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9: Soul as Receiver · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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Our current series is wholehearted, becoming healthier Christians
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at work.
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And in this episode, I want to talk
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about our soul as a receiver, the receptive
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quality of us as human beings, the aspect
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of who we are that can receive something
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from the world, from other people, and ultimately
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from God.
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I want to start in an unusual way
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and read the final paragraph of a novel.
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This is by Cormac McCarthy, The Road.
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It's a post-apocalyptic novel, very bleak in
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some ways.
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But I read it back in 2015.
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I made the mistake of reading it in
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the dark in a basement of the home
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I was living in at that time.
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He wrote it back in 2006.
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But this final paragraph is, I think, one
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of the best illustrations of Cormac McCarthy's capacity
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for just brilliant prose, for the quality of
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the words and the sentences and the phrases
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to evoke something.
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So I'm going to just read it.
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Spoilers, if you haven't read The Road, this
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is the final paragraph, although it doesn't really
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give anything away related to the plot.
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Just receive this as I read it.
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Once there were brook trout in the streams
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in the mountains.
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You could see them standing in the amber
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current where the white edges of their fins
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wimpled softly in the flow.
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They smelled of moss in your hand, polished
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and muscular and torsional.
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On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were
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maps of the world and its becoming, maps
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and mazes of a thing which could not
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be put back, not be made right again.
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In the deep glens where they lived, all
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things were older than man, and they hummed
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of mystery.
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Now I want you to pay attention to
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what you're experiencing right now.
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What thoughts ran through your head just as
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I finished reading?
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What was it like for you?
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It's different for different people.
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You might be like, oh, that's weird.
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But if you're like me, you have a
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sense of, I kind of want to go
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back and read that again.
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I kind of want to pay attention to
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those phrases.
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I didn't quite capture everything that I think
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is there for me, but there's something, something
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there, something that matters.
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If you're driving to work right now, look
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out your window.
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Can you see the sky?
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Can you see clouds?
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Can you see trees?
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Something that just evokes that little sense of,
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wow, there's something there.
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Or maybe for you, it's a movie you've
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seen recently, or a piece of music.
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Whatever it is, we have these experiences in
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life, in the arts, in nature, even in
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our relationships with other people, which are experiences
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of beauty.
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There's a scholar named Gregory E.
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Gansal over at Biola University, and he has
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this wonderful book, Our Deepest Desires, and he
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talks about how we stumble into beauty, how
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it's something that we don't so much do
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as receive.
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So I'm going to read just a few
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quotes on beauty from his book, kind of
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hopscotching around.
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His book overall is about goodness, beauty, and
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truth, so drawing from that kind of middle
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section.
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So Gansal writes, beauty presents itself to us.
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We do not look for beauty as if
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it were a static thing waiting to be
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found.
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Beauty encounters us.
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It is the beautiful that initiates, that moves,
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that captures our attention.
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We do not make the first step.
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Beauty, in some sense, seeks us.
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We may put ourselves in places that leave
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us open to beauty, but it is the
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beautiful that acts on us.
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And then, flipping forward a few pages, he
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writes about how often we miss this experience.
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The fact is not that we are distracted
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by beauty, but that we are too distracted
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or preoccupied to encounter it deeply.
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The competition for each person's attention is fierce,
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and we have only a finite amount of
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attention to give.
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Isn't that true to your experience of beauty?
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It's not that beauty itself is shallow.
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We're like, there's not much to there.
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When we stumble into one of these experiences,
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we have a sense there's something here.
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There's something that's worth returning to, but suddenly
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our commute is over and we're beginning the
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workday, or the movie is over and we're
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taking care of our kids, or fill in
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the blank.
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We are so busy, so distracted by the
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cares of life, that it's hard for us
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to deeply encounter beauty.
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It's hard for us to pause and pay
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attention to that moment, even though we have
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a sense that something in that moment is
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there for us.
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If we're deeply honest with ourselves, we might
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even say we have a yearning to return
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to that experience that strikes us in moments
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of beauty.
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Well, what does this say about us?
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One thing is I think it's interesting to
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note the difference between us and other animals.
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We're human animals.
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We're embodied creatures.
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We are mammals.
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We have brains and nervous systems and muscles
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and skeletons, just like other mammals.
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But there's also an experience we have that's
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different than that, even of other intelligent mammals.
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If I read that final paragraph of The
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Road by Cormac McCarthy to say, my cat
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Landry.
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Landry's ears might perk up a little bit.
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He might detect some of the sounds, but
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it's not going to have the capacity to
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convey the same kind of meaning, the same
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kind of richness that it can for us
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who can understand the words, and even if
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we can't fully understand them, can encounter the
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beauty of that prose.
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So there's something unique about the human capacity
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for receiving beauty.
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Now, that's not to say that other animals
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can't encounter beauty in their own way.
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There's some indications that, for example, primates like
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gorillas, when they look at a sunset, something's
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going on for them, although it can be
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hard for us to tell exactly what.
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But the human capacity is unique.
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The depth, the breadth, the detail, the richness,
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the multivariate forms in which we can receive
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beauty, we can receive in a way that
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no other creatures can.
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So that's really striking.
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So far, we're just kind of at the
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level of empirical observation.
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You don't have to believe any particular thing
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about spirituality or religion in order to observe
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that human beings have a unique capacity for
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receiving and encountering beauty.
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But I think that the fact that we
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have this capacity for receiving beauty is highly
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suggestive.
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It suggests that there's a reason for that.
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It suggests that there's some reason we have
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this capacity.
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It suggests that the something that's there for
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us in beauty might actually point us in
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a certain direction.
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And so Dr. Gantzel goes on with this
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in his book to describe the specific claims
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of Christian faith.
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He says, in the Christian story, beauty points
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the way home.
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In the Christian story, the way home lies
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in two directions.
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First, Christianity holds that our home is beyond
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this present world.
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We were made for a relationship with God
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that outlives our present life.
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But the Christian story also holds that this
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world is home.
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This world was made for us.
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Our work, our relationships, our creative endeavors, and
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our moral aspirations have all been made with
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this world in mind.
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It is a good and beautiful arena to
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become the people we are meant to become.
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The Christian story indicates that we are at
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home in this world, but at the same
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time, we are restless for another world.
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Human rebellion against God has distorted the goodness
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of all creation.
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Our own ability to live well is corrupted.
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Our ability to bring good out of the
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world is damaged.
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So, Gantzel is interpreting this experience that we
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can all agree happens, that human beings experience
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beauty.
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They have a unique capacity to encounter beauty.
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And he says, this fits like hand to
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glove with the Christian teaching that we are
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at home both in this world and in
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a world beyond this world.
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That we're meant to live life right here
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in this reality, but it's like there are
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moments when something more breaks in.
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And beauty, when we have experiences of beauty,
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those are such moments.
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When we have a sense, oh, there's something
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here, there's something more here for me.
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There's another world that I was meant for.
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It's not that I'm totally alien to this
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world, but it's that there's something hidden, something
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more, something of God that I was intended
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for.
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And I'm going to be restless until I
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find my home there.
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I think this is a beautiful description of
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the human experience, the human soul, and its
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capacity to receive.
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So, this would be now stepping into the
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teaching of scripture.
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What the scriptures teach about the human person
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is that the human person can receive good
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things from God.
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And not only can the human person receive
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good things from God, the human person can
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receive the presence of God in their soul,
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in their body, in their whole being.
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You were made to receive the presence of
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God in your deepest being, and you will
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be restless until you find your home in
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God in that way.
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I want to go to just one Psalm,
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one of hundreds of passages that can help
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us understand this capacity to receive the presence
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of God.
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Psalm 34.
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So, I'm going to just read the first
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12, no, not even 12.
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We're going to do the first 10 verses
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and then just kind of reflect on them
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and what they say about our capacity to
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receive in ourselves the presence of God.
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Psalm 34.
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I will bless the Lord at all times.
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His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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My soul makes its boast in the Lord.
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Let the humble hear and be glad.
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Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let
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us exalt his name together.
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I sought the Lord and he answered me
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and delivered me from all my fears.
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Those who look to him are radiant and
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their faces shall never be ashamed.
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This poor man cried and the Lord heard
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him and saved him out of all his
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troubles.
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The angel of the Lord encamps around those
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who fear him and delivers them.
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Oh, taste and see that the Lord is
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good.
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Blessed is the man who takes refuge in
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him.
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O fear the Lord, you his saints, for
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those who fear him have no lack.
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The young lions suffer want and hunger, but
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those who seek the Lord lack no good
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thing.
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Okay, a lot of very significant claims in
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that passage.
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The Psalms are poetry.
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The Psalms are prayers.
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The Psalms also are teaching, though.
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The Psalms teach us about the reality of
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this world, about our own hearts, about God.
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And there are several distinct claims that David,
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the writer of the Psalm, is making.
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And one of the claims right there in
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the concluding verse is the young lions suffer
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want and hunger, but those who seek the
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Lord lack no good thing.
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Now, that's an audacious claim, especially in light
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of the suffering, the deprivations, the hunger and
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thirst that many human beings, including human beings
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of devout faith, have experienced.
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What could it mean that those who fear
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the Lord lack no good thing?
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Dallas Willard writes about this as life without
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lack.
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What does it mean to live life without
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lack?
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To lack no good thing.
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Well, it's obvious from human experience.
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If there's some way in which this is
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true, it doesn't mean that we never face
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loss.
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It doesn't mean that we never face difficulty.
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It doesn't mean that we never face literal
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hunger.
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There's examples even in David's own life of
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when he was on the run this Psalm
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was actually written during one of those experiences.
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And so David personally knows it's possible for
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someone who fears the Lord to experience profound
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need.
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So what could it possibly mean that those
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who seek the Lord lack no good thing?
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Well, let's go back earlier in the Psalm
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and see the pattern of David's encounter with
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God here.
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He says, I will bless the Lord at
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all times.
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His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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So all times that would mean good times
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and bad.
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Even in the midst of deprivations, even in
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the midst of difficulty, we can bless the
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Lord.
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Then he continues, my soul makes its boast
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in the Lord.
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Let the humble hear and be glad.
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Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let
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us exalt his name together.
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So there's a focus on God himself, on
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his character, his name.
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That's something we can exalt.
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It's something that we can boast about even,
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all like we're bragging about how great God
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is.
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It says, let the humble hear and be
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glad.
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We're hearing this report about who God is
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and taking delight in it.
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David continues, I sought the Lord and he
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answered me and delivered me from all my
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fears.
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Okay, so David has fears.
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David has deprivations that he's facing, but he's
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saying, I sought the Lord and he answered
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me and delivered me from all my fears.
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So there's a pattern here that David is
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claiming is possible, that you face the difficult
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thing.
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You face the hunger, you face the thirst,
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you face the need, you face the deprivation,
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you face the injustice.
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But in the midst of that, you make
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your boast in the Lord, you seek the
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Lord, and then you receive something back from
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the Lord.
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The Lord delivered me from all my fears.
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Then it continues, those who look to him
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are radiant and their faces shall never be
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ashamed.
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So the thing we're receiving from the Lord,
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it's not just a change of circumstance, although
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I think David has that in mind.
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One of the ways that God loves us
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is he changes our circumstances.
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He gives us the food we need in
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response to our hunger, the water we need
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in response to our thirst.
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But there's also a deeper change, right?
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David says that those who look to him
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are radiant and their faces shall never be
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ashamed.
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There's not just a change in circumstance.
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When we seek God, when we look to
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God, he gives us something that changes who
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we are on the inside.
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Those who look to him are radiant.
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We receive from God not just what we
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need in our circumstances, but what we need
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in our deepest being.
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And that's a cure for all of our
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needs and deep desires and even our moral
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needs.
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It says their faces will never be ashamed.
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God rescues us from a sense of shame
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or condemnation.
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He allows us to look on the world
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with hope rather than despair.
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David continues, this poor man cried and the
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Lord heard him and saved him out of
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all his troubles.
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The angel of the Lord encamps around those
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who fear him and delivers them.
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So again, we see here God does act
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to deliver his people, to rescue, to bring
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to fulfillment his promises of protection.
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Doesn't mean that bad things won't happen, but
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that God does act that if we wait
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patiently, we will see the deliverance of God
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in one way or the other.
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Now you might approach this skeptically and say
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like, okay, that seems like you're using a
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little bit of circular logic, right?
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Like bad things happen, but then we're just
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waiting until good things happen.
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So when the good things happen, that's from
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God.
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Why is it that we don't say the
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bad things are from God and the good
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things are just happenstance?
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So who's to say?
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How do you interpret reality like this?
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And all that I can say in response
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to this, rather than getting into intellectual tit
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for tat about how we interpret goodness versus
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suffering, is that I have the testimony of
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David and many, many older sisters and brothers
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in the faith who have faced great deprivation
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and suffering, mental, physical, spiritual, have the same
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testimony, that it is true that those who
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look to him are radiant and their faces
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shall never be ashamed, that there is something
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there for us in the presence of God
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that somehow does answer our deepest needs, even
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when we face deep difficulty and suffering, that
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there is something there for us that God
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will not hold out on us, that God
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will not withhold from us if we're willing
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to receive it.
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Now let's go one step further.
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This is verse 8, O taste and see
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that the Lord is good, blessed is the
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man who takes refuge in him.
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O taste and see that the Lord is
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good.
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David's claim here is that that something more
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is an experience of God's presence himself, that
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even in the middle of darkness and difficulty,
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we can receive from God his own presence.
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We can hear him.
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We can see him.
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We can taste him.
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We can move into his presence and receive
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exactly what we need.
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That's what we're yearning for when beauty pierces
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our hearts.
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That's what we're longing for when we have
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the sense that we were meant for another
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world, when we're dissatisfied, when we feel like
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we can't get what we really deeply need.
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That's because we will never be satisfied until
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we find our home in the presence of
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God, until we let him shine on us
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and make our faces radiant.
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That's the beauty of God, the glory of
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God shining on us that changes our faces
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and makes it possible for us to look
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on him without shame.
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There is a part of you that is
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designed to receive the presence of God and
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you will never be satisfied until you open
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yourself to him and say, yes, I am
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yours.
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Take me.
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And as we enter into that life, as
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we do say yes, and we say yes
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again and again each day, we wake up
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and we say yes to God again for
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today.
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We learn how to live in that life
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without lack.
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We learn how to live with that openness
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to beauty.
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Because once we've received the presence of God,
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suddenly all these moments of beauty breaking in,
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we can see our gifts of God.
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When the sky opens up and we see
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sunlight pouring down through the clouds, we receive
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that as a ministry of God's goodness and
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creativity.
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When we experience excellent prose like Cormac McCarthy
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or a film or a piece of music,
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we know God is speaking to us.
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God is drawing us to himself.
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And we learn how to set aside times
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to experience God in silence, to simply be
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with him and receive that presence that we
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were made for.
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We've been talking about becoming healthier Christians at
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work.
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And I opened up the series by talking
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about how even the word health conveys an
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idea that there is a human nature.
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There's a way that's good for us.
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And the ultimate claim of scripture is that
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God is good for us.
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That we were meant for God, for deep
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lasting union with God.
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So becoming a healthier Christian at work is
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ultimately about coming into deeper union with God
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through Jesus Christ as we go about our
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work day.
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Experiencing union with God in a way that
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lets us do our work with that radiant
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face that's never ashamed.
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So in our next few episodes, we're going
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to start stepping into the more difficult aspects
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of talking about health in the workplace, and
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specifically mental health.
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We'll be looking at depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction,
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and neurodiversity.
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But in all of those things, we're not
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just looking at, oh, here's some difficult dynamic
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to navigate.
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So how can we navigate it well and
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feel better?
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And when all of those things we'll be
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looking at, how does this difficult dark experience
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fit into this claim of the story of
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the Bible that says we were meant for
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union with God and will be restless until
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we find our rest in Him?
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How can we rest in Him in the
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middle of an experience of depression or anxiety?
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How can we rest in Him in light
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of the deep traumas we have experienced and
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the others in our workplaces have experienced?
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How can we find our home in Him
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rather than in an addiction?
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And how can we welcome His presence in
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our bodies, in our brains, and all the
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diversity that's there in how He made us?
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I'm really looking forward to digging into those
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things with you.
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For today, just remember, the world hums with
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mystery, as Cormac McCarthy wrote, and that mystery
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points the way home.
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It points the way home to the God
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you were made for.
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Lord Jesus, do your work in us as
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we do our work with you.
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Amen.
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Thanks for listening.
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Finding God at Work is a production of
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Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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life.
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You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
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listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
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and Thursday.
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To get resources to go deeper with each
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podcast series, read our blog, and get info
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about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
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go to our website, missioncentral.church.