POE or ROG?

Yesterday afternoon, I had a dream.

It wasn’t a daydream, either – which means I was taking a nap – a full blown, under the covers, racked out, dead-to-the-world snore fest. I’ve heard it said, that when you dream during such a daytime nap, you can have the craziest dreams. True to that saying, my dream was vivid and powerful; but I’ll leave it up to you to decide how crazy it really was.

It began as what I normally refer to as a “church dream.” Having worked for over twenty years in the high-stress (ahem) world of pastoring, I often had such dreams, which usually happened on Saturday nights and which followed a common pattern. My typical church dream would have me running around a church (always a different church) with the worship service about to begin. The problem in each dream is that I’m not ready to lead the service or to preach. I’m always looking for something I need: a hymnal, a robe, my sermon (which I haven’t started writing!), or even my pants. I become more and more frantic as people get restless waiting for the service to start. By the time I get up front and try to wing it, most of the people have left. Those who stay wish they hadn’t, as it all goes downhill from there. Then I wake up screaming! (Okay, that last part’s not true, but it sure makes it sound more dramatic!) Actually, sometimes I force myself awake, and am relieved to find out it was only a dream.

Yesterday’s dream was my first “church dream” since retiring, and like other such dreams, it too began in a strange church at the start of a worship service. But that’s where the similarity ended, because this time   I was not up front, frantic to get the service started; this time I was sitting in the back row as a member of the congregation, and the other two guys were up front, frantic to get the service started (one benefit of retiring!). During this time I was talking with some other members until the service began, at which time I slipped out because I had attended an earlier service. So far, this dream just reflected my new status of being retired.

But now it got interesting, and powerful. Once outside I crossed a courtyard and passed some people standing near a wall with arches or open windows in it. As I walked by, I could hear them talking – arguing or complaining – about one of the biggest questions of all time: the existence of evil in the world, particularly the fact that bad things happen to good or innocent people. They spoke about children who had birth defects (see John 9:23) or who die young, which troubled them greatly. They asked how there could be a God who allowed bad things like this to happen.

They asked how there could be a God who allowed bad things like this to happen.

Hearing that, I stopped in my tracks and began to speak to them. I can’t remember word-for-word all that I said, but it went something like this: “When you ask the question of how these things can happen when there is a God, you are talking about what theologians call, the ‘Problem of Evil,’ or P.O.E. The problem is stated like this: If God is all-loving, he wants to stop evil from happening; if he is all-powerful, he is able to stop evil from happening. Therefore, since evil exists, God is either not all-loving, or not all-powerful. Or there is no God.”

I continued, “Bad things do happen, but instead of talking about the P.O.E., I prefer to call it “the Reality of Evil,” or R.O.E., because sin and death and evil things do exist. They are real, and they affect and harm everything in our lives, even our lives themselves.  Evil is real: bad things happen to us, we do bad things, and there is a very real being named Satan who actively seeks to destroy us. We can’t wish evil away or pretend it doesn’t exist, or isolate ourselves in a protective bubble. Evil is real, including what happened to those little children you were talking about.

The P.O.E. for someone who denies the existence, power, or love of God is that their problems don’t go away; they face the same evils we do, but do so alone without the presence or protection of God. The evils are still real, for them and for us. But don’t despair, because there is an even greater reality! That greater reality is the ‘Reality of God,’ or R.O.G.

That greater reality is the Reality of God

“I believe totally that God is real and that he loves us with a love that overcomes all temporary evil that we face. He is not defeated! He is more powerful and will achieve the ultimate goodness for all who believe in him. People challenge God and our faith in him by asking, ‘If there is a God, why doesn’t he do something about all the evil in the world?’ Well, he has! That’s what the Bible is all about, telling us about God and his great love and his great power, and about what he did to save us from all evil by sending his Son into the world to bear our sins on the Cross. By his death and resurrection, Christ defeated sin, death, and the devil and won for us joyful, eternal life free forever from the Reality of Evil. The Reality of God has overcome!”

As I went on, my words flowed faster and bolder and louder, though I was not shouting or arguing or speaking angrily. I just sensed a filling of the Holy Spirit directing me in what I said and holding the people’s attention to hear me. I went on:

“For now, we do experience evil things, but even while we wait for this age to pass away, we are not left alone in our hurts and sorrows, because the Reality of God means that he is with us every moment no matter what we are going through. God is here to give us strength, courage, comfort, guidance, and faith to face whatever comes . . .”

I said more things which I can’t remember, and then I woke up. It was an intense dream, but instead of feeling drained I felt good and right, as if something significant had happened. Maybe it was the contrast between earlier church dreams with missing sermons and this dream with an inspired, spontaneous outpouring. Maybe it was being relaxed in a church service and not having to make sure everything went well. Maybe it was the sense that God still has work for me to do by bringing his word to people who need to hear it – maybe as a blogger, maybe as a “supply” pastor (preaching during pastoral absences), maybe as an author, maybe even as a televangelist! Or maybe it will be the suggestion of my fellow preaching-class students at seminary who, after hearing me preach, suggested I could host one of those late-night radio shows where they play soft music and the DJ helps people relax and fall asleep to his sonorous and dulcet tones . . .

Whatever paths the Lord has for me, whether the dream was a message from God (“Your old men shall dream dreams . . .” Joel 2:28), or the result of a daytime nap (a postprandial repose),  I will feel compelled by faith and obedience to Christ to proclaim the Good News even in times of evil, because I know what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross: Jesus was the ultimate good person who suffered the ultimate evil to achieve the ultimate good for our sake.

Jesus was the ultimate good person who suffered the ultimate evil to achieve the ultimate good for our sake.

And that is the Reality of God. The true God who is all-powerful, all- loving, and with us always. May he comfort and strengthen you through whatever you may face, and may he deliver you from all evil. And may all your naps be refreshing!

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord may his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: John 9:1-41