When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless
until I entered Your sanctuary.
Then I understood their destiny.
-Psalm 73:16-17
Have you ever felt like walking the road of faith is a waste - or worse yet, a lie? It’s not the kind of thing we Christians talk about in polite company - or any other for that matter. Have you ever looked around to see arrogant atheists prospering? Just look at the medical community, the academic community, the professional sports community, movie stars, artists, and Fortune 500 CEOs. It seems like those who are blessed with exceptional intellect, talent, and finances get the cake walk version of life. Meanwhile, the rest of us get to scratch, claw, and eek out a day-to-day existence.
In the 1999 Movie, The Matrix, Keanu Reeves character, Neo, is awakened from a utopian stasis only to realize life outside the Matrix is ridiculously difficult. His mentor, Morpheus, offers him a choice: Take the blue pill and go back to sleep in the utopian illusion. Take the red pill to remain awake and find out just how deep and deluded the dream.
Meanwhile, Joe Pantoliano’s character, Cypher, is busy collaborating with the enemy. After awakening to reality, Cypher is subsequently filled with regret, bitterness, and disappointment. A life of running, hiding, scratching, clawing, fighting, and barely surviving wasn’t the glorious mountaintop experience he’d expected. Therefore, in exchange for being returned to the utopian stasis, Cypher betrayed his friends.
As Cypher dines with the enemy in an imaginary five-star restaurant, gorging himself on imaginary steak and wine, he says to the villain, “You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it’s juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss… I don't want to remember nothing. Nothing. You understand? And I want to be rich. You know, someone important, like an actor. I'm tired... Tired of this war, tired of fighting... I'm tired of the ship, being cold, eating the same g#*d@! goop everyday…”
The term “bait and switch” refers to a sales tactic, where consumers are tricked into buying something other than advertised. Before the internet, before Amazon boxes magically arrived at our doorsteps, people would actually drive to department stores to buy stuff. Shady businesses would lure consumers in with deceptive ads. Then, trained and unscrupulous salespeople would take advantage of unwitting sheep by substituting inferior products, tacking on hidden fees, and charging for useless warranties.
This deplorable practice still happens today. Tragically, it occurs more frequently in churches than department stores. Unsuspecting consumers are lured in under the guise of joyful prosperity and eternal bliss. They hear songs like Kari Jobe’s Healer:
You hold my very moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You, I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
And I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need
What they’re sold, under the bait of dreamy music, persuasive preachers, and fire sales on “easy believism” is an inferior product, i.e. lies from the pit of hell. With a primary emphasis on Sunday production, emotional decisions, and filling boxes, plates, and baskets with cash - the topics of unanswered prayers, loss, struggles, pain, doubt, and uncertainty are conveniently glossed over - or omitted completely. The lyrics of our songs might be more like this:
It sure didn’t seem like Jesus was there in that moment.
He did not, in fact, calm my raging seas.
I got burned walking through the fire.
He didn’t heal all my disease.
It’s gotten worse.
I trusted in you.
I believed you were my portion.
What did I do wrong?
I guess you’re not all I need.
I wonder, were you ever there?
As Christians, sometimes we’re more like Cypher than we’ll readily admit. We read passages such as Luke 9:23-24, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it,” and, like Cypher, we’re filled with regret, bitterness, and disappointment.
As a result of the bait and switch, i.e. omitted discussions on the pain, strain, and struggles of walking by faith, Church communities and congregants are set up for failure. With the goal of filling seats and donation baskets rather than following Scripture’s imperative commands to love God, love neighbor, and “... think of others as more important than yourselves,” we inadvertently concoct our own versions of Cypher’s betrayal unto ignorant bliss. Many are leaving the church in droves. Some hang around on the fringe as snipers and toxic personalities. Others cope through the defense mechanism of polite religion and superficial smiles - keeping everyone at a safe distance.
In Psalm 73, the Psalmist takes note of “the prosperity of the wicked.” He believes “They have an easy time until they die.” When the ease and bliss of life and the prosperity of the wicked are compared to the pains, strains, and struggles of walking by faith, the Psalmist notes, “Therefore His (God’s) people turn to them (the wicked) and drink in their overflowing waters.” The Psalmist deduces, since God doesn’t answer prayers, calm seas, or heal disease, He is either incompetent or incapable. “The Most High does not know everything. Look at them - the wicked! They are always at ease, and they increase their wealth.”
Then the pivot comes, “When I tried to understand all this it seemed hopeless” … “until I entered God’s sanctuary.”
Then the Psalmist gets back in touch with reality. He recalls God’s power, authority, sovereignty, and justice. Surely he is recalling God’s faithfulness to humanity and the nation of Israel. He accomplishes this by knowing his Bible and the history of Israel. At this point he goes on to say:
When I became embittered
And my innermost being was wounded,
I was a fool and didn’t understand;
I was an unthinking animal toward you.
The truth is, God doesn’t always cure our disease, save our loved one, calm the seas, or deliver us from trials, pains, strains, or struggles. But Kari Jobe is right, He does always walk with His saints. He is our portion. He is, in fact, all we need.
The Psalmist concludes Psalm 73 with this:
Those who are far from you
Will certainly perish.
You destroy all who are
unfaithful to you.
But as for me, God’s presence
is my good.
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
so I can tell about all You do.
At first, this may sound like gloating. “Ha! You’re rich now, but you’re gonna burn in HELL forever!” Nothing could be further from the truth. The last line tells us that the Psalmist’s desire is to be a missional ambassador for the Almighty.
He desires to tell the people of Israel their hope is not misplaced or futile. Rather than turning to the wicked to “drink in their overflowing waters,” rather than going astray, becoming embittered, or acting like a fool or unthinking animal, he wants people to know “God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.” He wants those who are “far from You” to be redeemed and -not- perish. He desires for those “unfaithful to You” to repent and be restored by the power of God’s testimony in his life.
If you’ve been sold a bill of goods via bait and switch religion, I’m sorry. You’ve been led astray by false shepherds. If you’ve been told that pain, loss, suffering, and trials are a result of unconfessed or unresolved sin in your life - or because you need to give more money - that’s a huge load of poppycock. Jesus refuted that garbage when, in John 16:33, He said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Maybe, like the Psalmist, you’re embittered. Maybe you’ve looked around and seen the wicked of the world prosper. Maybe you’ve flirted with abandonment. Maybe, like Cypher, you’ve entertained the idea of returning to ignorant bliss - even though you know it’s a lie. Maybe everything in life seems utterly hopeless right now.
Your'e not alone. You never were.
If so, your answer is the same as it was for the Psalmist.
When I tried to understand all this,
it seemed hopeless…
Until I entered God’s sanctuary.
Then I understood their destiny.
When we’re given realistic expectations and authentic hope, we can remain unphased even as everything crumbles around us. We don’t have to be strong or tough because:
You hold my right hand.
You guide me with Your counsel…
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart,
my portion forever.
He may never heal your disease,
but He can use it.
He may not calm the storms of life,
but He’ll see you through it.
The fire may burn you,
but only to refine you.
Your flesh and heart may fail,
but God’s never will.
Have you ever truly entered His sanctuary? Have you honestly made God your exclusive refuge and portion? Are you spending more time on social media and accumulating FB friends than loving your neighbor and thinking of others as more important than yourself? When, like the Psalmist, we seek Him first - our desire will be for Him alone - and to tell about Him and all He’ll do!
The Psalmist entered. Will you?
Blessings,
-Kevin M. Kelley
aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com
