In a world filled with tragedy and suffering it is hard to look past pain. In a world where there is a growing sense of powerlessness, where evil seems unchecked, it is easy to despair. Sometimes we focus on these things, sometimes they are worth that focus.
And yet we are shown more.
The essence of Christianity is that God is both capable and willing to enter into the world in a new and unexpected way. This is the fundamental founding miracle of our faith. That God became one of us and chose to die for us.
Far too often we are crippled by the darkness of the world and, perhaps even worse, sometimes we are locked into the mundane. Our’s is a faith of signs and wonders. A faith that says at any moments something new might happen.
I find it necessary to remind myself of that. I often ask “How can this get better?” or “How can this be fixed?” While I do plan and work and try I have to remember that God is at work. Anything can happen. I need to just do my part and let God take care of the rest.
This is true in my personal life, in the life of the church, and in the life of the nation and world.
There is a story I like to share:
There once was a thief who was caught stealing the King’s horses. Before he was sentenced the King said “Is there any reason why you should not hang for your crimes?” The thief said “I can teach horses how to sing.”
The King granted him a reprieve of one year, during which time he was to live in the stables and teach his horse how to sing. The stable boy laughed at him, knowing the thief could not teach horses how to sing. To this the thief said “Perhaps. But a year is a long time. In that time I might die of natural causes. The King might die. The Horse might die. Or, just maybe, the horse might learn how to sing.”
When we can see no way out we must remember that Baalam’s donkey talked and we might yet see horses sing.