Desperation is the key to the kingdom of God
Paul exhorts us in Romans, "Bless those who persecute, bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep." I do not know about you, but I can work with the "weep with those who weep." But, as for the rest…well, that is a different ball of yarn. When we are down in our luck, weeping comes easily. Forgiveness comes harder than being patient during rush hour. Hope seems distant, if even present. Blessing others seems far too much to ask and, honestly, a slap in the face. Yet, Paul tells us to rejoice always in 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Was Paul out of touch with reality?
It is a curious thing for me to be sick. In the past, when I was sick, I could not think of a prayer other than "Lord, take away the pain." Over and over again, I would voice my desperate plea to God. I never got a reply to my plea. As I have grown more humble, when I am sick, my words have changed. In sickness, I realize my weakness and my place in this world: there is a God, and I am not him. When I am sick, I find a sense of calm in my weakness. I more fully rely on God's comfort and his company. When I am down, really down: when I am broken; I find myself singing to the Lord that he is God and all glory is due him. James Hudson Taylor found this to be true as well, and his words have helped me see the light:
"But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One." As I read, I saw it all! "If we believe not, he abideth faithful." I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, "I will never leave thee." "Ah, there is rest!" I thought. "
Taylor helped me realize the fact that Jesus is with me always. When I am arrogant, he is there with me; when I am humble, he is there with me; when I fail him, he is there with me. He is like a good father who, after the child has acted defiantly and caused himself pain, gently places his hand on the child's shoulder and says confidently and plainly, "It will be okay, son." When my dad did that, I knew everything was okay. There was hardly a more calming feeling in the world.
Christ tells us to call the Father "Abba." Many of us in the church know this word means father. What we may not all know is what Abba means. Joachim Jeremias has this to say:
"Abba was an everyday word. It was a homely family-word. No Jew would have dared to address God in this manner, yet Jesus did it always in all his prayers which are handed down to us, with one single exception: the cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In the Lord's prayer, Jesus authorizes his disciples to repeat the word Abbaafter him. He gives them a share in his sonship. He empowers his disciples to speak with their heavenly father in such a familiar and trusting way."
Abba is informal. It is not a word carrying authority or respect, and you certainly would not refer to your boss or authority figure using it. It is a word that we would equate to "daddy." Christ is with us who are Christians, and he calls on us through the Holy Spirit who are not Christians. Christ desires no one to perish, and he wants everyone to be able to call on him, saying "Abba." He is our God and adjudicator, and he is our daddy.
What does all of this have to do with desperation, you may be asking? That is a fair question. Desperation is the key to the kingdom of God because it causes us to realize our place in the universe. It humbles us. This is when we can be most open to God's comfort and blessings. Desperate times can be the way that our hearts are opened to God. When times are not desperate, we should still be desperate for God. We are open to receiving his blessings as long as we are desperate for our Abba, our daddy. He is just as much God when the times are good as when the times are bad. Maybe, though, if we let ourselves, we will see that he is there with us even when times are bad. After all, when times are good, who needs God? Let our prayer be that we are always desperate for God and that we do not need hardship to realize how good our God is.
The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ro 12:14–15.
J. Hudson Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, n.d.
Max Lucado, The Great House of God: A Home for Your Heart (Dallas: Word Pub., 1997), 14.