Where is God when I am misunderstood?

Palm Sunday

March 16, 2008

There are seasons in which the old gospel song has it just right.

You gotta walk that lonesome valley

And you gotta walk it by yourself

Nobody else can walk it for you

You gotta walk, walk it by yourself.

So where is God?  When you are in that lonesome valley of solitary decision, where is God? When you are in that lonesome valley bearing a burden that nobody can take from your shoulders, where is God?  When your heart is broken or your soul is grieving where is God? When you have messed up and it is time to pay up or make up or ask forgiveness and just try again, where is God?

The answer is that God is where God always is. In the words of that most famous Psalm, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.”  

Palm Sunday is about one of those “lonesome valley” experiences. Have you ever been alone in a crowd?  There are people all around and they are chit-chatting about this and that and small-talk is everywhere. But something is happening in your life that makes “chit-chat” and “small-talk” seem so useless.

Here comes Jesus. He is riding on the back of a small donkey. The crowds are there and they cheer “Hosanna”. That means, “Save us”. They are treating him like some kind of a conquering hero. He is the star of the show, the long yearned-for hero. And only Jesus knows that soon, he must die. 

Jesus is on a path from Bethany, down the slope of The Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley and into Jerusalem. The crowd knows that he is going to Jerusalem but only Jesus knows that the real destination is Calvary. Do you think that he may have wondered, “Where is God when you are all alone?”

It was not the only time that Jesus experienced this fundamental aloneness. There was a time at the very beginning of his ministry when he was led into the wilderness to spend 40 days with the tempter.

There was a day when he had to decide whether or not to go to Jerusalem to meet his final destiny.  

A little later that week, on a Thursday night, he took his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and every one of them fell asleep. While he was praying, “Father, it be your will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done”, while he was praying they all fell asleep and he alone was left with his prayers.

When he hung on the cross and spoke the words of the twenty second Psalm, “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me, might he have wondered, where is God when you are all alone?

Let me offer some observations. It was in those moments that we see something about Jesus that we can see in no other way. It is here that his identity shines through. Here we see his loyalty and his courage and the core of his heart and soul. In the very places, where he was most likely to take another path and Jesus chose to stay the course.

It is in these lonesome valley places where you and I discover the core of our own identity. It is here where we choose to be who we are.

• When the opportunity to steal is before us and we choose honesty.
• When the lie is on our lips and we choose the truth.
• When the invitation to adultery is clear and we choose to be faithful.
• When fear is about to drive us from doing the right thing and we do it anyway.
• When worship is inconvenient and we go to worship.
• When the less powerful one is standing before us and we treat him or her with respect because we are dealing with a son or daughter of God.

It is in those alone moments that we discover our own identity. And it is precisely those moments that God uses to shape us into men and women growing towards God’s own image. Where is God when you are all alone? God is there calling us to be God’s man or woman.

I believe that there are four decisions that every person must make in his or her aloneness. These are decisions that nobody else can make for you. You have to make them by yourself.

The first question is this, who is the primary authority in your life? Who is the teacher that you trust?  Nobody invents the world for himself. Nobody creates wisdom out of nothing. We all choose to trust some people more than others. Who is the teacher or who are the teachers from whom you choose to learn the wisdom of life?

I am a Christian because I have chosen Jesus to be the primary teacher in my life. He is my chose authority figure. Before anybody else, I, and all other Christians look to him. Who is your teacher? Only you can choose for yourself.

Question two: Who is your primary community?  While some choices must be made by you and only you, you cannot delegate these to somebody else, the simple fact of our created humanity is that we were not created to live alone. Our identity is shaped by the community that we choose. Have you discovered how men and women who share certain professions tend to share certain kinds of traits? Lawyers have certain things in common and doctors seem to share a certain perception on the world and cops all know about the dark side of life and teachers and carpenters and plumbers. It’s because the share certain kinds of tasks and they talk to one another. They chose the community that shapes their perspective on life. And they talk to one another about the issues that they face and the way that they face them. You should hear preacher talk!

Because I have chosen Christ as the primary authority in my life, I have chosen the church as my primary community. It is here that I find the conversation and the worship and the practices that encourage me to follow Jesus. We were made for community. And the church is the community that chooses to live out its faithfulness to Christ. Who is your community? You must choose for yourself.

Question three: What is your vocation?  We have been created to make a contribution to this world. Doing nothing is a terrible option. The question that you must answer is this, what will you do with your life?  What is your vocation? How will you use your talents and gifts and resources to make better this world that you have inherited? 

Because Christ is my teacher, I chose to use my days in a way that will contribute to God’s purpose in this world. I do so as a minister of the gospel. Most of us contribute in other ways. But the question that you must ask is this, how does my work, paid or volunteer, how does my work contribute to God’s purpose in this world?

Question four: What is the dominant methodology of your life? How do you go about your business?  How do you treat the people who are around you?

Are you into power? Are you looking for the coercive edge? Do you like to intimidate or bully and force others to do your will?

Are you into manipulation?  Do you use subtle misdirection of the truth to get your way?  Do you place a little rumor here and a little story there and a slight insinuation someplace else in order to maneuver others into doing what you want?

Because I have chosen Jesus to be the primary authority in my life, I choose the way of love. I say this afraid that many here do not know the kind of love that Jesus taught. It is not the love of emotion though emotions are often involved. It is not the love of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” 

The Greek word is AGAPE and it means that the one who loves will do that which is in his power to do for the other person’s well-being. It is a determined good will towards the other. It is the kind of love that causes one to obey Jesus in loving one’s enemies. It is the kind of love that causes one to obey Jesus in forgiving those who “trespass” against you. It is the kind of love that tries to do the right thing even when you don’t much like what the right thing is.  It is the very love that led Jesus to die on the cross for you and me and indeed, for the entire world. It is a tough love and a tough-minded love and it is God’s love for us. “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

You can only choose this way of life for yourself. It cannot be forced on others nor can others force it on you. It comes from the center of the soul where God lives. It comes from that place where the Holy Spirit of God breathes life into your life.

Where is God when you are alone in the “lonesome valley”? God is there doing the hard work in your soul, calling you to be the man or woman that God intended when you were first born into his world.

Where is God? God is with you.