Which Door? Blessing or Disaster

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3 NIV

How would you define a blessing? A bigger home, a new Tesla, a vacation to Europe, or an 8% return on your stock market investments? If you are lying in a hospital bed with an incurable cancer, blessings would look very different. Blessing would look very different if you were homeless on the streets, fortunate to get one meal a day and a warm bed. A forever home to a foster care child would look like heaven on earth. Peter Scazzero, in his book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, shares a story about how an event can appear, either as a blessing or a disaster.

Scazzero tells the story of a wise old man living on one of China’s frontiers. When his son’s horse ran away and was stolen by nomads, the villagers offered their condolences to the son, but the father said, “What makes you so sure this is not a blessing?” Months later, the horse returned, bringing a magnificent stallion. Everyone congratulated the son’s good fortune, but now his father said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t a disaster?”

It looked like a great blessing when the son’s household prospered from the horse, but then one day, while the son was riding the stallion, he fell off and broke his hip. Once again, the villagers offered their condolences for his misfortune, only to hear his father say, “What makes you so sure this is not a blessing?” A year later, nomads invaded the border, and every able-bodied man was required to go into battle. “The Chinese families living on the border lost nine of every ten men fighting.  Only because the son was lame did father and son survive to take care of each other.”

Scazzero writes, “What appeared like a blessing and success has often turned out to be a terrible thing. What appeared to be a terrible event has often turned out to be a rich blessing.”

Scripture is filled with disaster-to-blessing and blessing-to-disaster stories. Paul David Tripp writes, “It is vital for us to understand that the most important realities in all of life cannot be seen with our physical eyes. Our God, who sits on the throne of the universe, ruling with holy wisdom, absolute sovereignty, and awesome power, cannot be physically seen or touched. His existence, rule, and plan for his creatures are the most visible things in the world, but they are not physically visible.”

Satan, from the very beginning of creation, sought to destroy God’s good creation by sowing doubt and disobedience into Adam and Eve’s story. It is a story that could have ended in disaster until God stepped in and offered grace, mercy, and a way of redemption. The whole story was turned around from disaster to blessing.

Joseph was the apple of his father’s eye, a bit of a brat until he was sold into slavery by his brothers. What was a disaster when given to God ended up becoming a blessing. Joseph, at the end of his life, told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Exodus 50:20)

Samson was blessed with amazing power and fighting skills until he squandered his life in godless living and poor decision-making. A life began with potential having been set aside from birth, and yet ended up as a prisoner because “he did not know that the LORD had left him.” (Judges 16:19b)

Job went from having everything money could buy to hearing the advice of his wife, “Curse God and die!” Yet out of disaster upon disaster, Job stayed committed to God. “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (Job 1:22) Job had no guarantees that anything good would come from his misery, yet he never lost faith. He was willing to accept what came, though he didn’t understand, nor would he ever fully understand.

Augustine would write centuries later, “If you understand, it is not God you understand.” Thomas Aquinas wrote a few more centuries later, after finishing his twenty-volume work on God, “This is the ultimate knowledge about God, to know that we do not know.” Scazzero finished his quote with the words, “I, too, can honestly say that the more I know about God, the less I know about him.”

We have just finished celebrating Easter. The cross was a terrible disaster, but when God took over, he turned the disaster into a rich blessing. The people watching the death of Jesus on the cross that afternoon saw a very different picture compared to the view from heaven. Jesus walked out of the tomb, breathing life into those who would follow.

Defining an event as a disaster or blessing can look different depending on your vantage point. Life may bring the mystery of trying to see how an event is either a disaster or a blessing, yet we hold strong in a foundation centered upon God’s love and purpose for us. “With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Ephesians 1:9-10

I offer condolences to Catholics around the world as they mourn the loss of Pope Francis, who died Easter Monday at the age of 88. You may disagree with his views politically and theologically, yet most could agree that he lived his life seeking to help the poor and marginalized of society. One of his consistent prayers that his grandmother taught him as a young child was, “Jesus, make my heart more like yours.” It is a simple prayer that is appropriate for any of us.

God is great!