Really?

 Questioning God’s Word

    I’m so bad about questioning the Bible. I know it’s the truth, I know God inspired every word, I know He knows what He’s talking about. But too often I read a passage and a little voice in my head says, “That’s not how life really works.”

    It’s just a little doubt, a minor disagreement with God. Is it all that important? Probably. After all, what I’m actually thinking is, “This one brief phrase, this one tiny sentence isn’t true. Even though it’s part of God’s Word, I don’t believe it.” At those times, I’m grateful for the many examples in the Old Testament of how God responded patiently and tenderly to people like Abraham, Moses, David, and Job when they questioned Him.

    My latest issue is with Psalm 145:14-16 (italics added): “The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.”

    Really??? All I have to do is look at the world around me to see that this claim isn’t true.

Taking it too literally

    My basic nature is that of a left-brained nerd. I want to take every word, every verse, every book of the Bible completely literally. So I stumble over passages like this.

    But the Bible isn’t always as literal as many of us (evangelicals in particular) want to believe. Especially certain parts, like the Psalms. When I stop clinging to my own way of thinking and let the Holy Spirit guide me, I realize that maybe this passage is not intended to be an exact description of how the world actually works or a promise that God will always fix whatever's broken. Instead, it might simply be a joyful celebration of God’s generosity and provision, written in hyperbole to emphasize just how amazing and overflowing that generosity is.

    I’ve come across other passages where the Holy Spirit seems to be using hyperbole (an exaggeration of the literal truth in order to emphasize a point or create an effect), rather than stating a fact. When I looked up “hyperbole” in Wikipedia, one of the three examples the article listed was from the Bible. Maybe Wikipedia recognizes nuances in Scripture better than we evangelicals do.

Examining my mental images

    As I’m reading these verses today, something else that helps me to understand them is to reflect on the image they create in my mind. I’m picturing someone who has fallen and is supernaturally set upright on their feet by God. Someone who is bowed down with a heavy weight and whose back is miraculously straightened by our Lord. Complete instantaneous healing.

    But then I remember days when I’ve fallen or been bowed down and remained in that position, and yet, at the same time, felt the upholding and lifting up of the Lord.

    I heard a song a few years ago on a secular radio station. I was in a hard place at the time. A medical issue was messing with my brain, and bad things were happening in my life. When I heard this song, though, I smiled at the refrain, “My head’s underwater, but I’m breathing fine.”*

    I didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the lyrics, but that one line, at that time, kind of summed up what was going on inside of me. My head was underwater. I should have been drowning. I should have been fighting for each breath and finding only water filling my lungs. I should have been panic-stricken, straining to reach the surface in search of oxygen. Instead, I was breathing fine.

    I had fallen on the floor. I was bowed down by the weight of many sorrows. God didn’t set me up on my feet or straighten my back, as I thought this psalm was promising. He didn’t take the pain and the helplessness away. But He elevated and supported my sprawled-out body. He lifted me up in His everlasting arms with my back still bent. He was the reason I could breathe just fine even though my head was underwater.

    Did He follow through on His apparent promise in Psalm 145? Not if I take it in a more literal sense, meaning that he solved all my problems. But spiritually, He went far beyond my expectations and understanding. Although I was still hurting, He upheld me on the inside. He lifted me up into His joy and peace and love. He provided the kind of food that I needed the most—the spiritual, not the physical. He satisfied my deepest desires—to know Him, to walk with Him, to experience His presence.

    Will I remember this lesson when I read other similar passages and that little voice in my head says, “That’s not true!”? Will I keep my perspective and praise God for His compassionate, generous, faithful character even when life is tough?

    Some day, I hope to move on to where I can fully trust Him and take Him at His Word. Not sure that will happen in this lifetime. But I know that through this latest reading of Psalm 145 He’s taken me one more step in that direction.

*by John Legend