We were made for shalom; how do we live in broken shalom?
Your job is cut. A child dies. Your rotator cuff is torn — again. Refrigerator and microwave die at the same time.
Ian Duguid, in writing about the life of Abraham, describes a “reality gap,” “between what God has promised and the circumstances in which you find yourself. Surely this isn’t what life should be like as a Christian, you think to yourself.”
Dr. Duguid explains our struggle in the reality gap:
“So how do you stay strong in the midst of the reality gap, when you find yourself drowning in painful feelings, dire circumstances, or broken relationships? The answer is simple — at least in theory. You cling to the promises of God and the God of the promises. You don’t have to understand; you just have to cling. That is the lesson that Abraham had to learn. Like so many of us, he had to learn the lesson not once, not twice, but repeatedly….
We have an advantage over Abraham. We have the whole history of God’s faithful dealings with his people, recorded in the Scriptures for our instruction. What is more, God’s promises to us have been signed and sealed in the broken body and blood of Christ…We have this further assurance: ‘God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32) Ian Duguid, Living in the Gap between Promise and Reality
A prayer for those struggling in the reality gap:
Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Today I hurt and I wonder what you are up to in my life. My head knows you promise to work in our lives for our good and your glory; right now my heart doubts that this story is very good for me. What are you doing? Why are you letting me suffer? My narrow perspective can’t see the whole picture. Stun me with the brightness of your glory. Knock me over with the power punch of your goodness. Fill my mind with memories of how you’ve moved in the past and sustain me with a vision of what you will do in the future. Thank you, God, that the only thing you ask is that I cling to the crucified, and that you wrap my heart around this hope. You are indeed God; I daresay again that you are good. So very amen.
