Oh, The Things We Say

by Will Walker

There are things we say to help us deal … with loss, with anger, with envy, with helplessness, and with idols.

There is a great line in United States of Leeland, which is a movie about, among other things, the things we say to deal with our failings. One of the characters responds to a line of questioning about cheating on his girlfriend by saying, “I’m only human.” Leeland replies, “How come people only say that when they mess up? You never hear anyone say, ‘I’m only human’ when they do good things” (paraphrased).

A few of the things we say:

God is sovereign. This is a true statement, but I usually hear it when things did not go the way you wanted them to. There is an aspect of this phrase that suggests humility and dependence on God. But I think there are also times we say it out of laziness, so we don’t have to evaluate what happened and discover that someone messed up or that we were misguided to begin with.

Be content with what you have. Also a worthy sentiment. I can’t speak for others, but it seems to me that I only say this when I am faced with something I want that I do not have the means to get. That is, when I have the means to get something I want, I rarely stop to say, “Will, be content with what you have.” In that way, the phrase is merely a way of coping with envy.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. It’s hard to take issue with a verse in the Bible, but even here I am guilty of hiding from God behind words. By “guilty” I mean that I did it about ten minutes ago.

Background: Earlier today God answered a prayer of ours. It was an unmistakable provision from the Lord, and we celebrated and praised Him accordingly. In an unrelated incident, this evening I discovered something very disappointing about something that I value a great deal (ambiguity intended). I have been dragging the weight of my frustration around the house all night. Then about ten minutes ago I was reflecting on this fantastic and frustrating day, trying to reconcile the mixed emotions. That’s when the verse came to my mind, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.”

On one hand, that may be a statement of surrender to God. On the other hand, it may be a cover up for idols. I wanted to say “God gives and God takes away” so I could move on, quit thinking about it, not have to take a look at my heart. But when I did look at my heart I saw the security and comfort that I derived from that which was given today. My “joy” looked more like relief. I also saw the selfish ambitions that were hindered by that which was taken away. My disappointment was more about my gods being slain than anything else.

And in that way the things we say may sometimes be trite ways of covering up the idols in our heart. It occurred to me that perhaps the Lord gives and takes away precisely so we can see how attached we are to those things— how much security we try to find outside the care of our Father, and how much value we derive from vanity. If our affections were set on God all along, I wonder if the phrases we utter would even occur to us.

Comments

[Pimple]

Ahh idols, good thoughts. I have been reading Ezekiel latley. Kind of doing a weak inductive on it. One of my major idols right now is ESPN.com. If I have my theology right according to the prophet if I don't stop frequenting the site God is going to slay me with a plague and place my dead body infront of or on my computer. Since realizing this idea, I have developed a really cool ticket system were I can only be on a certain ammount of time. It's kind of like the ticket systems I had in elementary for bad behavior; the ones where you start at green or blue and progress down to yellow and then red. It's been cool thinking about my idols. An idea that I noted that goes along with your post is that of hiding our idols. I noted how they had idols up in the high places; what ever that means. It seems to have a far away hidden feel to me. Got me thinking about what idols I was hiding.

How's life in Austin? You moving to the North West next school year? Shoot me an email if you get a chance.

When is your book gettin back from the printer. I am compiling my reading list for the next semester and I want your book in that list. Gimme an update.

[Walker]

Pimple,

Thanks for chiming in. Good thoughts.

Not moving any time soon ... having a baby in April. The book is in hand. Just tell me where to send it ... I like the idea of being read internationally.

Walker

[Nathaniel]

Dang, Will, first off, I can't wait to read that book you all wrote. Second, you seem to have this uncanny ability to write pretty much the exact same things I say. Everyone makes fun of me and says they are dumb and I'm just cynical, so either you and I are partners in those, or I'm smarter than I think. I like you . . . a lot, but in the same way I like Don Miller, not the way I like Diet Pepsi or girls. Maybe Diet Pepsi . . .