When Funny Doesn't Cut It.

Quip: Maybe one day I'll be as wise as C.S. Lewis. Maybe not.  #becausetheresjustnoway

With cabin fever setting in over here, I’ve been able to spend more time in my head than usual. Since my kids are a little older and can fend for themselves more, it grants me the gift of a little more solitude with my thoughts. This is a good thing. Sort of.

I realize that I use this blog to share about things going on in my life or my own observations about life. I tend to lean on the side of funny as opposed to serious because hey, who doesn’t love funny? But when I get alone with no distractions, I’m forced to acknowledge that there are things going on around the world that are anything but funny.

Terrorism isn’t funny.

Beheading Christians isn’t funny.

Sex trafficking isn’t funny.

Cancer isn’t funny.

Divorce isn’t funny.

All of these things are heavy. So heavy that I feel like they could crush us. We wonder why our God would let these things happen. We wonder if He even cares. We wonder if it will ever get better. These things bring us to our knees before a Holy God who is familiar with our burdens.

I find myself wondering all these things too. When I pray for things to happen that would be good or “fix” things and He doesn’t answer the way I want, I wonder why. Why would He let bad things happen when I’m praying the way I’m supposed to? I don’t understand this. What I’m praying for would be for God to bring healing and restoration. What He allows to happen brings pain and sadness. Why would He do this?

When I’m thinking this way, it helps me to go back and see what the Word says. In Psalms 115:2-3, it says, “Why should the nations say, Where now, is their God? But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever pleases Him.” Hmmm. He does whatever pleases Him. This is always a good reminder for me that He is God and I am not. To be clear, God is not pleased with sin. Just because He allows sin to happen, doesn’t mean He is pleased with it. My problem is I want to tell God how He needs to redeem the situation. I’ve recognized the sin, I’ve come up with a plan to make it better, and then I bring it before God. I tell God what He needs to do to bring glory to Himself. Man, God is so lucky to have me! What would He do without my instruction?

“Who is able to advise the Holy Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him?” (Is. 40:13)

Eating Crow?

Oh. I see you, Humility. You look like crow. God, in fact, doesn’t actually need me telling him what to do. Imagine that! God needs me to trust that He’s going to work it out. And if His Word is any indicator, He’s got this figured out. Does this mean we should quit asking God to bring healing? Should we stop praying for change? No, because God hears our prayers. Our prayers bring us closer to the Father. Prayer is God’s gift to us. So even if He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want Him to, He will give us comfort and peace. He doesn’t have to give us all the answers. He’s the Almighty God. He doesn’t answer to us, we answer to Him. I don’t get why heartbreaking things happen except that I know there is sin in this world and sin is a disease. It corrupts everything it touches. And without Jesus, we have no hope. So even though I hate watching sin run rampant, I know in the end, God wins. Hallelujah, praise Jesus! God. Wins.

Although I prefer to be light-hearted on the blog, I think I would be doing you readers a disservice if all I offered you were silly stories. To think that y’all are only interested in shallow commentary would be insulting. I refuse to insult you, sweet readers. I think, like me, you have more depth than that. Sometimes you have to go to the dark places instead of just covering them up with the funny. So today, I’m in the serious. Today I’m recognizing those hard situations that can’t be glossed over with humor. If we don’t talk about those dark things, they can begin to fester. So let’s honor them like we do the good things. Hard things are hard; let’s not pretend they’re not acting like they aren’t there. There will always be a place for the funny but let’s make some space for those dark places too. We tend to grow in the dark places. Don’t dismiss them before you’ve recognized them. Feel all the feelings, good and bad. The good ones will come eventually and they’ll be sweeter because of what you had to go through to get there. Do the hard stuff. I know you can.

-Courtney

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