Therefore.
Years ago a pastor in St. Louis, during a Bible study, one
hand raised in the middle of a Scripture reading by an overly articulate study participant, said, “WAIT!
Stop.”
Hm? Now why would you interrupt such a beautiful reading?
The word, “therefore,” should always make you pause, he
explained. And when you pause, ask yourself, “What is it there for?”
The verses preceding it were pivotal to…something.
Everything…is pivotal to something. Nothing is wasted.
What. Is. It. There. For?
Maybe out of desperation to maintain some sense of positivity,
maybe out of the fact that I can be a little *off* at times, maybe out of experiencing
some years that I can say were much worse than 2020, those five words are life changing,
life saving.
On Christmas Eve, my friend Erin woke me with an article
by text about a hymn derived from a poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote
during the Civil War.
We sing it at Christmastime. Casting Crowns made a
contemporary Christian Christmas song out of it. Yet I’d never pondered its
origin.
“And in despair I bowed my
head…
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said.
‘For hate is strong and mocks the song…
Of peace on earth, good will to men…’”
(“Christmas Bells”
Longfellow)
See, Longfellow had lived
some tragedy. His lens into a holly jolly Christmas clouded by the tragic loss
of his wife two years earlier.
She was sending some mail,
using candle wax to seal envelopes, when her dress caught fire. Engulfed in
flames, she ran into his study for help, where he was badly burned by the flames
that would in coming days prove to take her life. Random, huh? Life can feel
that way. Death, too.
Fast forward two years, called
to the side of his war-injured son as December was just beginning to paint frost
on the ground, and Longfellow penned that most brutally honest Christmas-poem-turned-hymn.
I wasn’t there with him when
he did it. Because I’m not that old. But I would venture to say he was hanging
on because of those five words: What is it there for?
I wonder if under some candlelight, one hand holding his son’s, tears streaming through a scraggly beard, he begged God to show him what it’s all there for.
I’m not sure. But it seems as though, in contemplating the birth of Christ, he quickly turned the corner to contemplate the death of Christ.
What is this beautiful thing there for? What is this tragic thing there for?
“Then
pealed the bells more loud and deep…
‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.’"
Peace
on earth. Good will to men. Because God is not dead, He doesn’t sleep.
So we had a hard year. Many say it was the worst they'd experienced. But for every little distracting or disastrous…or beautiful…or frustrating or devastating impact this year has brought, the question offers a line to hope.
What...Is...It...There...For?
For you to be closer to God? For us to be brought to our knees, asking Him to show us what it’s there for, while knowing we may not quite understand this side of heaven, but that none of it is wasted? For YOU. It’s there for you. For us.
We "want the dets," as the kids say. But...God has the details worked out for you. Look at the story of a Savior born in a manger because his parents were told there was no room for them to stay.
1
Corinthians 13, 12-13…These are our family verses. You can have them as your
family verses, too. Or just cling to them during the times you wish you had the
answer to that question.
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I
am fully known.”
