Column for The
Citizen (June 10/21 edition) by Pastor Ernest Dow, Huron Chapel EMC, Auburn
As the pandemic wears on, it’s
been getting more difficult to keep our hopes up. A news item featured Toronto
psychotherapist Sarah Ahmed talking about the phenomenon of ‘languishing’. That’s
the term that’s been used to describe pandemic doldrums – you’re not exactly
feeling depressed, but as Sarah Ahmed says, “Languishing is essentially
described as a feeling of emptiness, numb, feeling stuck, feeling as though we
have no motivation, no ability to focus, tasks take longer...” Being a
psychotherapist with an active practice, she warns that people’s mental health
may end up being affected in the long run if our feelings are left unattended.
It helps to identify and acknowledge our feelings, as a start.
Languishing is prompting some
folks to have their so-called “mid-life crisis” earlier than they might have
otherwise. Ahmed explains, “It’s forced people to stop and take a look at
what’s going on, ...that kept me so busy, that kept me so occupied, and why do
I feel like this?” It begs the question of purpose and long-term goals – “Is
this really what I want to be doing with my life?”
The article is not written from
a religious perspective so there’s no mention of reflecting on your life in the
light of eternity. To be convinced our daily existence actually matters and has
significance requires validation from outside ourselves; the Bible points to God
our Creator and Redeemer as the One who ultimately judges our life’s worth. If
you’re languishing, if you’re experiencing ‘pandemic fatigue’, there’s no
better time than the present to reflect on your life goals and priorities, to
weigh your activities in the light of Scriptural truth and the Lord’s calling
for you.
In Ezekiel 37, the prophet is
given a vivid object lesson that visualizes people’s need to receive God’s
enlivening Spirit when all seems lost or futile, and hope has vanished. At this
juncture in Israel’s history, judgment has happened: Jerusalem has been reduced
to a heap of rubble, exiles have been removed in successive waves from their
homeland. How devastating and crushing all this must have felt for the Jews!
The beautiful temple of Solomon has been destroyed. Ezekiel, being both prophet
and priest, must have felt deeply the loss of the temple where sacrifices were
offered and people gathered to worship. Now here he was stuck in Babylon, some
2700 km away.
So we might say Ezekiel and the
Jewish people were languishing. All
hope had been lost. They were a defeated and exiled people, strewn abroad to
the four winds. They were done for – or so it seemed.
The Lord deposits His prophet in
a valley of dry bones. “He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I
said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.’” (Ezek.37:3) Does that valley of very
dry bones reflect your situation today? Are you up against some seemingly
impossible obstacle? Are you frightened by the global pandemic with its new
variants cropping up? Has your business been curtailed because of lockdown
measures? Do you just miss your relatives, being able to give hugs, it seems
all too long since we could go about life as “normal”? Those feelings the
psychotherapist described of being “empty” and “helpless” are very real.
As Ezekiel is led back and forth
amongst these great many very dry bones, the Lord tells him to prophesy to
them. As he does, bones are connected, flesh comes on them, and eventually they
stand on their feet like a great army. Then, the Lord interprets the vision to
Ezekiel. He has been aware of their languishing, their sense of defeat and
hopelessness. Here their feelings and emotions are identified. “Then he said to
me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our
bones are dried up and our hope is gone;
we are cut off.’” (v.11)
But God has not forgotten or
abandoned them; disciplined them, yes, and provided the Promised Land its
missed “sabbath years”. But God’s plans and purposes for the nation are not
over.
There is a wonderful promise in
verse 14 – “I will put my Spirit in you
and you will live…” The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, shows us how grieved
the Lord is by our trespasses and rebellion, and moves us to turn to Him in
confession and new patterns of living. The Spirit opens our eyes to God’s
holiness, our shortcomings, and pierces us to the heart so we become receptive
to Him.
Paul describes this remarkable
turn-around the Holy Spirit makes possible this way to his co-worker Titus:
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not
because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us
through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured
out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been
justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7) ‘Justified’ means put
right with God in His sight – by grace, what Jesus has done for us – so that
followers of Jesus are now heirs, inheritors of all that awaits us, having “the
hope of eternal life” – not left languishing hopelessly, no matter what
pandemics or losses or challenges this life may bring us.
An old-timer who’d lived all his
life way back in the bush by himself went into a hardware store early one
morning and asked for a saw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and
commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology,
guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood in a day.” The old-timer thought that
sounded pretty impressive, so bought it on the spot.
The next day the customer
returned looking exhausted. “Something must be wrong with this saw,” he moaned.
“I worked as hard as I could and only managed to cut three cords of wood. I
used to do four with my old-fashioned saw.” Looking confused, the salesman
said, “Here, let me try it out on some wood we keep over here out back.” They
went to the woodpile, the salesman pulled the cord, and as the motor roared to
life, the customer leaped back and exclaimed, “What’s that noise?!”
Trying to saw wood without the power of the chainsaw motor is like us attempting to live without the daily empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We very much need His divine breath to connect us with God and help us stand on our feet, having renewed hope, leaving languishing behind.
