What's the greatest feeling in life? Years ago my answer would have been: a sense of achievement. Any other Type A achievers out there? You know what I'm talking about. Now that I'm older, my answer has changed. Today my answer would be: relief. Relief brings a cool breeze, a deliverance from those awful days and nights worrying about something.
Peter says we are to cast all our anxiety upon the Lord, because he cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). We are to literally heave it over, throw it upon him. It's like taking a pack and letting it fall from your back. If you've ever carried a pack in mountain climbing, you know there is nothing quite like the feeling when you peel it off your shoulders and you release the burden. It's the feeling I had after I climbed to the top of a mountain near Zermatt a few years ago.
What a relief it was to finish the climb.
Such relief feels better than achievement or even happiness. Relief is that time in your life when:
The flight was delayed but not cancelled.
You met the deadline -- barely.
The accident didn't happen.
The test came back negative.
You didn't lose your job after all.
The battle you unexpectedly won.
Let me illustrate what I'm saying from this day in history. 163 years ago today, a silence descended over the fields of Gettysburg after a great 2 hour bombardment. Confederate soldiers began emerging from the broad woods in front of Seminary Ridge. They numbered 13,000 men, 15,000 by some counts. A long gray line stretched for a mile across the fields. The veterans of both armies never forgot the sight.
That was the beginning of Pickett's Charge. The Confederates advanced across the field. Their ranks began to thin as Union soldiers poured destructive fire into their flanks. A few of the Federals broke ranks and dashed to the rear. For long minutes, the battle hung in the balance.
Meade, the head of the Army of the Potomac, encountered some of his staff, including his son, whose horse had just been killed. "Hello, George," his father said, "Is that you? I am glad you are here. You must stick by me now, you are the only officer left." Meade asked Lt. John Egar of the First Regiment of U.S. Artillery if the attack had been repulsed. Egar replied that General Hays had captured one of their flags. "I don't care for their flags," Meade replied impatiently. "Have they turned?" Egar said yes. Lt. Frank Haskell also encountered Meade at that time. Meade asked him, "How's it going here?" The young lieutenant replied, "I believe, General, the enemy's attack is repulsed." "What? Is the attack already repulsed?" Meade asked. "It is, sir."
When Meade reached the crest of Cemetery Ridge -- the same spot where his statue stands today -- he finally saw with his own eyes that the enemy was in full flight. His face lit up. "Thank God," he said. Then he waved his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hurrah!" The Union army had finally defeated Robert. E. Lee.
Scientists call this "counterfactual relief." Something you thought would happen didn't happen after all. The worse the imagined outcome, the more powerful the relief. Your heart rate drops, your muscles relax. In contrast to the feeling preceding it, you're almost euphoric. Often it's the waiting that's the worst. Complete certainty is less stressful than not knowing. You feel stuck in limbo. But when the moment of certainty arrives, even if it's not the best news, the waiting is over. You finally know. You take the breath you've been holding.
Every person reading this blog post is going through some kind of battle. I can assure you I am. And most are plural, not just one, and I know that you and yours are plenty too. There is no one who can tell you to your complete satisfaction all the reasons why you have to go through such hard times. That's precisely when we have to accept the mystery of hardship and suffering and know for sure that God will protect us by his power from now through eternity. We know so little of why things happen and why things end as they do. But all of this only deepens our confidence in the Lord and his will. Friend, he has promised you spiritual strength even if your suffering goes unrelieved for now. He is with you, ministering to you through his Spirit and through members of his body whom he's commissioned to bear us up and help relieve our suffering.
Never forget that.
Lord, I pray for those who read these words today going through a very painful time in their lives. I pray that you would remind them that you are at work and the trial has a purpose and your plan is unfolding. Bring them a sense of reassurance and trust, yes, even relief, while going through it all. I pray this in the name of Jesus and for his sake alone. Amen.