Balm for the Soul

Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full security. Why do we now live in anxiety? Can you expect me not to feel anxious when I read: “Is not life on earth a time of trial?” Can you expect me not to feel anxious when the words still ring in my ears: “Watch and pray that you will not be put to the test”? Can you expect me not to feel anxious when there are so many temptations here below that prayer itself reminds us of them, when we say: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”? Every day we make our petitions, every day we sin. Do you want me to feel secure when I am daily asking pardon for my sins, and requesting help in time of trial? Because of my past sins I pray: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” and then, because of the perils still before me, I immediately go on to add: “Lead us not into temptation.” How can all be well with people who are crying out with me: “Deliver us from evil”? And yet, while we are still in the midst of this evil, let us sing alleluia to the good God who delivers us from evil.

Even here amidst trials and temptations let us, let all, sing alleluia. “God is faithful,” says Holy Scripture, “and he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength.” So let us sing alleluia, even here on earth. Humanity is still a debtor, but God is faithful. Scripture does not say that he will not allow you to be tried, but that “he will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength.” Whatever the trial, he will see you through it safely and so enable you to endure. You have entered upon a time of trial but you will come to no harm—God’s help will bring you through it safely. You are like a piece of pottery, shaped by instruction, fired by tribulation. When you are put into the oven therefore, keep your thoughts on the time when you will be taken out again; for God is faithful and “he will guard both your going in and your coming out.”

But in the next life, when this body of ours has become immortal and incorruptible, then all trials will be over. “Your body is indeed dead, and why? Because of sin.” Nevertheless, “your spirit lives, because you have been justified.” Are we to leave our dead bodies behind then? By no means. Listen to the words of Holy Scripture: “If the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwells within you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your own mortal bodies.” At present your body receives its life from the soul, but then it will receive it from the Spirit.

O the happiness of the heavenly alleluia, sung in security, in fear of no adversity! We shall have no enemies in heaven, we shall never lose a friend. God’s praises are sung both there and here, but here they are sung in anxiety, there, in security; here they are sung by those destined to die, there, by those destined to live for ever; here they are sung in hope, there, in hope’s futfillment; here they are sung by wayfarers, there, by those living in their own country.

So then, let us sing now, not in order to enjoy a life of leisure, but in order to lighten our labors. You should sing as wayfarers do—sing, but continue your journey. Do not be lazy, but sing to make your journey more enjoyable. Sing, but keep going. What do I mean by keep going? Keep on making progress. This progress, however, must be in virtue; for there are some, the Apostle warns, whose only progress is in vice. If you make progress, you will be continuing your journey, but be sure that your progress is in virtue, true faith and right living. Sing then, but keep going.

—From Augustine’s “Sermon 256,” quoted from Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, J. Robert Wright, Ed.

The above passage from St. Augustine is one of the reasons I love the man. He is so real, so authentic, so faithful. He never sugarcoats the difficulty of trying to live faithfully in a broken and fallen world marred by sin. But did you catch the bright and confident faith that shines through? Wow. Just wow.

This past weekend I learned that a beloved old professor and mentor has a serious form of cancer. This news hit me like a ton of bricks, coming on the heels of watching my father-in-law struggle with illness and infirmity, and the toll it is taking on his family and him. It took the stuffing right out of me.

Then this morning, the Lord led me to this reading. It was not the appointed reading for the day. But for some reason, I started flipping through Wright’s book after I had read the appointed reading and just happened to find it. I do not believe for one minute that I found this by coincidence because it was balm for my soul, just what I needed at the moment, and that is the way the Lord works—he gives us what is sufficient for the moment.

I pray Augustine may be balm for your soul too, especially if you are in the midst of one of life’s many struggles.

And yes. Prayers ascending for you, Mean Lester.

An Amazing Faith

Norman Harrison in His in a Life of Prayer tells how Charles Inglis, while making the voyage to America a number of years ago, learned from the devout and godly captain of an experience which he had had but recently with George Muller of Bristol. It seems that they had encountered a very dense fog. Because of it the captain had remained on the bridge continuously for twenty four hours, when Mr. Muller came to him and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.” When informed that it was impossible, he replied: “Very well. If the ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty seven years. Let us go down into the chart room and pray.”

The captain continues the story thus: “I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, What lunatic asylum could that man have come from. I never heard such a thing as this. ‘Mr. Muller,’ I said, ‘do you know how dense this fog is?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.’ He knelt down and prayed one of those simple prayers, and when he had finished I was going to pray; but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ‘Firstly,’ he said, ‘because you do not believe God will, and secondly, I believe God has, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’ I looked at him, and George Muller said, ‘Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up and open the door, and you will find that the fog has gone.’ I got up and the fog was indeed gone. George Muller was in Quebec Saturday afternoon for his engagement.”

—From I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes by Glenn Clark

In this wonderful story, we see all the ingredients of effective prayer: the cultivation of faith over a lifetime based on a belief that God is actively involved in our daily lives so that Muller’s prayer request could be offered simply and with the expectation it would be answered. We miss the point if we focus too much on the miraculous outcome of the prayer, but I have no doubt that it occurred and was simply icing on the cake.

Muller had obviously spent a lifetime keeping his eye on God and believing in God’s power to intervene in his daily life, and for his betterment. That cultivation allowed him to pray as he did and to stop the captain from praying. Did you notice that the story describes the captain as “devout and godly”? But apparently not devout enough or godly enough to pray boldly to God in faith because he evidently did not expect God to intervene so dramatically in his daily life. Perhaps he did not have that experience because he did not have that expectation.

Muller, on the other hand, had come to expect God’s help in allowing him keep his appointments, presumably from prior experience, and so he  believed that this was one aspect of God’s will for him in his life. He thus prayed as he did and expected his prayer to be answered. God did so, and in spades.

How are you working on your faith as you live out your days?