Piper’s message brought up another heavy question in me that he didn’t address – he didn’t have time. What about suffering (oppression, injustice, and hate therein) related to glory, worship, and joy? It is the age-old question…Why does our glory-loving, joy-spewing redemptive God allow such intense suffering throughout the globe…throughout history? How could this be a part of glory, worship, and joy? Many of us have wrestled for a long time with this. I certainly don’t have any cut and dried answers, so I’ll pitch at you the best I’ve got.
by Vladm
I know that my friends who have suffered much are the most genuine people I know. Any posing was shattered by suffering. Nonsensical materialism, politics, dogmas, etc. are gone with the wind. They recognize life is too short to play games. Many of them have truly experienced God in the midst of their deepest darkest pain. Brokenness brought them to surrender. Despite, or because of intense grappling with God, they’ve made peace with God. They don’t take God or joy for granted.
This whole idea speaks to the mystery of God… Put bluntly, God’s glory “strategy” is beyond our capacity to grasp. I am convinced that really understanding how suffering nestles into God’s glory, our worship, and joy is an eternal matter. We’ve got to get past our obsessive need to determine what glorifies God and what does not – what is “good” and what is not. Even from our minuscule perspective we’ve seen suffering turn to glory and joy in a month, a year, five, or ten years. Our inability to get our heads or hearts around God’s glory doesn’t mean check out and stop asking why, stop fighting injustice or oppression, or stop wrestling in general. It means we accept suffering as a part of the human condition…and fight like mad to trust and worship God despite it. We look for God and God’s glory in the midst of the suffering we see or experience…and stay open for an absurd outcome – joy.
Surrender is essential. In a very real sense, surrender is worship, Surrender is letting go of our human-centered God-centeredness and entering God-centered God-centeredness. We release the illusion of control and put down the (ink-less) pen we’ve been using to write our own story. In doing so, we make room for God-given joy.
We are all part of God’s grand narrative. Our human lives are but a short meaningful paragraph in the story. I can know that no matter what I see, hear, or suffer, it all mysteriously envelops into God’s glory now and forever. Real joy doesn’t come from us being a big somebody who doesn’t suffer; it comes from worshiping God (whose glory hinged upon his suffering and death) despite what we suffer.
I just heard John Piper speak here in Atlanta. It’s was such good stuff that it’s worth me attempting to regurgitate his main point(s) with a little of my own commentary. He addressed a question that I have personally wrestled with for a long time, “Is God an Egomaniac?” Seriously, think about it…What kind of gall does it take to demand that we love God/Jesus more than parents, spouse, kids, etc? God wants constant worship, all the glory to himself. How could a perfect God with perfect character need constant praise? This sounds like a codependent whiner. Piper noted that this question long hindered C.S. Lewis from embracing the Christian faith…and today hinders plenty of people.
Piper exposed false God-centeredness. We embrace God-centeredness as long as God uses our God-centeredness to make us a somebody. Are we are truly happy with the fact that God is all about getting glory for himself? Are we motivated to bring glory to God even if God were to not make us celebrated among our fellow humans?
Piper explained that God is passionate about God’s glory – in the beginning, in the middle, and to the end. Mysteriously, when God glorifies himself and we join in, we are full of joy. Our joy cannot be separated from God’s glory. The foundation of our salvation is God bringing glory to himself through unspeakable sacrifice. We were forgiven for His Name’s sake – God’s glory. Instead of egomania it’s divine altruism. So, we have a reason to be giddy about God passionately glorifying himself.
It’s is not about us…that’s the beauty. We are able to rest in the power of a God who glorifies himself. We are part something much much bigger. Anytime we truly catch a glimpse of God, God’s greatness, bigness, grace, and indescribable beauty…we see God’s glory and it is only natural for us to worship God. In doing so, we experience joy, real joy. In those moments we (almost) grasp the mystery of our total acceptance. We come full circle - we start out blind, blurred at best wrestling to make our life work (for God), then we catch a glance of this graceful God. Even this glimpse melts our heart bringing us to worship. God is glorified and we are full of joy.
I experienced this very thing just before Piper spoke. The David Crowder band played. They were spot on and literally thousands of people were singing in unison. I was really moved sensing God’s bigness, love, and unbelievable grace. It was so natural to worship God. I wanted to worship God more than anything (and not stop to hear John Piper). No doubt, a deep sense of joy filled my soul.
