We’re a couple weeks into the new year. Who knew we’d make it this far?! I remember being in 6th grade, thinking the world would surely end before I graduated high school. This was my thought, only because being a senior in high school felt so far away.
Here we are years later. In those years, we’ve experienced a lot — situations I don’t need to list. We can go through our faith files and savor the memories of when God came through, in the clutch … the nick of time … right before the clock struck midnight. We can savor such moments, because we were able to put Psalm 34:8a to the test and find out for ourselves how good the Lord is (Good News Translation). OK, God! You came through, again, just like You said You would, before.
However, what happens when that come through seems to take forever? What happens when it looks and feels and sounds like God is nowhere to be found? What happens when midnight has come and it’s almost 12:01 a.m., but God has seemingly not come? What do we do then?
It’s in those moments we face the facts — facts of the many questions that run through our minds, as we wonder if God is going to come at all and when; facts of the doubt that may show up for a visit, not to belittle our faith, but to actually make it stronger; facts of the fear that comes along with doubt for the unexpected visit. When it’s all said and done, these facts and whatever others that show up are all part of our humanity.
The irony: We don’t always like to be human. Say what?! We don’t always like to be human. We’d rather pretend to have it all, know it all, be it all and do it all, donning capes of super humanness. Ah, but there are those times, when the façade of our fortitude wears away; times when the cape has been tattered by the winds of reality. We are then left with ourselves — our human selves.
It’s in those moments we face another fact: It’s absolutely OK to be human. That’s right, ladies and gentleman — It’s OK to be human! The best example of humanity is none other than, Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Jesus, 100 percent divine and 100 percent human. Jesus, He who had one of the greatest human moments of all time in the Garden of Gethsemane. When He took off His cape, His very real and very transparent humanity came through, as He asked God three times, “take this cup from me.” Each time, I believe the weight of sorrow and stress, anxiety, and possibly even the fear of what was to come, grew heavier.
If Jesus allowed Himself to experience being human, who are we to think we can’t do the same? Yes we are pastors, preachers, executives, mothers, wives, husbands, fathers, caregivers, educators, admins, daughters, sons and the list goes on. But before we ever had any such title and after those titles are long gone, we will still be human.
As we move forward into the new year, let us afford ourselves the experience to be human. Let us permit ourselves to face the facts, knowing in our perceived weakness (aka humanness), God’s strength is made perfect. It is then we face yet another fact — God didn’t have to come through, because God was always there, waiting on us to be human, so God could be God.
Rae Karim is pastor at Northwood Christian Church. She can be reached at rae@Indyncc.org.
