Waiting out a storm
An excerpt from Bruce’s book, Soul Storm: finding God amidst disaster (www.soulstormsite.com)
They also serve who only stand and wait
John Milton (1608—1674)
John Milton was and is an enormous figure in the world of literature. His work, Paradise Lost, sits with very few others on a short list of the greatest poems ever written. Another of his works, When I Consider How My Light is Spent, is critical to understanding the life, thought, and substance of this epic writer, and is a short poem penned amidst his battle with blindness. It relates to our discussion regarding the storms of our souls because Milton wrestles honestly before an all powerful God who holds in His hands the ability to quell all storms and heal at any moment. Often times, amidst the hard realities of this life, we wonder, “Where is our help?” Like those caught by the waters of Katrina, stranded for days on end in a city that seemed to be caving in moment by moment, we often stand mystified by the severity of our dilemma and the lack of apparent response from a helper. How do we understand this? How do we make any sense of this? The images of angry, starving, dehydrated citizens of the world’s only remaining “super-power”, struggling for survival in a city crushed by the brutality of nature, humbled us, startled us, and leaves us wondering what to make of this tragedy. What do we do when life saps us of all our resources, ups the ante on our misery, and seemingly mocks us? How do we move on when the world changes so much from one day to the next? One day all is light, and then darkness falls and remains. So much changed, in just one day, for the inhabitants of the city of New Orleans. The Big Easy, in a matter of 24 hours, was turned into the nation’s big dilemma. What now? What do we do with this mess? What can we do while the city is put back together? How do we wait on God during a disaster?
John Milton dealt with these questions as he struggled with the disaster of blindness. This brilliant mind, a mind determined to know and understand what life was about, wrestled with his debilitating condition. From the beginning of his life John Milton was a gifted learner. He mastered his studies and was adept with languages. He was a hungry scholar. That, of course, entailed a great deal of reading and writing. Reading and writing require sight. Early on, Milton felt the call of God to pen the greatest English poem ever put to paper. The result of that call, and the affirmation of that call in the minds of many, is the epic, Paradise Lost, which was his attempt to “justify the ways of God to men”.
Milton’s life was not an easy one by any standard. Scholars point to three major periods in his life, each characterized by difficulty and struggle of varying sorts. By 1663, all of it came to a crescendo. All of the wrestling with God amidst various and intense disasters led up to his greatest contribution to literature in Paradise Lost. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, makes reference to this, “In 1663 Milton married his third wife, Elizabeth Minshull; and in blindness, poverty, defeat, and relative isolation, he set about completing a poem “justifying the ways of God to men…”. While Paradise Lost is referred to as Milton’s greatest achievement, an investigation of what it offers is not our aim here. Rather, a brief glimpse of one of his most intense struggles is our concern. For the justifications of God’s actions explained in Paradise Lost, stem from a life of wrestling with physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual disaster. The poem, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent, offers us a heart-felt and soul stirring look at what it means to find God amidst disaster, and helps to direct us to that place where we can say with Milton, at the end of the journey, “God’s ways are higher than our ways, and He truly has us in His hands”. Let’s get after it. Milton writes,
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need”
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
What is Milton saying with this powerful poem? The lessons are extensive, but I would like to call our attention to a few of the most relevant messages. First and foremost, Milton has his faulty view of his importance corrected. How many of us quickly fall into self-pity when difficulty sets in? How many of us, deceived by our own preoccupation with our “need” turn to bitterness and resentment when we don’t get what we want as soon as we want it? And how is it that people we once thought were good look so bad when life gets challenging? Case in point-looters. Images of looters running throughout New Orleans at our lowest moment were stunning. Where did these people think they were going with Nike tennis shoes, stereos and televisions? No dry land on which to run in those shoes, no one to play basketball with, no electricity for radio or television, and no way to hide from the cameras. What were they thinking? Milton, like Job has his inflated view of his importance sharply corrected by the Creator of the Universe. God doth not need us. We tend to get that backwards. His desire is that we might see our need of Him during desperate times. Desperation ought to send us upward. Once we understand, regardless of our “success” in this world, just how little we are in light of God’s universe and plan, we can begin to look up to God in gratitude for our lives and humbly turn to Him when the odds are against us.
Milton writes also of his new awareness of the value in waiting. In contrast to the all conquering Christian superman ideal, we see heroism of faith in this poem put on display by humbly and peacefully waiting and trusting a power other than ourselves to work out the plan. We do not like waiting. At all costs we avoid the long lines at the grocery, we buy express passes at the Disney theme parks, we Tivo, we do “fast food”, we microwave, and we pay out the nose for anything and everything to be shipped next day air. These things seem trivial at first glance, but in reality this frame of mind does, indeed, transfer to our view of how God should work in our lives. Our expectation is for God to hurry up and fix us and our situation. This greatest loss in such a view of God is the resulting lack of peace and growth in the journey. God values the journey, and uses all its twists and turns to unfold His plan, His glorious plan, in our lives. We see this again and again in scriptural accounts of heroes of faith, like Joseph, Abraham, Moses, Paul, and many more. In any inspiring historical account of a life well-lived, and in every account of heroes of faith, you see a life filled with grace and triumph amidst overwhelming odds. We do not admire people who always have it easy. We value courage, strength, and integrity; all of which are displayed in difficult situations.
To be continued! Tomorrow, The Practical Value and Lessons in Waiting
Bruce Smith
optimuslife.org
This entry was posted on 15. January 2008 at 09:32 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.