Growing up, dance was my hobby.. I started by taking one class a week in elementary school and by the time I graduated high school, I spent most of my free time at the dance studio- practicing, training, and teaching. As I progressed along, I eventually learned how to turn. There are several types of different turns, some more complicated than others, and they all involve one major component. You have to “spot” while turning, in order to not get dizzy.
The concept of spotting is simple. You find something to focus on and you set your eyes to it. As you turn, you whip your head around quickly and refocus your eyes right back at the same spot. You can do this with one turn or with a sequence of turns. As long as your eyes, your focus, keep coming back to the same spot after each turn, it is easier to keep yourself upright and to not get dizzy.
I hung up my dancing shoes decades ago but have recently found myself back at the gym taking a dance class. I have found it interesting how old skills and memories have quickly come back to me, one of them being my need to spot when trying to turn or balance on one foot. I’ve also found it interesting how focusing on a speaker, slightly above the top of the mirror, generally keeps me more stable. However if I see someone else in the mirror start to wobble, it seems to break my concentration and I start to wobble. It’s almost as if the instability, the break in concentration is contagious! And that got me thinking…
The last several years, the world has felt wobbly. It seems that anytime I turn on a device, I am slammed with news of different tragedies, heartache, and sadness. Not to mention any personal conflicts or trials I am experiencing at the time! I have had to take my own precautions in limiting my access to this information because it becomes too heavy for me. I’ve come to realize that while monitoring my input of news is important, that isn’t enough. I need to adjust my focus. I need to focus on Jesus.
It often feels like the tragedies and injustices all around us are new and increasing in number but we know throughout Biblical history that mankind has always been sinful and doing hurtful things to one another. The first murder in history occurs in the first family of the Bible! (Genesis 4). Humanity becomes so evil that God wipes out almost everyone (minus Noah and his family) with a great flood, only two chapters after that! (Genesis 6).
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved [g]in His heart.7 Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.”- Genesis 6: 5-7
Eventually, the rain stops and the water goes down, and Noah and his family are able to get out of the ark. God even gives us the first rainbow, a promise that He will never destroy the earth by water again (Genesis 9:11). There has been evil in the world since the beginning of time. We don’t have to like it or condone it. It is often painful and unnecessary, led by greed, power, or disregard for others.
While humans are capable of great things, we are also capable of horrible things. We always have been, unfortunately, and we always will be. These are matters of our hearts, not because we have an unloving God. Yes, God could make us sinless robots who only do great and wonderful things but that is not who He has created us to be. He has given us free will and with that, we get to choose what we want to do in our one precious life. The brokenness we see and the hurt that we feel is not a reflection on God’s love for us but instead a reflection of our brokenness and separation from Him due to sin.
Sometimes when bad things happen, there can be feelings of abandonment by God. If God can do all things, why couldn’t he spare us from heartbreak? If we pray to Him about something, if He loved us, wouldn’t He answer our prayers the way we asked?
These are very difficult questions to answer from a human perspective. We are not God, we do not see the world and what happens in the world as He does. An example of this is the story of Joseph. Being his father’s favorite put Joseph at odds with his brothers. When Joseph began to have vivid dreams, including a dream of his brothers bowing down to him, they could no longer take it and plotted to kill him. Joseph’s life was spared when he was sold to some traders passing by and his brother’s falsified a story for their father that he had been killed by a lion.
Joseph’s life was full of ups and downs. He experienced some great high points- like becoming the personal servant to an Egyptian officer and overseeing all of his household affairs, to later becoming Pharoh’s right hand man and the driving force in preparing Egypt for a famine. Some of Joseph’s lows included being falsely accused and put in prison for years and being separated from his family. If you look at Joseph’s life, he had a lot to be thankful for and challenges he could have been bitter about. In the highs and lows of his life, he continued to make decisions that honored God and God continued to be with him.
Joseph later comes face to face with his brothers when they come to Egypt for food. Eventually he reveals himself and is reunited with his family, including his father who he had missed greatly. Later, when Joseph’s father passes away, his brothers fear Joseph will take retaliation on them for their past actions against him, that he was only keeping the peace because their father was alive. Instead, these are Joseph’s words:
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive. 21 So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.- Genesis 50:20
Joseph was able to see God was with him in the hills and the valleys of his life. Yes, God could have spared Joseph from being sold, from jail, from pain and suffering. And yet, God did not. He allowed Joseph to go through hard things and yet never left his side.
This is not to say that we should overlook those around us who are being persecuted or going through difficult trials. Nor should we claim their suffering is “God Will” because we don’t know with certainty that is true. What we do know to be true is that we have a loving and sovereign God who will never leave us in the valley. Holding on to who God is during difficult and uncertain times gives us the reminder that we are not alone. He sees us and He knows our pain. He is walking through our pain with us.
When our faith is in Jesus, we can cling to Him in the trials of this life. We have acknowledged that this world is sinful and full of broken people who will often hurt us- physically, mentally, emotionally- and that we can’t escape that while on this earth. We have the hope of peace in Heaven with God, the peace of eternal life when we are baptized into Christ. The following verse describing Heaven brings me peace and makes me yearn for it even more.
“4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”- Revelation 21:4
The beauty of a faith in Jesus, is that even in the pain and suffering, happening to us directly or in the world around us, we have hope. We have a God who loved us so much, He gave us Jesus. Jesus came down as a man and lived among us. He lived as a man so he could be a relatable example to us, so we would know He wasn’t just telling us what to do from an authoritative perspective without the experience to back it up. We know He walked this earth as a man, facing human trials and temptations and yet was blameless.
Putting back on my dancing shoes has reminded me that it only takes one turn for me to lose my balance and need to spot, refocus, again. Even breaking my concentration for a moment to see what others around me are doing can cause me to wobble. The same can be said for our faith when we stop focusing on Jesus. When we don’t set our eyes on Him, we risk losing our balance, our faith shaken by the hard things going on around us.
One scripture I cling to in moments of sadness and despair, which I have to admit has been more often lately: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”- John 16:33
Jesus has overcome the world! I don’t have to do that, He has done it for me! What a relief to know I don’t have to solve all of the problems in this world. I can be a helper, yes, but ultimately I know what the world needs more than my help, the world needs Jesus.
We would love to help you learn about Jesus or strengthen your faith in Him. Come visit us at Santa Clara Church of Christ!
