The Theology of Resilience
Carlos J. Craig
I once read the remarkable story of John Peterson. When John was a teenager, he possessed an incredible singing voice and was in high demand as a performer. His loftiest ambition was to become a famous soloist.
He wrote of himself: “Only in singing did I feel competent and confident!” His music career began to excel. He became known internationally as: “The singing farm boy.” Radio programs featured him left and right and his future was more than bright.
Then one summer he found a job in a factory, working at a machine that made canvas wheat binders. The factory was extremely noisy, and John’s machine was the noisiest of them all! He literally couldn’t hear anything, so he would spend every working hour singing at the top of his lungs, belting out the music as he worked.
Far too late he realized that he was abusing and ruining his vocal cords! There was nothing the doctors could do. He later wrote: “I placed such a strain on my faltering voice by overuse and inexperience, that I damaged it beyond repair!”
When he realized what had happened, he experienced a depression that lasted months. Singing, he had the power to thrill people, and suddenly, that was all gone.
However, John’s inability to sing forced him to develop other talents that he had been neglecting. Peterson later wrote: “With my voice damaged beyond repair, I turned more and more to writing and that talent emerged and blossomed.
What a first seemed like a tragedy God used for good and the course of my life began to take shape in an unexpected way!”
Perhaps you haven’t recognized the name – John Peterson. He wrote many beautiful hymns like “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.”
When we look up the word “resilience” in Merriam-Webster, we find the following definition: “The capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after it has been deformed…”
As we pass through the valley of darkness named Covid-19, the people of God have perhaps been afforded one last opportunity to exemplify spiritual resilience and substance. The word of God tells us: (Eph. 6:18) “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance (resilience) and supplication for all the saints…”
The perseverance that the apostle Paul underscores here is not comparable to the begging of a spoiled child, seeking to extract out of sheer exhaustion what he desires from his unwilling parent. No sir, this is a perseverance forged in the fires of trials and afflictions. Of things going south absent of any indication whatsoever of improvement! These are indeed the most trying of times!
Yet God has in His infinite wisdom allowed them to befall us for a specific and redemptive purpose. As a church, we are not positioned properly to be airlifted out of this chaotic world. Our posture does not correspond to the urgency of the hour! Thus, He has chosen to reposition us, realign us, redirect us, refocus us in the right direction.
Let us heed the admonition of Isaiah 60:1,2 – “Arise, shine (be resilient) for your Light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, darkness (a pandemic) shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people (wickedness), but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you!”
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A condensed version of this devotional appeared in the July/August 2020 issue of the Southwestern Union Record | issuu.com/swurecord