The Twisted Logic of Christianity
My favorite song these days is Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman. It has such a catchy tune. It makes me want to dance when I hear it playing. The song goes:
Blessed Be Your Name. In the land that is plentiful, Where Your streams of abundance flow, Blessed be Your name.
That makes a lot of sense. The Lord has given us so much, and we should bless His name.
The song further goes:
Blessed be Your name, On the road marked with suffering, Though there’s pain in the offering, Blessed be Your name.
Say what? On a road marked with suffering, should we bless God’s name?
I know Job did this when the Lord allowed Satan to wipe out his whole family and destroy his home. He said, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
Why did Job say such a thing? Why did he bless the name of the Lord amid so much misfortune? Why should WE do such a thing?
What kind of twisted logic is this?
Let us think about this for a minute. We bless and thank people if they do something good for us. If they do us a favor.
How can God do us a favor by allowing us to suffer or experience undesirable events?
These undesirable things in life often teach us to depend on God alone for our happiness and to detach from the things of this world.
St. Augustine alluded to this when he said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
How about our career, reputation, cars, or material things? Can’t these give us happiness?
Maybe. But any happiness that we get from these is transient and superficial. That new car smell? Research shows it only increases our happiness for a few months. Only God can give us deep and lasting happiness.
Jesus knows that our happiness increases when we are united with His Father. The more united we are with God, the happier we are. So if our suffering teaches us to let go of the things and if we experience God more profoundly, then the Lord has indeed done us a great favor and deserves our gratitude.
