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When Healing Hurts

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By Larry Short

Given some of the painful woes of our current situation, many of us have learned afresh how to lament the many challenges we face.

Some are more serious than others. Many have family members or friends who are struggling to recover from COVID-19—and as we know, not all such struggles end well. Or perhaps they are struggling with the prospect or fear of a potentially fatal illness and not the reality.

Others have lost jobs or income streams. They may have children at home who must be shepherded through the new learning process, requiring great and unaccustomed sacrifice of time and trouble.

Others, like me, face smaller challenges: The weight of isolation from family and friends. The inconvenience of restrictions on the way we go out, shop, or worship. Or perhaps the loss of retirement investments we had really hoped would “be there” for us in our sunset years and the prospect of possibly having to continue working after we would otherwise have retired.

All of these things, and more, to which each of us are subjected in these days of pandemic and societal upheaval, are painful.

Timothy Dalrymple is the president of my favorite magazine, Christianity Today. They have been taking a consistently hard, honest, and thorough look at the challenges presented by the current cultural context to us as Christians and to the churches we invest our lives in.

In the September issue, he took an interesting look at our pain, what is causing it, and what God might be doing in the midst of it. In an editorial titled “When Healing Hurts,” he recalled the story of Jesus healing the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda and the fascinating question with which our Lord initiates that interaction: “Do you want to get well?”

It seems almost absurd. The man had been paralyzed for nearly four decades of his life and daily lay out with other very sick folks hoping for a long-shot chance at a miracle. Who would not look at such a person and think, “Of course he wants to get well!”

But Dalrymple spoke about what many of us realize upon deeper reflection: “Suffering, especially chronic suffering, can become precious to us. When suffering persists, we sculpt our lives around it. We craft an identity that encompasses our suffering until we scarcely know who we would be without it.”

On the other hand, Dalrymple acknowledges that God often allows suffering for our instruction and betterment and for His glory. The Apostle Paul learned this when he sought for God to remove his infamous “thorn in the flesh.” He then acknowledges this torment was given to teach him humility, to help him realize the sufficiency of God’s grace for him, and to show him that God’s power may be made perfect in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

But in John 5, Jesus singles out the longsuffering paralytic for healing. First however, He asks if healing really is indeed what the man wants. And interestingly, the paralytic really doesn’t respond in faith to Christ’s question. Instead he makes excuses as to why he has remained so long unhealed!

In the midst of our current problems—political, racial, financial, and health challenges—I wonder if God would ask us the same question: “Do you want to be whole?”

Healing can be painful. We may have to humbly acknowledge our error, ask forgiveness of others, and prepare to embrace a new identity given by God, which seems risky and frightening to us. God may be calling us to slam the door shut on our habit of using social media as a weapon to broadcast our own rightness. He may be asking us to do a truly hard thing in listening to others and exalting their needs as higher and more important than our own. Or He may be simply asking us to trust Him implicitly—with finances, career, health, reputation, family, and friends—when we can’t see clearly the landscape into which He is asking us to follow Him.

In his current sermon series, Pastor Steve is sharing principles on how to get “disentangled” from sin’s deceitful web. I suspect that as Jesus (through His Holy Spirit) approaches us, as we struggle with the pain of our own sinful habits and behaviors, He will ask us the same question He asked the paralytic:

“Do you want to get well?”

I would suggest we respond to that question without making excuses. Simply bite the bullet and say, “Yes, Lord. Here I am. I need Your healing!”

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Change

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by Brian Waple

Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains. As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one! Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. (Acts 9:1–9, NLT)

If you were to ask most people what they think of change, they would probably say they don’t care for it. Change interferes with our preconceived notions as to how we live, what we think, why we believe, etc. As a person who likes his routine, I don’t much care for change. I see it as an intrusion. I like to know what is happening. I am fairly certain about what I believe, and I have my established pattern. And part of that pattern was what I believed about God and being a Christian for many years.

Without a doubt, Saul was changed. Prior to his encounter with Jesus, he was a Pharisee through and through, firmly grounded in what he believed and completely convinced that these Jesus Christ followers were bad news—bad for the country and bad for Judaism. They were not following the Law and appeared to be encouraging others not to follow the Law. He was incensed and knew he needed to do something to stop them.

But then something happened. God stepped in uninvited on Saul’s journey to Damascus in a dramatic way. Saul had believed this Jesus Christ business was a threat that needed to be stopped. Little did he know that this “threat” would birth in him a burning desire that would completely change his view. For Saul, this change was substantial and immediate.

I, too, had an encounter with Jesus. But for me, rather than dramatic and immediate, my change has been more gradual over the years. Still, I know that God has been and continues to be at the center. Pastor Steve asked Sunday how we have changed personally since accepting Christ. For me, in spite of my desire for control, I have become more willing to give it up (although it’s still hard!). Another area of growth is thinking more of others and seeking to put them first, sitting in silence with them when they’re hurting, or trying to offer an encouraging word when asked.

Change has also come to Elim. There has been dramatic change with the departure of Pastor Martin, the retirement of Cheryl, and the departure of Pastor Brian. It’s been going on for over a year, and although the transition period continues, we know we will have a new senior pastor. But then, suddenly, we are faced with a new, dramatic, and immediate global change that has created a time of safe distancing and masks and virtual services and shuttered church buildings and much less certainty. None of us could have expected this, and no one knows what church will look like moving forward.

With all the uncertainty and questioning brought on by COVID-19, it’s made me stop and ask: Lord, why did this happen now? And what are You doing in this? Could this change be another Damascus moment for me? For the church? What will church look like going forward? What am I being asked to let go of that I hold stongly—beliefs, traditions, structures—in order to make room for God? In what ways do You desire change in me?

Without a doubt, this has been a dramatic intrusion into all of our lives. How we spend this time is important. Do we hold to the status quo like Saul, or do we reflect on different questions:

  1. What could the church look like moving forward?
  2. What things are we willing to let go of in order to make room for God?
  3. What is the change God desires in us? In Elim?

This is a great opportunity for us to draw closer to God and one another as well as prayerfully reflect on what is happening within each of us as we are becoming the people God has created us to be.

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When the Plan Is Exile

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By Hannah Comerford

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

This verse was every teenager’s life verse when I was in youth group. I’ve seen it on plaques and in greeting cards. It’s used to bring comfort and assurance in the midst of difficult circumstances.

But what if those plans God has for us are painful?

I don’t want to deny that God can bring comfort through it. He does work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). So the sentiment that God has plans for us is true. But Jeremiah 29:11 is much more complex and not as easy as it might seem.

I tend toward the pessimistic end of the attitude spectrum. When things go wrong, it’s easy for me to dwell on the negative and get frustrated by pat answers and efforts to cheer me up. And, well, I won’t pretend like the last couple of years have been easy at Elim. We’ve seen three pastors leave for various reasons in a short amount of time. I don’t doubt that God is in control of these situations and is working good in us, but it’s hard. We might have a future and a hope, but right now we’re living in a hard place. It’s painful.

And I think that’s okay.

If you look at Jeremiah 29:11 in context, God isn’t actually offering a hope for immediate good things. God was speaking through Jeremiah to the exiled people of Israel. They’d been forcefully taken to Babylon. They’d lost everything. Other prophets were telling them good news, that their exile would be short and they’d be going home soon. They wanted to cling to those promises. Yet God wasn’t speaking through those prophets. He wasn’t telling them to prepare for their happy return.

Instead, God told the people through Jeremiah that they should build houses, marry, plant gardens—settle in for the long haul. God was going to keep them in Babylon for 70 years, and then they would see their release from captivity, the hope and the future they were promised in verse 11.

God was calling His people to trust Him and find peace where they were placed, even though it was heartbreaking.

I don’t know what the future holds for Elim. Of course, we aren’t exiles in Babylon, but it’s okay to acknowledge that this isn’t a comfortable place to be in. Some of us miss how things used to be, the comfort we had in the home that Elim was to us. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s okay to be homesick.

But maybe we can learn to find comfort now, when we don’t see the future. Maybe we can trust that God will still be with us even here, in the uncomfortable places, when we don’t have our bright future yet. Maybe we won’t see the future and hope for a long while, but we can learn to grow and live and find contentment in the exile.

We don’t know when we’ll welcome our good future. But we do have a God who is with us now, in the land that doesn’t feel like home.

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God Is Always There!

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By Kendrick Gilli

As Christians, we know that not everything in this world is rosy and wonderful. All sorts of things will happen to us, some from our own misguided making and some as attacks from the devil. Satan wants us to be demoralized and to lose hope and our faith in the Lord. He wants us to turn our eyes from the Lord and to doubt God’s sovereignty. However, God knows that we will face those trials, and He has provided us many examples from His word to give us hope. Just take a look at the book of Psalms. Often David cries out during times that seem hopeless, but he also always chooses to turn back to the strength of God.

The day before “snowmaggedon,” Janna was called into her principal’s office and told that she could not teach anymore due to her certificate being expired. In fact, they told her that it had been expired for 4 years, according to OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction). “How could this be?” she wondered. She had thought that she had done everything that she was supposed to have done. Her first instinct was to panic. Without her job, how would we be able to survive monetarily? How could God let this happen? Didn’t He care? It was so tempting to wallow in despair and doubt. But then, the Lord reminded me of a verse in Psalm 23 (Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.). Even in the darkest days, the Lord will be right beside us and will not leave us.

            There are going to be times of hopelessness and despair in our lives, and when we are in the middle of these tough circumstances, we often cannot see how God will help us through it. These are the times when I like to look back on the past, when God has helped my family and me through some very deep waters. I might not be able to see out of my present situation, but knowledge of my Heavenly Father loving me and leading me through past hardships helps me trust in His plan for my future. How many times has the Lord helped guide you through “impossible” situations?

            During those days of snow, OSPI was closed. It seemed to just delay the inevitable. Janna leaned on my hope in the Lord. That is fine, because there have been lots of times when I have leaned on Janna’s faith. In the end, after many days, things were worked out in Olympia. It was just a glitch in the system. Annoying! But it helped remind us of how our Heavenly Father is with us. Sometimes we need a reminder. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord.

            There is a lot of change coming down the pike in Elim. Martin is leaving. We are moving toward a new senior pastor. And we wonder what direction the Lord is taking our church. Is our faith firmly planted in the Lord? Is our hope strong that God will lead us in the right direction? Are we feeling a little apprehensive for the future? Let’s take our own look back at when God walked with us through difficult times and maybe read a few psalms.

Lord, put on our hearts and in our minds that You are walking with us through the good and the bad, the tough and the easy times. Amen.

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I Don’t See That!

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By Brian Sharpe, Senior Associate Pastor

I have gone to the gym a lot in my adult life. Most of this time has been spent playing basketball. I have seen a lot of guys play basketball and I have played against a lot of different people. I will always remember one guy. He had the right shoes, shorts, and shirt. He wore a sleeve on his arm and a headband like NBA players. He had all the right gear and the confidence that went with someone who could play basketball well. The problem was he was not good at basketball. Not good at all! People would wait out games so that they wouldn’t have to play with him.

I once tried to talk to him and help him be a better team player, but he wanted nothing to do with me. He knew how to play and didn’t want to hear from anyone. I felt so bad for this guy because he was so unaware. He didn’t want help.

I want to be a person who is known for listening to my mentors. I want to be known as someone who is willing to learn from my mistakes. Humility, self-control, and meekness are things that God wants to be part of the outworking of our faith. As He changes our inner being, our interactions with others will change.

We all have blind spots we are unaware of, and if we don’t surround ourselves with people we can hear from, we will never know what these blind spots are. The hard part is giving people the freedom to speak into our blind spots. God calls us to be meek. The word meek carries the idea of a horse that has been broken. The horse is powerful but is under control.

God has called us to be people who are under control. One of the ways we are under control is if we are allowing the Spirit of God through circumstance, spiritual mentors, and friends to point out these blind spots, and we are willing to deal with them.

I find that people want to know about their blind spots, but they aren’t sure what to do with what they now know. Most people are moved to inaction. Change is hard! But we all must change. We all must allow our blind spots to be pointed out. If we don’t, then our growth will be stunted.

Do you have a or Paul or Barnabas in your life, people you allow to point out your blind spots? When they do point out bind spots, are you willing to listen to them? Are you willing to act on them? Trust is shown by one’s ability to act on advice given. I think a lot of us say we trust, but our actions say otherwise.

My prayer for me and you is that we would trust those whom God has placed in our lives, that we would be open to learning about our blind spots and be moved to action instead of complacency.

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Sometimes Plans Change …

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By Bill Naron

Building bigger barnsI was scrolling through my Facebook feed today and I saw a post from one of my favorite blogs. It was an article about things to consider before making New Year’s resolutions. It was an awesome article and the main point was that before making resolutions, we should be asking ourselves where our motivation is coming from. The question was, “Are you being motivated out of selfishness, or out of a heart that has been transformed by the Gospel?” I thought this presentation was very thought-provoking, and it reminded me of when Pastor Martin was preaching out of the book of James.

“Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17, KJV

So, it got me to pondering: What is the correct posture for us as Christians and as passionate followers of Jesus Christ? What should our response be when it comes to New Year’s resolutions? I would argue that all plans we make long-term or short-term are subject to be changed.

The week of Christmas, I took an extended vacation from work. This vacation was much needed, as the last couple months in the Naron household have just been all kinds of crazy. I had some grand plans about how things were going to go. I had a list that seemed to be a mile long of all the different things I was going to get accomplished: change the oil on the cars, finish building the shed, finish all the laundry, fix some minor things on the cars—and the list went on and on. See, I was looking forward to this vacation, but my plan was to use this time to just get the things that it seems I never have the time for done. I figured I may not get to relax much, but my family will be so happy to have some things done around the house. Recently my in-laws moved in with us, and while it is a great situation for different reasons, it still requires the merging of two households and different schedules. It also means less storage in the house but more items to be stored. So, now the items one would normally store in a shed or in a garage were—and are currently—resting on my back porch. So, when I took vacation, I was determined that all this list was going to get accomplished and that would just be the way it was going to be.

This was all changed as my vacation continued. I spent most of my time hanging out with my wife and investing in my marriage, spending some much-needed time having fun with my children. I was even fortunate enough to get a makeover from my daughters, complete with a manicure and pedicure. It was great! Some things got done—the kids swapped rooms and the shed got finished. It was far less than I had set out to accomplish. So, as I read through the article, I began reflecting on the Scripture above and on my own example of changed plans for my vacation. I had an amazing epiphany: our plans are not set in concrete. See, I think this Scripture is not saying that we cannot make plans at all; I think the idea that James is presenting is that we should always be aware that we are called to serve our Creator, and our plans may not always be His.

What I mean by this is that everything we have been given is a gift from our Father, including our possessions and our time. The Bible says to rejoice, for this is the day that the Lord hath made. So, if all we have is a gift from the Father, it is only sensible that when we are setting goals and making plans, we should be holding to them loosely. They are subject to the “Lord-willing” clause. If the Lord wills, we will be going forward and doing this. This is a posture that is from a heart that has been transformed by the gospel, that understands life is a gift from God, and that recognizes that sometimes, for whatever reasons, God has different plans for us than we have for ourselves. In Jeremiah, it says that He knows the plans He has for us and they are plans to prosper, not to harm.

When I set out to my vacation, my plans were to simply accomplish things that would be for my own benefit. They were not bad things, but they were also things that, though I may not like it to, could wait. There were more important things to be accomplished that week I was off. It had been a crazy and busy two months, it seemed like my wife and I were not connecting, and the kids were feeling out of sorts, trying to adjust to the new way things were around the house. So, instead of organizing the physical items in the house, God’s plan for my vacation was that I would connect with my family.

While I think that it is in our nature to make plans and to work toward executing them, I think the real problem when it comes to things like New Year’s resolutions, or planning in general, is that we have to be striving toward the mindset that Jesus had in His ministry, the same mindset that was shown by the apostles. That is, we should seek what the Lord would have us do, and while things may get planned, we should not hold on to them so tightly that we are not able to be flexible if God decides to change them.

 

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