It Shall Come to Pass

Deuteronomy 7:12-13

Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

 

I have heard some religious people say that if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and keep God’s Commandments, then we will be blessed abundantly, our works for prosperity will be rewarded and our prayers answered.  I have also been personally told that if I have enough faith in Jesus and in God’s power to work miracles and is am truly good, then prayers for my physical healing will be answered.  The time that I distinctly remember being told this was not the first time I had heard such a thing.  Though I was willing to believe, I did not stake my entire joy upon its coming true.  I remember having the thought that, perhaps, no matter how much faith I had or how good I was, God might not want me to be able to walk.  And yet, I never thought that it was God’s desire for me to be disabled – like that was God’s Perfect Will, His ideal plan for me.  I knew, even as a child, that nothing is perfect.  Nobody is perfect.  I knew that I didn’t deserve to be crippled… I knew that I also didn’t deserve to not be crippled.  Genetic defects are not about individual human worth, they aren’t doled out by God based on what each of us deserves.  It’s just nature.  And nature isn’t God, so it isn’t perfect.  It’s got flaws.  And I can accept that and love life, love Creation and adore the Creator, crippled as I am.

 

But, then… There will be that reported miracle on the Catholic television station… The long list of miracles recorded in books of Saints… And I will wonder… What makes that person who was cured of her debilitating disease after visiting Lourdes different?  Is it because her faith was so strong, her heart so pure, and her desire to walk again so great that God answered her prayer?  If she hadn’t gone to Lourdes, would He have answered it anyway?  Or does one have to board a plane and book a hotel room to show one’s sincerity of desire and faith?

 

Yep, I’m skeptical.  God is all-powerful and God can render any drop of water holy if See chooses.  But… Perhaps it’s the leap of faith taking the person to another country that accesses God’s power to heal.  And yet… It’s not right to say it that way: “accesses God’s power to heal” – like there’s some manipulation on our part.  At best, it’s like a child at prayer who might say, “God, if I’m really good and I do this, and that, and another thing, will you give me what I want?  I know that you can give it to me, so, pleeease?”  There could, of course, be no sense on the part of the supplicant of her deserving the miracle.  There must be, of course, an acknowledged need for God’s mercy.  And a plane ticket…?  At worst, trying to access God’s power to heal is like pagan religions of the past and the present.  Witchcraft is wrong because, in its basic concept, it seeks to tap into and channel the “divine forces” of nature, cosmic powers or whatever, in order to enact one’s will in the world.  Now, just to be clear, I’m not saying that all witches have practiced in this way, there may well be an acquiescence to what the “universe” wills.  Sometimes… I do wonder how different some of our prayers are from this kind of witchcraft.  You know, thinking, “if the universe wills it, then it will happen, but, in order to know, make good with any who might hold anything against you, recite this incantation every day for nine days, and eat this specially prepared morsel.”

 

But I digress…

 

I am a believing Christian.  And, so, I do believe in miracles.  Yes, there is the miracle of a new human being born into the world and of a hurt that is forgiven after years of suffering.  Even an atheist can appreciate these with wonder and call them “miracles”.  A recovery that might not have an explanation can be considered by some nonbelievers as miraculous precisely because it was a wonderful, dramatic surprise and it’s origins are unknown – for now.  But, I mean real miracles – divine interventions into a situation, which, if nature had been left to its own course, would have had dire or deadly results but, which, instead, through no human actions, have the opposite desired and pleasing results.  But… Why do I have to ask a saint to pray for me or drink water from an officially sanctioned shrine to get those results, to get those miracles?  Hmm… I said that I’m a believing Christian who believes in real miracles, but… Maybe I don’t.  Or, maybe, it isn’t faith that I lack – just understanding.  And who can understand the ways of God?

 

All this rambling to say that God works in mysterious ways.  And not always in the ways that we want.  Yes, it does seem right to our minds that good people should be rewarded with all the things that we consider to be good: health, well-being, prosperity, long life, and a large, healthy, happy, loving family.  And when good, simple, loving, faith-filled people contract illnesses, or get fired, or hit a stone while riding a bicycle and die – well, we have to figure out why bad things happen to good people.  And certainly bad things happen to innocent people – newborns suffering from painful, lethal sicknesses come to mind.  So, we say that physical rewards are not the best things that God has to offer.  Vibrant health is not as important as vibrant holiness, pleasurable comforts are not as important as the peace that comes from trust in God, and material wealth is not as important as spiritual wealth of faith, hope, and love.

 

Therefore, what God is really trying to tell us through Scripture is that full, deep and truly committed relationship with Him will always yield positive benefits for us.  These benefits will not always come in the form of creature comforts because sometimes those kind of benefits can actually get in the way of our relationship with God – we can get lazy and apathetic in the drunkenness of earthly delights.  That’s why I’m sure that the steward at the wedding feast in Cana said what he said with shock and a bit of contempt: “You fool, why would you waste the expensive and really tasty wine on people who are already too drunk on the other stuff to enjoy it??”  We do get drunk on the other stuff too easily and too quickly – and then we miss out on the joy of drinking in the truly good wine.  What bewildered the steward bewilders us as well: why does God pour out His mercy and love upon those who are paying no attention to Him at all?  For the rich, strong, attractive people seem to have everything without any leaps of faith, without any acts of worship to the one, true living God.  And, yet, those who are poor, ill and marginalized are attending religious services and singing songs of praise and worship to God.  Obviously, they are not being rewarded for their faith – look at them.  So, what’s the point of praying?  What’s the point of believing in anything beyond the pleasures of here and now?

 

What we don’t see is that the good wine being poured out by God on to everybody – everybody – is forgiveness and true love.  This does not come in the form of a spacious mansion or an aesthetically pleasing body.  In fact, if we had to draw a picture of what this forgiveness and true love looks like we would draw a cruciform with a dead body hanging upon it – the body of God Incarnate suffering the pinnacle of human weakness, poverty, rejection, cruelty and pain.  You don’t want to think about that when you’re wearing silk and jewels, eating crème brulé while laughing and chatting with your flattering friends, a pleasant wine buzz in your brain.  It isn’t that the enjoyment of earthly pleasures precludes the enjoyment of heavenly ones, it’s that the consumption of richness without exercise of the heart can result in the clogging of the pathways to and from the heart – oh, yeah, and the loss of life.  And I do mean that figuratively and literally.  The heart needs to be open to divine love so it can flow through our actions.

 

One at the wedding feast in Cana can drink the wine that is served first without excess, without the desired intent to intoxicate oneself, and still remain open to the joy of the superior wine.  One can have lands and property and vibrant health and an earthly legacy without excessive indulgence, without the desire to intoxicate oneself with one’s own abundance, and still remain open to the joy of spiritual health and wealth and well-being.  Worldly joys come through worldly things and, as is the nature of nature and worldly things, you win some, you lose some.  But heavenly joys come through heavenly things and, as is right and true in the nature of God, you are being showered with them always and everywhere.  If you’re too drunk to notice – and that goes for dry drunks, too – it’s not God’s fault.

 

Where does that leave me with prayers and miracles?  I have no idea right now.  My hour is most definitely up.

Christina Chase