“Purified by Fire: The Blessing of Evil in
the Life of a Believer”
“Of
man’s first disobedience, and the fruit
of
that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
brought
death into the world and all our woe.”
John
Milton, Paradise Lost
I
lie on the ground with my head pillowed in mossy grass, and stare up
at the branches far above my head. There are smaller, scrubby trees
crowding the mighty oak on one side, but this tree towers over them
majestically, though it has humbly grown from the same dry soil.
Light filters through the bold limbs and falls on my face in patterns
that move in time with the rustle of leaves. I study the upside-down
tree: the timid leaves, the wavering branches, the birds and their
young, and the mighty limbs that seem capable of lifting their hands
to their Creator infinitely more reliably than I. I visit this tree
often and we praise together. The tree and I. Each in our own way;
each of us walking a path that the Author of Life has scripted for
us.
In many ways, the tree is more reliable than most followers of
Christ. God created the tree without the ability to feel despair,
hopelessness, or even pain. Man was once like the tree. The tree
glorifies God every day by unquestioningly living out the plan God
made for it, despite what happens around it. Man, in his fallen
state, does not. Despite the showering of love and gifts from above,
we don’t praise God constantly. Our arms are not locked in an
eternal embrace. Our bodies do not stand, solidly, against the
forces. Our hands are not eternally stretched up to the father. We
draw away to pity ourselves. We run away when we are challenged. We
drop our hands to shield our faces from shame, to cover our wounds,
to fend off those who would harm us.
The
rain cascades down from an angry sky, bombarding tender leaves as it
falls from branch to branch until it reaches me, face upturned, far
below. The summer storm has interrupted the sticky and stagnant
summer day with the electrical efficiency of an exclamation point in
the middle of a long, tedious argument. In visiting the tree, I am
allowed to witness a moment of renewal. A few minutes earlier, the
grass and leaves on the forest path had cracked under my feet, dry
and parched. Upon arriving in the clearing, I stared up at the tree
towering over me. The leaves were curled and parched, clinging to
branches by dry twigs. I stood under the tree and turned my face
upward while fat, heavy drops of water began to drip onto my face and
run down my chin. I watched the leaves slowly unfurl and the tree
spread itself to absorb the life-giving water. Minutes later, the
rain slowed and the clouds parted, restoring light and sunshine to
the transformed scene. The dusty ground drinks water and the dry
grass slowly returns to a bright green. The earth rejoices as the
gift from above revives and renews.
The
seasons on God’s earth rotate; a parched and dry season is
always followed by a season of life and renewal. In the same way God
nourishes the simplest of His creation, He nourishes us, helping us
to grow in our salvation by exposing our weakness in trials. (2
Corinthians 12:9) Numerous books have been written expounding the
idea of “seasons of the soul,” but the key to
understanding the presence of evil lies not in the seasons
themselves; but rather, it lies in the eternal rhythm behind the
seasons. In nature, draught always ends, and the plants and animals
that survive are made stronger. Darwin, in his scientific arguments,
called this process natural selection- but Darwin never heard the
whisper of something greater than him calling him to use his trials
to draw him to something better.
A
great log has fallen on my tree and upon examination I can see that
it has been there for some time. The mighty tree that had been
growing straight and true, reaching upwards endlessly, is now leaning
under strain. I do my best to move the fallen log, but it is heavy
and though I think I may have eased the worst of the burden, my
attempts are of no avail. But I lie down under the tree and know that
it has been made strong by the light and water granted to it. I know
that my tree, in its quest to grow nearer to its source of light,
will right itself again. I take a lesson from the tree and close my
eyes softly, praying that when I find my way obstructed, I will have
friends to ease the burden and will have the strength to press on
towards the Light.
Though our souls become heavy with burden and the evil we encounter
presses solidly against us trying to push us from our position as
partakers in the redemption of Christ, our ultimate task is always to
remain true to our Father. Through that, he promises, we will grow to
know him better. As the tree is drawn to its source of light, God’s
elect are drawn irresistibly to their heavenly Father. Though many
other trees would be uprooted by such a burden, God has chosen this
tree to endure. As the chosen children of God, we too can be assured
that we will endure hardship and survive to glorify God in spite of,
or possibly because of, our pain.
Evil allows Christians a unique opportunity to minister to one
another and create relationships that glorify the father. Evil is
present in the universe because of original sin, but Christians can
ease the burden on one another by following the biblical commandment
to listen to and pray for other Christians as they struggle to cope
with evil. Like my easing of the burden on the tree, sometimes
helping a fellow Christian requires a person to get their hands
dirty, work hard, and help a fellow believer deal with their problem
head on.
My
feet sink into the blackened earth, crunching with each step forward.
The landscape is charred and burned, vegetation lost, without any
sign of life. But ahead of me stands the tree, lonely and barren in a
scorched, darkened world. I approach and examine it, delicately
breaking off a small branch to probe for any signs of life.
Surrounded by sooty rings of ash and charred bark, the stick shows a
light green core, evidence that life remains within it and will
indeed survive to reach higher.
Sometimes, as Christians, it seems we are walking through a world
that is not only deep in sin, but also barren and so badly burned
there isn’t any chance of finding life. The overwhelming
presence of death is unavoidable after a ravaging forest fire, but
this is contrasted deeply by the presence of a remaining spark of
life. Like this image, God is also illuminated when evil seems to be
overwhelming. God allows evil so that those he call will see his
light and be drawn. This light, he has ordained, shall be displayed
through the love of believers. The life of a Christian is a life of
contrast: light in a darkened world, hope in a realm of despair, the
green proof of life in a charred and blackened forest. God uses evil
to set us apart. For without it, how would we have the opportunity to
be the light in a world of death? The light that Christians represent
is not a lack of evil present in their lives, but an ability to
overcome by gaining strength from something higher- an ability that
the world lacks.
The tree was harmed in the fire that raged, and it bears the scars to
prove the pain it endured; but the tree, being chosen by God to
survive, was not given more than it’s delicate life could
sustain. This is a lesson for believers. For in the midst of pain
that seems overwhelming, and apparent death of all that is within,
there will always remain a spark of life and hope: a spark of God. He
may burn away all that we hold dear, engulf our perceptions of
ourselves and our vain glories, even singe the skin of our very
faith, but he will always leave us purified, with more of His
holiness and more of His righteousness. When we choose to brush off
the ashes and grow new life in accordance to his will, then, and only
because we were alerted to the need by the raging fire of God, will
we value that purified life and will allow ourselves to be regrown in
a life that is holy and pleasing to God.
The
earth around the tree has begun to burst forth in new life, with the
tree looking down upon all. The blackened ground is covered with a
carpet of tender green grass, nourished by the ash left in the wake
of flames. The tree has grown strong since I last visited and the
charred bark has dropped off as the tree completely regenerated. Out
of each branch and twig springs green buds of leaves; the tree seems
to be waking up from a long winter and stretching its branches up the
sky. Around the base of the tree, I find the yearling growth of new
trees that have sprung from the ancient oak, taking root in the soft,
fertile ground. The wind that whispers through the branches of my
tree tells an ancient story; A story of life, a story of drought, a
story of survival and thriving in an environment of hopelessness; A
story of obstacles and overcoming them to press on towards the goal.
A story of raging fire and refined life. The story of the tree
belongs not to the tree alone. The story is my story, and the story
of millions of God’s people, it is the story of death and
trials being used to strengthen God’s people and further a
greater purpose.
A believer who can cope with evil is a believer who can draw others
to the faith and bear fruit. If a nonbeliever sees a Christian
overwhelmed and paralyzed by evil, there is no rational reason that
unbeliever would see the follower of Christ as any better equipped to
handle evil than themselves.
C. S. Lewis asserted that it is idle for men to ponder the origin of
evil, or why it exists, but that the essential question that every
Christian must face is how to deal with the fact of evil.
Essentially, when we encounter evil, we must trust that God will use
it for good, that the evil we experience will be used to strengthen
us, glorify god, or shine light into a darkened world. Without this
hope, and without an understanding of evil for good, a Christian
cannot make a difference in a world desperately searching for hope,
light, and love. For a Christian to ignore the reality of evil would
be to live in a world outside of reality- something that certainly
would not glorify god, but evil can be a blessing to those Christians
who follow Jesus because Christ himself suffered evil, and by
following his example the evil we experience can make us better
Christians, better able to accomplish our purpose as humans: to
Glorify God our Father.
