God Plays the Long Game
This summer, some close friends welcomed around 50 folks to their home on the river for a night of laughs and good talk and a fine meal of some of the best brisket I've ever eaten. Our host, Don, shared the story below. I'm not sure where he got it and maybe you have read it before, but it is worth a repeat.
There is a story about an old man who lived in a small village:
He was the poorest man in the village, but he owned the most beautiful white stallion. The king had offered him a small fortune for it. After a terribly harsh winter, during which the old man and his family nearly starved, the townspeople came to visit.
“Old man,” they said, “you can hardly afford to feed your family. Sell the stallion and you will be rich. If you do not, you are a fool.”
“It’s too early to tell,” replied the old man.
A few months later, the old man woke up to find that the white stallion had run away.
Once again, the townspeople came, and they said to the old man, “See. If you had sold the king your horse, you would be rich. Now you have nothing! You are a fool!”
“It’s too early to tell,” replied the old man.
Two weeks later, the white stallion returned, and along with it came three other white stallions. “Old man,” the townspeople said, “We are the fools! Now you can sell the stallion to the king, and you will still have three stallions left. You are smart.”
“It’s too early to tell,” replied the old man.
The following week, the old man’s son, his only son, was breaking in one of the stallions and was thrown, crushing both his legs. The townspeople paid a visit to the old man, and they said, “Old man, if you had just sold the stallion to the king, you’d be rich, and your son would not be crippled. You are a fool.”
“It’s too early to tell,” said the old man.
Well, the next month, war broke out with the neighboring village. All the young men in the village were sent into battle and all were killed except the old man’s son who was not sent to battle because he had been crippled. The townspeople came, and they cried to the old man, “We have lost our sons. You are the only one who has not. If you had sold your stallion to the king, your son, too, would be dead. You are so smart!”
The old man replied, “It’s too early to tell.”
Just like the old man, no one is exempt from the twists and turns of life. Think about it for a moment...
That medical portal message telling you all is not right
A wildfire racing through a community
An adult child who walks away from faith
Family dysfunction that seems to have no solution
Old friendships ripped apart by politics
Loss and illness and loneliness and bills and liontigersandbears...oh, my
If we are Jesus-followers, and if we believe Jesus is really God, and if we hold to the twin ideas that life can be hard at the same time that God knows what he is doing beyond our understanding, then we can agree with the old man in the story. There lies, beyond our horizon, so much more than we can grasp. Sure, it is normal and natural to desire and pray diligently for answers and relief from trials, and we are invited to do just that. However, our master, Jesus, may have other plans for us.
God plays the long game.
In no way does this trivialize suffering and pain and desperation, but believers see through the situation to the God who awaits us. In Revelation 6, John describes souls under the altar of God who suffered and died. "How long?" wail those who wait in darkness. "A little longer, but surely," comes the reply. You see, the story is not finished. We don't know when it ends, only that it will. The drama of life will only be finished when the Author says "Done!" And then, he promises justice and healing, and that all will be made new.
So, we live in the meantime. In hope we work and wait, freeing our heart to yearn for more. In part, that yearning is the pull from beyond this life to the next. Living in the meantime allows a person to agree with the old man in the village: it's just too early to tell. It's helpful to remember that ours is not the first generation to know stress and troubles. Part of the price of being human lies in navigating steep rock-strewn paths.
Because God plays the long game.
Listening to a podcast recently, Jon Ward reminded listeners that the post-resurrection reality among believers was one of relaxed confidence in the midst of crisis times. These days, fear and anxiety more accurately describe what many Christians feel rather than a relaxed confidence in Jesus who died and rose again and who promised to come and make all things right...in his time. We fear the "others", the government, the leftists, or the fascists. Foolishly, our relaxation and confidence too often rests in the right candidate or a gun or a judge we like. As Jesus followers we live as aliens and strangers, not conquerors and rulers of dominions.
This morning, ponder what it might look like to be relaxed and confident in the God who came and died and rose again. And do your best to love God and love others like you love yourself.
We can trust in the God who plays the long game.
And MusicMusicMusic
And how about a couple of funnies for the road?
Apples and trees...
A little boy just couldn't learn. One day his teacher asked him who signed the Declaration of Independence. He didn't know.
For almost a week she asked him the same question every day, but still he couldn't come up with the right answer.
Finally, in desperation, she called the boy's father to her office. "Your boy won't tell me who signed the Declaration of Independence," she complained.
"Come here, son, and sit down," the dad said to the boy. "Now if you signed that crazy thing, just admit it so we can get out of here!"
__________
A man went to the doctor and said: “Doctor, I keep having visions of the future.”
“When did these start?”
“Next Thursday.”