Deal With It!

What if there was a man who woke up in the middle of the night only to find that his house was on fire. Can you imagine the horror of that? Let’s say that he got out of bed, sat down, and proceeded to write an essay on The Origins of Fire in Private Homes. [I am indebted to William Barclay for this title.] What would you say to him? “What a thoughtful and deep thinker you are, sir.” I think not. Instead you would say, “Hey, call the fire department! Wake up the kids! Get the heck out of the house!” In other words, now is not the time for philosophical thinking. There are things to be done. Deal with it! Why is it that in crisis most of us wax philosophical and ask the “why” questions? (I guess I just asked one.) Do those questions yield answers that really satisfy us? Would it have helped the man at that moment to know of the origin of the fire? No, it would have only distracted him from what he needed to do. So it is with us when we go through our temptations and tragedies. We need to do something. We need to “trust in the Lord with all our hearts.” We need to remember and rehearse all the things that we know to be true about Him (He is good, He loves us, He will never forsake us, etc.). We need to seek the comfort and counsel of the Body of Christ. We need to go the doctors or seek appropriate medical, emotional, or relational therapy. We need to send out our resume, network, and actively look for that job. We need to stay away from that group of people or run from those situations we know will lead us to use again. We need to forgive and let go of the bitterness that is consuming us and making us so angry. We need to admit that the answers to our problems do not lie in what we don’t know, but in what we do know and fail to act upon. Does this mean that there is no place for thinking deeply about things we do not understand? Of course not; there is a time and place for such thinking because that is how we grow and mature. However, deep thinking should never be a smokescreen for inaction or unbelief. Just as there a lot of Christians who are not the least bit interested in theology, so there are a lot of philosophers and theologians who do not believe in God. They are ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. So, what pain are you facing? With what temptation are you struggling? There are things to be done. Deal with it! Ask questions later, for they may prepare you for the next fire.