal) had amassed his troops and set out to kill David. It was unfair and immoral. David and his family were on the run by no fault of their own. David had been driven to the wilderness where his family and many down-and-outers had joined him. Hundreds of good people were being forced to sleep in caves, and scramble to barely survive in the wilderness – All because their king was insecure and disobedient to God.
Jashobeam quietly settles in just a few feet behind his beloved leader and listens as David lifts his burden to His Creator and bares his very soul. This is what he heard:
“I cry out to you LORD; I plead for your mercy. I pour out my complaints before you and tell you all my troubles. When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.
Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me. I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.
I pray to you, O LORD. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really want in life. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison so I can thank you. The godly will crowd around me, for you are good to me.” (Psalm 142:1-7 NLT)
Although the above story may not have unfolded exactly as depicted, we do know the prayer captured in this Psalm was written by the mighty warrior when in a wilderness cave. It reminds us that Authentic Christians need to expect real life to include wilderness times. Everyone will have wilderness experiences. But believers, like David, can have joy and peace in spite everything, because they have a Shepherd to lead them, and they know this world is not their home.
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