“He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.” (Psalms 9:8)
A capsized cruise ship this week on the Yangtze River in China caught my attention. Over 400 people lost their lives. Sometimes, you just want to ask God, “Why?”
It also reminded me of the 1972 movie, “The Poseidon Adventure,” starring Gene Hackman, who screamed at God in anger and frustration. Do you remember the movie? There was a remake in 2006, but no one can match the performance Hackman gave in the original.
A luxury cruise liner, the S.S. Poseidon, had also capsized from a tidal wave on New Year’s Eve. When the dust settled, a handful of survivors – led by Hackman, a liberal, self-determined preacher – decides to work their way to the hull of the ship, which is now above water. Since everything is upside down, their decision to make their way to the hull proves far more difficult than they originally calculated, prompting Hackman, who played the Reverend Frank Scott, to give God a piece of his mind.
I once shared some of my frustration and anger with my Sunday School class about how to find God’s comfort in his Word. I realized as we shared some verses with each other that all of us from time to time experience the same frustration, anger, and confusion that I was experiencing. And I learned something else: It’s okay to let God know how you feel. As one of my class members said, “He knew how you felt anyway”.
Even Jesus got a little frustrated with God. He knew he was going to take on the sins of the world, but in the Garden of Gethsemane he said, “Abba, Father… everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me”. (Mark 14:3)
There is great comfort in that verse. It reminds me that it’s okay to let God know when I’m confused or angry. How could you have a deep relationship with anyone if you can’t express your innermost feelings?
I am also comforted by something one of my Sunday School class members sent me years ago after hearing my frustration. Strangely, it was a devotion, dated August 29th, the very same day I shared my anger with my classmates. It came from Oswald Chamber’s Devotional, My Utmost for His Highest:
“Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities on your commonsense life continue to shout, ‘It’s all a lie’? When you are on the mountain top, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh yes, I believe God can do it,’ but you to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief…Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict.”
When storms come our way, we often forget some of the most important promises that God made. I forgot a really special one: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”. (Hebrews 13:5)
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