A friend told me about four of the most admired Americans in 1923. One was president of the largest steel company; the second, president of the largest gas company; the third, the greatest wheat speculator; and the fourth, the Great Bear of Wall Street. Then my friend asked: do you know what became of them? Two died tragically; the other two, penniless.
But, my friend noted, in the same year, 1923, the greatest golfer was Gene Sarazen, winner of the US Open and the PGA Championship. Do you know what became of him? He played golf until he was 92, created scholarships for needy college students and died suddenly at age 97, in relatively good health. So I said to my friend: what's your point? Stop worrying about your job, health and finances and get out on the golf course and play golf!
The word of God takes us back to the sixth Century before Jesus (the 500s), to a man by the name of Jeremiah. Jeremiah here contrasts those who trust in God against those who trust simply in their own resources, e. g., money or power. The author says we have a choice: either trust in God's unconditional love for us and flourish like a tree beside water; or trust in your own resources and become like a barren bush in the wasteland.
The author may be asking us: do we trust in God's unconditional love for us, especially when what is happening to us is the opposite of what we want to happen.
Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece speaks about our future. Paul proclaimed the good news everywhere: Christ, once crucified, is now alive. And just as God transfigured the earthly Jesus into a new kind of spiritual embodiment. so too God will transfigure us in a life beyond this earthly life.
Paul challenges us to never forget our purpose in life: to be in relationship with God and our fellow human beings forever.
In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus describes blessings and woes. Blessed are they who acknowledge with gratitude their total dependency upon God; who seek God in their daily lives and endure hardships for the sake of Jesus Christ. Let them rejoice! Heaven will be theirs.
And then the woes? Woe to those who have “so much” and yet do nothing for the needy, the hungry, the sick and dying.
As I reflected on these three personalities in today's word-- Jeremiah, Paul and Jesus--and the many obstacles they overcame, I wondered how often they prayed to God and yet God seemed so silent. Yes, it’s not always easy to trust in God's care for us, especially when our prayers seem to go unanswered.
Yes, we pray to God for one thing or another and find only silence. We’re ill or someone we love has cancer, we feel insecure about our job, we become anxious about our children; we pray for peace and reconciliation in our families; we pray that a particular wrong will be righted. And God seems so silent.
We may even feel like giving up on God; or we may start thinking negatively about ourselves: “I’m no good” and so forth. So how deal with unanswered prayers?
I invite us not to get “bogged down” in negative feelings but to rise above them by reflecting on certain faith themes:
1. Let’s re-examine our image of God. Some people think of God only as a no-nonsense judge who rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior. However, the bible offers a collage of God-images.
God is depicted as a walking companion in Genesis.
A passionate debater in Job.
An anxious parent and a comforting mother in Isaiah.
A prodigal father for his wayward son in the Gospels.
And so what is our image of God? Remember that God is our ever-faithful companion in life.
2. Remember God’s providence or care for us in the past. How often the ancient Hebrews forgot the wonders God worked for them. Like a skilled pickpocketer, God is present to us in many different ways and we don’t always know it. We don’t know he’s there except by the evidence afterward. He may seem absent but our faith says he’s in our midst.
3. Yes, it's ok to be angry with God but don’t stay angry. In his novel, The Town Beyond the Wall, holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel describes the anger of a concentration camp inmate who said: I shake my fist at God; it’s my way of saying God’s there, he exists…That shout of anger became a prayer.
Prophets and saints have often argued with God. Yes, to demand an answer to your “Why” is to take God seriously. But we ultimately have to let go of our anger and move forward with our lives; otherwise anger will poison all our relationships. Remember the prayer: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
4. Lastly, know that you are in good company. Many have known the deafening silence of God. There’s Job in the bible. Jesus prayed for deliverance in Gethsemane. The point I want to make is this: keep praying. For if God is God, God is the best solution to all our problems. God’s ultimate purpose is to satisfy our deepest longings in an indescribable life beyond this earthly life.
And so today, as we think about about Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus and how some of their prayers went unanswered, we might think of our own prayers for one thing or another, and then remember God’s care for us in the past and God’s continuing care for us in the future, despite the disappointments we may experience.
The great 16th century Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila, gives us a perspective when she wrote:
Let nothing disturb you;
Let nothing dismay you;
all things pass;
God never changes;
they who have God find they lack nothing:
God alone suffices for us.
