Living In A Messy World

Living in a Messy World

It was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

Isaiah 53:4

One reason we can trust the veracity of the Bible is because of the terrible stories it tells. Think about it. If you were only interested in promoting the merits of your religion, would you include so many messy stories that cast their protagonists in a negative light? There’s Abraham lying about his wife to save his skin. Jacob’s boys selling their brother into slavery. Samson acting like a thug. And what about David lusting after Bathsheba? On and on, human weakness is on display throughout the pages of the Bible.

Paul Tripp points out how helpful these stories can be for us because they show us our need for God and for his grace. “The Bible . . . will shock you with its honesty about what happens in the broken world in which we live. From the sibling homicide of Cain to the money-driven betrayal of Judas, the blood and guts of a broken world are strewn across every page. The honesty of God about the address where we all live is itself an act of love and grace. He sticks our head through the biblical peephole so we will be forced to see the world as it really is, not as we fantasize it to be. He does this so we will be realistic in our expectations, then humbly reach out for the help that he alone is able to give us.”^a

To use Tripp’s imagery, all of us live at an unsavory address, a place where people do bad things to each other. Experiencing God’s peace is not about escaping the neighborhood but about accessing God’s grace in the midst of it. Furthermore, one of Jesus’ names is Immanuel, a name that means “God with us.” Instead of removing himself to a celestial gated community so he could be oblivious to our problems, he indwells us through the power of his Spirit, providing everything we need to grow in the peace he offers.

Lord, thank you for not abandoning us and instead becoming one of us. By doing so, you have indeed carried our weaknesses and taken on our sorrows, bringing us peace because of what you were willing to endure for our sake.

^a Paul Tripp, What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 25.