In one of their classic slapstick shorts “Dutiful but Dumb”
(1941), the Three Stooges wonderfully illustrate a human dilemma. The boys are
Click, Clack, and Cluck – photographers working for a glossy journal, Whack; the Illustrated Magazine (“If
it’s good picture, it’s out of Whack”).
Moe and Larry bungle getting a photo of a movie star and his
bride-to-be in their hotel room. But, through a hole in the center of the table
in their room, Curly hides under large dinner platter. He emerges when the
movie star removes the lid and snaps a photograph of the frightened couple
holding each other and kissing. Curly then rushes the negative to Moe in a dark
room for developing. A dialogue ensues:
Moe: ”How long has it been in the soup, rock
head?”
Curly
pulls up his sleeve and looks at the time.
Moe: “Hey, what’s the idea of three watches?”
Curly: “That’s how I tell time. This one runs ten
minutes slow every two hours; this runs twenty minutes fast every four hours;
the one in the middle is broken; it stopped at 2:00.”
Moe: “How do you tell the time?”
Curly: “I take the ten minutes on this one and
subtract it from the twenty minutes on that one, then I divide by two in the
middle.”
Disgusted,
Moe asks, “What time is it now?”
Curly
pulls out an oversized pocket watch and proudly announces, “Ten minutes to
four.”
After Moe bongs Curly with the pocket watch, Larry emerges
from behind the curtains. He looks in the “soup” and exclaims with great alarm,
“I can’t find the negative!”
Moe: “How about the
positive?”
Curly: “I’m positive
about the negative, but I’m a little negative about the positive.”
Moe: “Oh, negative,
eh?”
Curly: “No, I’m
positive the negative is in the developer.”
Moe: “Your brains
need developin’!”
• Time and Chance Happen
In the biblical book of Ecclesiastes the three watches that
don’t work and the oversized pocket watch that does work are called “time” or,
if we wanted to paraphrase it “uncertain times.” And being positive about the
negative in our lives and a little negative about the positive is termed
“chance” or, if we wanted to use a paraphrase “unpredictable events.”
In chapter 9, the Thinker observes that life just doesn’t always
happen the way we had expected and offers us this poem:
11I
also saw something else here on earth:
The fastest
runner does not always win the race,
the strongest soldier does not always win
the battle,
the wisest
does not always have food,
the smartest does not always become
wealthy,
and
the talented one does not always receive praise.
Time and
chance happen to everyone.
12No
one knows what will happen next.
Like a fish
caught in a net,
or a bird caught in a trap,
people are
trapped by evil
when it suddenly falls on them
In “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” from the 1980 album Double Fantasy, John Lennon sang to his
small son:
Before you cross the street,
Take my hand.
Life is just what happens to you,
While you’re busy making other
plans.
Earlier in the song Lennon told his son, “Before you go to
sleep, say a little prayer.” Earlier in chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes, the Thinker
recognized that the hand of God was at work in the affairs of humanity (verse
1). Both are viewing life not from the perspective of God who sees the end from
the beginning, but from the vantage point of life as we live it. Using the
words of the Thinker, how can we deal with time (that is, with the uncertain seasons
of life) and chance (with unpredictable events that happen while we’re busy
making other plans)?
• The Gospel’s Answer to Time and Chance
The Gospel answers this way. Even in the most trying
circumstances such as not knowing where your next meal is coming from (Matthew
6:25-33), the Lord instructs us:
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you. 34 Therefore do not be anxious about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is
its own trouble.
The core issue is not the mind and knowledge: what am I
going to do? who can I enlist to help me? The primary human issue is love and
worship. Whom do I most love? Whom do I most desire? Whom do I worship? To
function humanly the supreme object of worship must be our maker and savior –
the one perfect in beauty, goodness, justice, and righteousness, God.
God’s kingdom is God’s rule over humanity through his
Messiah (“Christ” in Greek), the Lord Jesus. God’s righteousness is the morally
upright way to do things in conformity to God’s holy nature. When our heart is
focused on God the Creator and Provider, we will then trust in his provision
and providence and cast off our anxieties of uncertain times and unpredictable
events. We will make honorable plans and live one day at a time. The worries of
the past will remain in the past. The worries of tomorrow will stay in
tomorrow. We will pray “Give us today our daily bread” and live today with
God’s provisions.
• Time and Chance in the Life of Moses
How does such living work out in practice? Consider Moses, a
Hebrew (Exodus chapters 1-4). By providence a daughter of Pharaoh, King of
Egypt, adopted him as a baby. He grew up with learning and privilege. Around
age 40, when he saw an Egyptian unmercifully beating a Hebrew, he killed the
oppressor and buried his body in the sand. The next day, realizing that his
deed had become known to the Egyptians, he fled eastward to safety in the
Midian desert. He was kind to some daughters of the priest of Midian who
reported it to their father. The father had the man summoned and a friendship
ensued. Moses ended up marrying one of the priest’s daughters, had two sons,
and took up the occupation of shepherd. In the meantime, back in Egypt, Egyptian
officials had made the Hebrews into slaves and had started to cruelly oppress
them. Their desperate cries for rescue rose up to God.
One day when Moses was approximately age 80 (still having
the vigor of middle age), he led his flock of sheep far out into the desert and
came to Mount Sinai. He came across a bush
that was engulfed in flames but didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said
to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I’ve got to go and take a look.”
As Moses stepped closer with his shepherd’s staff in hand, the Lord God called
to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses
replied. “Do not come any closer,” the
Lord God warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I
am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.”
Out of fear Moses covered his face. The Lord God continued
to speak, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have
heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Now go, for
I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel
out of Egypt
to a new land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:1-10)
Moses mounted a series of objections. His first three
protests help us see how to deal with the uncertainties of life. Protest #1:
“Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God’s answer: “I will be
with you.” Despite his objections, Moses made God his supreme love and trust and God was there with him
as he went back to Egypt
and faced a hostile Pharaoh and all his officials – who had no intention of
releasing the slave-nation of Hebrews.
Protest #2: Moses objected, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell
them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What
is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God’s answer: “I am who I am. . .
. Tell them, I AM has sent me . . . Tell them, YAHWEH has sent me. . .” (Exodus
3:13-15). This is a key passage of Scripture and we will do well to pause here
for a while. What does it mean that God is “I am who I am”? Pastor-scholar John
Piper finds seven implications [1].
(1) God exists. “I am, I exist, I have being.” Whether we
like or not, whether we acknowledge or not, God is there. (2) No reality exists
behind God. “I am who I am” is saying that God’s personality and power are
owing solely to himself and to no other. (3) God’s nature does not change. “I
am who I am,” says the Lord, and, therefore, no forces outside of God can determine
who he is. We humans have unforeseen circumstances and often have weak
resolution in the face of changing circumstances, but not God.
(4) God is an inexhaustible source of energy. If he is the
“I AM” supreme over all outside beings and forces, then he by implication is
the creator of all matter, energy, space and time. As Isaiah 40:28 says,
“Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does
not faint or grow weary.” (5) God says who he is and not us. Thus, God has the
exclusive knowledge to communicate the knowledge of who he is. We humans are
outside of God and humbly dependent on him. He is there and he is not silent.
We have no right to invent ideas of God. He has the exclusive right to
communicate them to us. (6) We must conform to God and not he to us. He is the
I AM and not us. We must be guided by the Self-Existent One and not suppose
that we the dependent ones have the right to impose our will upon him.
There is one more critical implication of the “I AM” nature
of God:
. . .this infinite, absolute,
self-determining God has drawn near to us in Jesus Christ. In John 8:56-58
Jesus is answering the criticism of the Jewish leaders. He says, “Your father
Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” The Jews
then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly! I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Could Jesus have taken any more
exalted words upon his lips? When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” he
took up all the majestic truth of the name of God, wrapped it in the humility
of servanthood, offered himself to atone for all our rebellion, and made a way
for us to see the glory of God without fear. [2]
The “I AM” nature of God is shared by God the Father, Jesus
who is God the Son, and by the Holy Spirit of God. Since the coming of Christ,
we can only come to the Father through the Son. There is no other way. And
coming to God, we come to the One who eternally is and cannot not exist. To the
One who is self-existent, who will always be there. To the One who is
completely dependable because his nature does not change. To the inexhaustible
source of energy, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. To the One who makes himself
known and to the One with whom we have to deal with. Finally, plagued by evil in
ourselves, thank God – we come to God through Christ who died for our sins and
rose triumphantly over sin and death.
How can we deal with uncertain seasons and unforeseen
circumstances? By trusting in God - who has such almighty strength and absolute firmness of character that the ancient psalmist exclaims, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress" (Psalm 18:2).
There is one more objection that Moses makes. Protest #3:
Moses said, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say,
‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” God's answer: Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in
your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. “Throw it down on the ground,”
the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake!
Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So
Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in
his hand. “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that
the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.” (Exodus 4:1-5 NLT)
What is the significance of the shepherd’s staff for Moses?
In a TED talk, Rick Warren proposed the answer [3]:
This staff represented three
things about Moses’ life. First, it represented his identity. He was a
shepherd. It’s the symbol of his own occupation: "I am a shepherd." It’s a symbol
of his identity, his career, his job. Second, it’s a symbol of not only his
identity; it’s a symbol of his income, because all of his assets are tied up in
sheep. In those days nobody had bank accounts, or American Express cards, or
hedge funds. Your assets are tied up in your flocks. So it’s a symbol of his
identity, and it’s a symbol of his income. And the third thing: it’s a symbol
of his influence. What do you do with a shepherd’s staff? Well, you know, you
move sheep from point A to point B with it, by hook or by crook. You pull them
or you poke them, one or the other. So, He’s saying, “You’re going to lay down
your identity. What’s in your hand? You’ve got identity; you’ve got income;
you’ve got influence. What’s in your hand?” And He’s saying, “If you lay it
down, I’ll make it come alive. I’ll do some things you could never imagine
possible.”
Finally, how do you deal with “time and chance”? You take
what’s in your hand (including your identity, your income, and your influence) and you use it for the honor of God and the good of humanity.Anxiety recedes as God and others come into sight and significance.
[1] John Piper, “I Am Who I
Am,” sermon on Exodus 3:13-15, September 16, 1984
by John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist
Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/i-am-who-i-am
[2] Ibid.
[3] Here I have benefitted
from listening to the TED Talk by Rick Warren, “A life of purpose” filmed
February 2006. https://www.ted.com/talks/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose/transcript?language=en
Pics: Three items on public
display at Lakeland Gallery, Willoughby,
Ohio: Ian Argo, “Forgotten”
(photography); Josh Herbert, “Pirate’s Alley” (photography); and Hap Howle,
“Fairport Harbor Lighthouse” (painting).
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