A few years ago I read, The Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado which is about the There is a chapter in it about "...for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." The chapter is entitled "The Kingdom Worth Dying For". It talks about John the Baptist and the events that lead up to his death. How he questioned whether Jesus was the one he was preparing the way for, he felt like Jesus didn't care, that God had abandoned him. Max notes that to some Jesus' response may be puzzling. He responded saying, "everything is going as planned, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leaprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead have life, and the good news is being preached to the poor." John was hoping that Jesus would free him, rescue him from death, but Jesus' answer explained everything John needed to know. I love the way Max Lucado words things...he says...
"It wasn't that Jesus was silent; it was that John had been listening for the wrong answer. John had been listening for the answer to his earthly problems, while Jesus was busy resolving his heavenly ones. That's worth remembering next time you hear the silence of God. If you've asked for a mate, but are still sleeping alone . . . if you've asked for a child, but your womb stays barren . . . if you've asked for healing, but are still hurting . . . don't think God isn't listening. He is. And he is answering requests you are not even making." . . . Please catch this, it's powerful . . ."Does that mean Jesus has no reguard for injustice? No. He cares about persecutions. He cares about iniquities and hunger and prejudice. And he knows what it is like to be punished for something he didn't do. He knows the meaning of the phrase, 'It's just not right'. For it wasn't right that people spit into the eyes that had wept for them. It wasn't right that soldiers ripped chunks of flesh out of the back of their God. It wasn't right that spikes pierced the hands that formed the earth. And it wasn't right that the Son of God was forced to hear the silence of God.It wasn't right, but it happened.For while Jesus was on the cross, God did sit on his hands. He did turn his back. He did ignore the screams of the innocent. He sat in silence while the sins of the world were placed upon his Son. And he did nothing while a cry a million times bloodier than John's echoed in the black sky; 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'Was it right, no. Was it fair, no. Was it love? Yes.In a world of injustice, God once and for all tipped the scales in the favor of hope. And he did it by sitting on his hands so that we could know the kingdom of God."
I have come to realize that some of my biggest failures, my biggest heartaches, and greatest letdowns were really God sitting on his hands because he knew that the pain of not having those things exatly my way was far less than the pain I would have experienced otherwise. Sometimes I get angry at God. I yell at him for not understanding what it feels like to never have things work out the way I want them too. I tell him that he has no idea how it feels to pray and pray for something that doesn't happen. I guess I'm wrong. He really does know how it feels, he really does understand.
