What a startling summary statement. That is to say, that it tells all relative to the meaning of judgment in nature. Nature includes not only our external environment but also the human body. As nature has its tornadoes and floods so the human body has its cancers and infections. Human nature does not handle well: prosperity, peace, health, pleasure, knowledge and creation’s additional benefits. The rich often use the wrong attitudes and motives, even when they share their riches. When we enjoy good health we tend to test it through personal excesses or ill habits, including risk. With time for pleasure, we diminish it through distortions of scintillations, gambling, addictions and other excesses for pleasure. When nature renews itself through its cycles, we refuse to live according to its related laws, and so diminish our environment. If it were not for tragedies in our adult childishness we might simply shake our heads and go on, paying the price of human folly without soul troubling. But too much rides on our follies to merely accept them. Discussion, analysis and correction are in order for something better in the day to day. The blessing of judgment (evaluation) is that it keeps pointing back to the main road, the road to flourishing life, even to God. One is impressed by: the humility of starving people; the thankful spirit of those who have less in the world than those who have more; the fortitude of survivors of cataclysmic events who are grateful that lives were spared even if all else was lost; the abounding love of a parent whose child is caught in fatal illness – so the story goes. We often shine in tragedy.
Speaking in a country far from my own, I remarked to my host, a Christian, a highly respected professional of insight that: despite the fact that I was heard respectfully I did not detect that there was much that related to spiritual depth and devotion in the good people before me. His response was immediate: You caught it, didn’t you? We have such a good life here, far from contending nations. We have easy weather, the right population numbers, the quality of living in our homes, and favorable occupations that there is a feeling that we don’t need God. What can he do for us? We really don’t need to have it much better. There is a general decency about it all, but there is this great vacuum in the souls of our people that we generally know about. It is not adequately addressed. This line has been repeated by citizens of advanced states of the world, where wealth and business largely reduce poverty for the high percentage of middle class citizens. In some the burdens of everyday chores are done by imported labor possessing no voice or privilege in the order of the citizenry. How could life be better for citizens? Servants and the poor are left out of the equation. Such is the neutrality of mastering common grace privileges without God.
As a youngster I lived near another child who had an exotic illness that meant she had no sensitivity to pain. Her hand falling into boiling water would have made no difference to her except to destroy her hand. She was in need of constant observation so that nothing bad would happen to her. She was not expected to live out a normal life. She lacked a pain-gift. God reminds us of the gift of judgments that may end in life immortal, if understood and used as he means them for good. This is not readily understood. Suffering’s disorders can direct our steps. Leaders, understanding calamity, bring meaningful relief to society. For many years I was often in Alberta, Canada. I learned about a government program that had been strongly supported by Christian laypersons – the Heritage Fund. The Province had learned about the cycles of ups and downs in the economy so established a fund to carry over in some needs when situations were troublesome. That’s perceptive encounter, both for individuals and society. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020