The Counterfeit Compassion of Culture

8/3/2019 The Counterfeit Compassion of Culture

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-counterfeit-compassion-of-culture 1/5

The Counterfeit Compassion of Culture

By Thom Hunter

www.signsofastruggleblog.com

“Where is God? ...Go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double-bolting on the inside. After that, silence.” – C.S. Lewis, after the death of his wife.

God is omni-present; but it seems every now and then He is omni-absent. The sign on the door says "Gone Fishing," the lights are out, thedoorbell dings in an empty room, the No Vacancy sign is on . . . drive on down

the road . . . alone. Yes, I know that is not true; He never leaves me; Henever leaves you. He’s right there.

How can Someone as magnificent as God be there . . . and we be sounaware?

Wasn't He there, in the Garden of Eden, right after Adam and Eve'sencounter with the serpent? His Word says God came walking up in the cool



of the day. Surely He was also there in the heat of the moment. Yet Hedidn't clear his throat and wag his finger and say "Ummm . . . Eve . . no, no,no." So Eve did, did, did and we've been done for since.

God was oddly silent as the sin unfolded and then clearly loud as theconsequences unraveled the beautiful original intentions of existence.

I'll admit that it bothers me a bit to know that God is with us before weslip into the comfort zone of our sinful nature and, with all the power of theuniverse at His disposal, watches us tumble, twist and turn on the way down,and hit the bottom with a gut-wrenching and bone-jarring thud. Then comesout in the cool of the day as if He had not seen it all happen. Is He really a"what's up?" God?

No.

“Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.”

-- Psalm 27:14But we don't want to wait. We want to act. We want to meet a . . .

need? We want!

How many of us, when we are dialing a number we shouldn't know;turning into an area we shouldn't go, logging on to a website we shouldn'tsee, acting like someone we shouldn't be . . . say to ourselves: "Wait . . . Letme ask God about this?"

It's easy to say He's not speaking when we're not pausing. It's purespiritual finger-pointing to say He's not responding when we're not reflecting.

I think sometimes we think we might prefer a "No . . . No . . . No . . ."

wagging-a-warning finger God. And we would of course gently lay down ourpride, sweep aside our defiance, thank Him profusely for keeping us fromfalling, pledge our undying trust and obey without question. Or perhaps wewould eat of the fruit; gain the knowledge we do not need; satisfy the gluttonside of our spirit and waddle into our all-too-familiar rescue me mode.

Fact of the matter is, God does wag a "No . . . No. . . No. . . “ finger in

our faces. We just ignore it and say we didn't hear Him. Are we actuallyexpecting God to sit by our bedside and read His Word aloud to us at night?

My son, do not forget My teaching, but keep My commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let

love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, writethem on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name inthe sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will



make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.

-- Proverbs 3:1-7

OK . . . we’ll do that. But . . . remind us. Okay, God? We just mightforget.

Oops . . . that was how the verse began: "do not forget." And it asksus to "keep." Keep what? Those commands we so easily tossed to lightenthe load as we traveled down the me-want road. And . . . oh yeah . . . Hewanted us to write "love and faithfulness" on the tablets of our hearts. But . .. that's my heart. There's not much writing room left; I've done a lot of scribbling and mark-outs through the years trying to satisfy the longings of my heart.

Of course then He wants us to trust. Trust the Creator or lust for thecreation? Tough choices we face in this life. He says if we trust Him insteadof ourselves . . . He will take all those crooked detours, jagged fault lines,

dangerous drop-offs, and impossible mountains . . . those cliffs . . . out of ourpaths and make them "straight." We're not talking sexual semantics here . . .we're talking direction . . . which certainly can lead to some serious sexualsemantics.

So what else does this "silent" God, who watches us once again slam adoor in haste, have to say? He says for us not to be wise in our owneyes. Who knew that the pursuit of wisdom could be so dangerous? Well . . .Eve, I guess, in retrospect. Adam, too. And, oh yes, the serpent. They alllearned it, but God knew it all along. Surely God doesn't want us to just bestupid? We’d get into so much trouble. Oh . . . yeah. That.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom,and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

-- I Corinthians 1:25

I remember driving out onto a lonely hill at the edge of the town I grewup in, seeing the lights in the distance and thinking of each of them as aporch light in a home where everything was right and good, every bodytucked in for the night, every heart satisfied, every mind at rest, every soul atpeace.

Lacking the courage to call out to God, I repeated instead within my

mind what all was not right with my world . . . my home . . . my heart . . . mysoul . . . my peace. And those words echoed within the emptiness . . . andbrought me heartache. I had come to the hill alone . . . and remained therealone . . . and departed alone. My choice.

We may come to the garden alone . . . but we shouldn't leave that way.He is so accessible, but He might want us to linger a little longer than we

want. So, we dash and slam. "Oops . . . sorry."



What must really be difficult for God -- if anything could ever be solabeled -- is to hear the echoes of His own Word as it descends into ourvalleys and reverberates against the emptiness we feel as we seek to satisfyour selves with increasing self-absorption. We want to move that mountain,cross that valley, swim that ocean . . . and then . . . when totally satiated, cryout "Where were you, God?"

With you.

I know sometimes it seems we are all alone in whatever battle hasworked to separate us from His love, whatever temptation has tattered ourgoodness, whatever sin has led to our shunning. But we are never alone. Wewould not, could not, will not be alone.

Having trouble finding your own way out of your mess? Tempted toblame God, declaring Him absorbed in some sort of Solitaire while you slowly

slip away?

Maybe we would hear more . . . if we would open a few doors here andthere instead of slamming them as we proceed to and fro on our own. Maybeif we played a little less hide-and-seek, put away a few must-see and must-have distractions -- the pursuit of happiness as defined by culture -- andpaused at the table, talked to Him, listened to Him, pulled out the chair, satdown . . . and waited.

Like He asked us to do in the first place. Remember:

“Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.”

-- Psalm 27:14

You know, that's what I always wanted: to be strong, to have courage.And He said I could. If I would wait for Him.

Next time you find yourself feeling the pain of self-induced pity at yourpitiful plight of weakness in the face of temptation, remember: Wait. Bestrong. Take courage.

Wait.

We don't do that very well, do we? Waiting. Waiting on the Lord. Inthe face of a nagging want . . . we choose not to wait for Him to speak first.We don’t ask; we proceed, usually with little caution. We follow the lead of aswallow-up, smother-down culture which promises enlightenment andsatisfaction, leaving us later to stumble, dazed and damaged, into the light toface the daunting question: “Who told you you were naked?”



Choosing to follow is a day-to-day decision which can lead usto victory or defeat, restoration or repetition, onto a straight path or into anendless cycle.

God is never silent. He spoke it all, in advance of every question.

God Bless,

Thom

(Thank you for reading the introduction from my new book, "WhoTold You You Were Naked?" The Counterfeit Compassion of Culture.The book is available now from Amazon.com and will soon be available for e-readers and in bookstores. Please help me launch the book. Use the followinglink and put the code in at checkout for a 20% discount off the retail price.)

Link: Amazon.comCode LF4DCNHS

https://www.createspace.com/3716623

https://www.createspace.com/3716623

Documents

The Counterfeit Compassion of Culture