Thought for Today
Isaiah 6:10 Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed."
Jeremiah 51:39 In their excitement I will prepare their feasts; I will make them drunk, That they may rejoice, And sleep a perpetual sleep And not awake," says the Lord. (NKJ)
Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn-- and I would heal them.'
Hebrews 5:11 About this we have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding.
In the novel I am currently reading, a teenager complains to her mother, “Our life is dull!” Her mother replies, “Dull is good.” I was reminded of once reading about an ancient curse in the Middle East, “May you live in interesting times!” It may have been “in exciting times,” my memory is suspect; but, either way works. Life is not dull in interesting or exciting times.
When I graduated from college, I went to work in the engineering department of one of the refineries in the Houston area. Three of the older engineers were veterans of WWII. One had spent a Christmas in a foxhole near Bastogne, Belgium as part of the 101st Airborne. Another had been a Marine who went ashore at Guadalcanal and fought that battle and others in the island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific. The third was in the Navy and onboard a support vessel at the Battle of Okinawa, enduring the relentless kamikaze attacks. I knew all 3 as ordinary, plain engineers. All 3 had been heroes of terrible conflict. I’m sure all 3 would agree with the mother in that novel. “Dull is good.” Certainly better than bullets, freezing cold and suicidal attacks.
When we read novels or watch television or movies, the battle scenes and auto races through the streets seem exciting. The videos are carefully and hopefully staged to create that sense of excitement . . . and to avoid actually harming or killing anyone. The books are written to create that sense of excitement.
But, novels, television shows and movies are not real life. Real life consists mostly of the dull, the routine, the unexciting. And, the truth is that dull in this sense is good. War and violence are not good. They all involve death, dismemberment and physical harm.
When we read the Bible, it is easy to relish the heroic stories of warriors and battles, the conquering kings of history. When Jesus was born, the Jewish people were anticipating the birth of a new King David, a warrior to lead them in conquest of the world and to establish them as the lone superpower of the age. Instead, God gave them the babe in the manger, the one who told them to love their neighbors and to pray for their enemies.
We are in the liturgical season of Lent. We are journeying in scripture with Jesus toward Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter morning. For Christians, the stories are familiar and well loved. That is a good thing. We love to hear about the palm branches being placed on the road into Jerusalem. We vicariously experience the betrayal, the trial, Peter’s denials, the Crucifixion and the glory of the Empty Tomb.
Through all the time between now and Easter Morning, it is important to remember that most of the people in Jerusalem, in Israel, in all of the rest of the world were ordinary, everyday people leading dull lives. And, it’s important to realize that years later, when Peter and the others looked back on it all, they might have agreed with that mother in the novel, “Dull is good.”
The lives they and all of our ancestors-in-the-faith have lived, the sacrifices they made, the excitement they endured were necessary, they were important. Equally important were the things endured by all who have given their time, effort and even lives to protect the freedoms of others, the dull lives of others.
The next time you begin to think about how dull your own life is, think about all of the servicemen and women who endured all of the wars, all of the hardships. Think about all of the generations of men and women who endured persecution for their faith. Ask whether they might have preferred a duller life.
Stay safe, pray for others, trust God,
Pastor Ray