"ASLAN AND THE GOD OF ALL DISCOMFORT" - Timothy D Padgett, Breakpoint.org, 03/8/19; https://www.breakpoint.org/aslan-and-the-god-of-all-comfort
"For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" – Hebrews 12:6-7
One of the most quoted lines from “The Chronicles of Narnia” is also one of the most ignored. We like to say that we know that God is not “safe,” but all too often we end up living as though our safety, or, even better, our comfort marks the boundaries of our relationship to God. Whether it’s a Postmodern reaction to the cold view of reality of its Modernist antecedent, or a sign of weariness in an increasingly fractious age, for many Christians, we cannot conceive of God’s will for our lives involving anything unpleasant or uncomfortable.
I was reminded of this recently by an image floating around social media. It was nothing but a few sentences describing the way God acts in our lives, as opposed to Satan’s influence. “God’s voice” stills, leads, reassures, enlightens, encourages, comforts, calms, and convicts you, while the Enemy rushes, pushes, frightens, confuses, discourages, worries, obsesses, and condemns you. On the surface, this isn’t half-bad. But that’s the problem. It’s a half-truth, a partial truth that, while exposing some realities, also brings in some falsehoods that reinforce our cultural image of a tame God. As a line from my favorite movie puts it, the telling of a half-truth leaves us unable to truly grasp the whole. As much as we might like to think otherwise, the practice of Christianity, far being a path unstained by pain and discomfort, is quite often defined by times when God rushes, pushes, frightens, and confuses us.
Now, for a lot of us, particularly those who pride ourselves as being theologically astute, we breathe a self-contented sigh of relief when we hear others espouse such things. We don’t go in for all that nonsense. We know the truth, and we accept the reality that God’s presence isn’t always going to be “nice.” We say this, and we believe it. But, how often do our lived-out beliefs fail to reach to our stated principles? When the job we longed for goes to the other guy, when the husband we dreamed of marries the other girl, when the sickness we’d worked so hard to avoid lays us low? What then?
At these times, when our expectations collapse before us, we ask if God even cares. Whatever our formal theological tenets might be, we are quick to conflate God’s faithfulness to us with a painless life, a placid life, a life of blessing and provision. We are quick to assume that the presence of pain or discomfort means that something is wrong, that God’s will has been thwarted, or that His love and protection have been withdrawn. We refuse to accept that the presence of pain, far from being a sign of God’s absence, may be a sign of His sovereign care.
A painless Christian life is a nice sentiment, but sentiment it is, a feeling that says a very great deal about the nature of our desires, but precious little about the world outside our longings. It is a sentiment which, however comforting in the short-term, is out of line with our common sense life experience as well as with the testimony of God’s revelation in the Bible.
This was a truth that C. S. Lewis understood well. We know all about the bit in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” where we hear of Aslan’s dubious safety. But this is not the only time Lewis forced us to face God’s uncomfortable sovereignty or the sharpness of His sanctifying work in our lives. Think of “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” There, we find Eustace Scrubb, the insufferable boy who almost deserved his name. As you know if you’ve read the wonderful book (or seen the regrettable 2010 movie), Eustace is cousin to the Pevensie kids, and he is a selfish brat. As a consequence of his willfulness, he finds himself transformed into a hideous dragon, the outward manifestation of his inner self. While there are some advantages, such as flying and breathing fire, Eustace longs to be restored to his true nature.
This restoration does occur, but it does not happen without pain, great pain. At first Eustace attempts to rid himself of his dragon skin by his own strength, and, at first, he seems to succeed. The surface layers of his corruption slide off with ease, but, lying underneath is another layer needing to be shed. His skin (sin?) cannot be removed by his own power.
It is here that Aslan steps in. As Eustace described it, “The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt.” His beastliness was so ingrained to who he now was that he could not be made whole again without an existential transformation...
Imagery used by favorite authors is one thing; the testimony of God’s own Word is quite another. When we look to the Bible, we see this pattern again and again. We see it as Jacob wrestles the Angel of the Lord. It is not an accident or enemy that brings the Patriarch his lifelong pain. It is from the hand of God Himself. We see it in the life of his favorite son, Joseph, who endures both slavery and prison, all so he will be in position to save God’s people. We see it in the life of Jeremiah who preaches to his people for years on end, never finding success, but remaining faithful in the face of intense opposition. They endured these things not apart from the faithfulness of God but as part of their obedience to His plan.
Does this mean that we should go out looking for pain? Of course not! The pain is no more the point of God’s plans than it is the purpose of the suffering we endure in physical exercise. If we never push ourselves to the point that it hurts, we’ll never know if we’re improving our health. If, on the other hand, we’re so foolish to seek the pain as our goal, we’ll be just as likely to do ourselves harm as we are to aid our well-being. The pain is not the point, nor is it itself good. But whether we’re talking about mundane lethargy or spiritual intransigence, breaking with the bad habits of the past requires pushing beyond our comfort levels, through the pain, and onward on the path to full restoration.
This pain may mean giving up on a goal we’ve had for years. It may mean turning aside from an addiction or sexual impulse that has defined us as long as we can remember. It could mean yielding the safety of suburbia for the turmoil of city life, or it could mean accepting that our faithfulness to God will show in the ordinary things of life, unpraised by the the watching world, and far from the “radical” obedience we’ve long aspired to. Whatever the case, whether it means sickness or sacrifice, ending a dream or enduring hostility, we must remember that God’s faithfulness to us is not determined by how well our lives are going, and may even be seen most of all in the hard things of life.
To deny that God would use discomfort for our good is to deny to us the hope that He may be present in our pain. It would leave us alone in our pain. The faithfulness of God to His people is so deep and abiding that it surpasses any desire on our part for a life of ease and comfort. God is, indeed, the God of all comfort, but, just as His quest to restore the glory of His creation did not shrink back from inflicting pain on His dear Son, His love for His people will not refrain from causing us the discomfort needed to restore His Image Bearers to their intended dignity.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
Timothy D. Padgett, PhD, is the Managing Editor of BreakPoint and the author of "Swords and Plowshares: American Evangelicals on War, 1937-1973."
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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
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Doubly vulnerable in Africa - Christian women and young girls living in dangerous areas often tragically face a “double persecution,” meaning they suffer not only because they choose to follow Jesus but also for their gender. As a result, they are doubly vulnerable to persecution and may be threatened, abandoned and even attacked.
March 1 - Pray for provision for Momina*, a Somali in the Horn of Africa, and
her six children who were all left to fend for themselves after she
became a follower of Christ.
*Representative name or photo used to protect identity
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