[stephenkhoo]

Scripture Reflections
Wednesday 18 July, 2012, 15th Week,Ordinary Time
EXPERIENCE OF INSUFFICIENCY AS THE BASIS OF FAITH IN GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 10:5-7, 13-16; -MT 11:25-27

How can we arrive at faith in God, especially when we are facing difficult situations in life and are tempted to give up? Then, we feel that God does not care and that He does not understand our sorrows. But the psalmist tells us that “the Lord will not abandon His people, nor forsake those who are His own.”

Perhaps, the real problem is not that God does not care, but that we do not understand Him and His plan for us. Understanding the wisdom of God is the way to acceptance and liberation. This is true especially in the life of Jesus. He could accept the Father’s will for Himself only because of His intimate knowledge of the Father’s love and His wisdom. Indeed, as the psalmist tells us, “Can he who made the ear not hear? Can he who formed the eye not see? Will he who trains nations not punish? Will he who teaches men not have knowledge?” If such is God’s love and fidelity to us, how can we acquire such wisdom and intimacy?

We must begin from our insufficiency. Unless we are down and out, unless we feel desperate for God’s help and grace, we cannot experience His overwhelming power, mercy and grace in our lives. So long as we feel that we do not need God’s help, He will not manifest His love and power to us. Until we recognize that we are His own, that we belong to Him and that without Him we are nothing, only then will He extend His saving hand towards us. After all, the psalmist says, “the Lord will not abandon his people, nor forsake those who are his own.”

If we find that God is so far away from us, it is because we are just like the Israelites. In their riches and power they forgot that Israel was a child of God. Instead of worshipping the true and living God, they worshipped idols and practised social injustices, totally betraying the covenantal relationship. Instead of relying on God, they relied only on themselves. They did not feel the need for God. Because of this, God sent the King of Assyria to punish “a godless nation.” God allowedAssyria “to pillage and to plunder freely and to stamp down like the mud in the streets.”

IfIsraelwas arrogant and unrepentant, so was the King of Assyria. He was used by God to be an instrument to purify the pride and sins ofIsrael. But instead of seeing himself as such, he thought highly of himself. He boasted of his power, strength and might: “By the strength of my own arm I have done this and by my own intelligence, for understanding is mine; I have pushed back the frontiers of peoples and plundered their treasures. I have brought their inhabitants down to the dust.” Yes, the King of Assyria thought too highly of himself. His pride and self-sufficiency was the cause of his downfall.

Thus the Lord said, “Does the axe claim more credit than the man who wields it, or the saw more strength than the man who handles it?” As a result of his insolence, God also punished the King of Assyria and brought him down so that he was forced to acknowledge that he is not God. “And so the Lord of hosts is going to send a wasting sickness on his stout warriors; beneath his plenty, a burning will burn like a consuming fire.” Indeed, he was also defeated in the end because he trusted in himself alone.

For this reason, Jesus in today’s gospel exhorts us to be like little children, for the Father hides “these things from the learned and the clever.” God can only reveal His love and power to little children who are humble enough to recognize their poverty. In another place, Jesus speaks about how blessed are those who are poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, only in our dire poverty and nothingness can we understand the might and power of God. For how can God demonstrate His power and might if we do not give Him a chance to do so? So long as we can help ourselves, we will never think that God is helping us. This was certainly the case for the King of Assyria.

Indeed, how often does it happen that when people have been stripped of their riches, health and glory then they come to God begging for help? When they go down on their knees and seek God’s grace, then miracles happen. This explains why a conversion experience is often born of one’s tragedy. Quite often, just as it happened to the Israelites, sufferings and tragedies in our lives are meant to discipline and humble us so that we know who we are. God allows sufferings in our lives so that in the face of the unknown, especially death, we will look beyond our human strength to rely only on God’s strength. Indeed, it is only when we surrender ourselves to Him, just as Jesus did, that we experience God as truly all powerful, merciful and love.

A conversion experience of this nature is fundamental to helping us turn away from ourselves and orientate ourselves totally to God. He is the One who knows us sufficiently and can supply all our needs. So like Jesus in the gospel today, let us pray to the Father like a little child. Let us come to know that God is truly our Father and that we are His children, dependent on His love and mercy every moment of our lives. Never for a moment think that we can do without Him. This would be the greatest self-deception and tragedy in our lives. When we know Him, then we know that God is reliable.

Written by Rev. Fr. William Goh