| Shingles Doesn't Care - article by Joel Hempel Do you remember that commercial? I work out aerobically three times a week; I’ve never smoked; the Mediterranean diet and nothing else crosses my lips. Shingles doesn’t care! Brag all you want. Shingles, the virus, has nothing to do with your self-discipline, dietary regimen, or physical conditioning. When it chooses to attack, it attacks! I’ve been a faithful Christian since my baptism 43 years ago. I tithe 12 % of my income, never said a cross word to my children, and although I have suffered many setbacks in life, I have remained a dedicated disciple of Christ. This broken world doesn’t care. Our faithfulness as a Christian and committed service to those in need has little or no impact on whether or not some random disease, accident, or disaster attacks us or our loved ones. I haven’t done the research, but I can’t imagine there are more than a few hands full of Christians who have accepted life’s harsh imposition without pointing out to God their credentials as a child of God - and if not that, then have cried out, Why? Why me? The problem with offering up our good works to God or crying, “Why me, God?” is that God is likely not the perpetrator of pain. Yes, there is that possibility that God is disciplining us in some painful way to teach us a lesson. But the culprit is more likely to be the broken and fallen world, AKA life! This broken world doesn’t care how much carnage it leaves behind. It’s just living out its destiny in “bondage to corruption,” groaning its way to the second coming of Christ (see Romans 8:19-22; Genesis 3:17-19). Okay, but why doesn’t God intervene when I – his child – beg him to do so – either for me or someone I care about? I, too, have struggled with this for many years. Here is what makes biblical sense to me. First, sometimes God does intervene. Most of us have anecdotal evidence of that. But when he doesn’t, we trust his will. In his book Prayer, Timothy Keller states what we would do well to trust if we are to have peace of mind: In short, God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knew.* There is also this: Indeed, the fallen creation doesn’t care. Caring is what God assigned to us. We, the people of God, get to be the here-and-now incarnation of Jesus. We get to be his love to one another and to those outside the church who are hurting and in need of healing at multiple levels. Be assured the love of God revealed in and through us heals and restores hope. But, also be assured, when we fail to love and be Christ’s compassionate and healing presence, the Spirit of Christ does not fail. Through God’s Word, Christian songs of triumph, the sacraments, prayer, and good Samaritans of all kinds, God continues to minister to the brokenhearted. Shingles doesn’t care, but God does! *Prayer, Timothy Keller, page 228. | 
