Flipping through the TV channels the other night I stopped at a movie already in progress called Awakenings. It’s an old movie, starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams, a story about people who have a disease that causes them to be in a statue like, frozen state of being. This true story, set in the 60’s, is about a doctor who finds a drug that bring these patients come out of their comatose state and they experience an awakening. For a short period of time these people feel the joy of walking and talking once again. Unfortunately the effect of the drug was not long lasting and the patients would revert back to their catatonic condition.There is a scene in the movie where a mother is speaking to the doctors about her hope for her son. “When my son was born,” she said, “seemingly healthy and normal, I never questioned, ‘Why am I so fortunate, why am I so blessed with such a healthy baby?’ But, now, you bet I ask, ‘Why has this happened to us? What have I done so wrong that my son would suffer so?’”
At so it is with all of us. When things are going well we are not emotionally perplexed with why we are so fortunate. By our actions of not probing our blessings we may even think that our lives, free of heartache, is somehow normal, or the way things should be. It’s only when things begin to go wrong that we wonder what we’ve done to incur God’s disfavor.
Because I live in a developing country I get pretty jaded with the disease and poverty I see around me each day. People who visit this country seem not to be able to cope with the beggars, dirty street kids and the squalors that many call home. Because it’s my environment I am sometimes oblivious to such tragic surroundings. However, the next morning after watching Awakenings, I was on my daily walk and saw the trash pickers as they roamed the neighborhood. These young women and girls get up before dawn, and pick up paper and plastic that people have thrown out the night before. Scavengers with no education, I can only imagine where they slept the night before and what a miserable existence they have. No opportunity to go to school, to learn a trade, to raise a family in a decent home. Their children will perpetuate their hopeless condition; their future is as bleak as the morning fog.
As I made my rounds that morning I thought, “God, why am I blessed so much? Why have you allowed me to enjoy good health, a decent home and a wonderful family? Why have I found favor in your eyes?”
In reality all of the sons of Adam should be as alarmed with any blessing we experience. Born in sin, rebellious to our Creator, any good thing should cause us to stop in our tracks and ask, “My God, why are you so good to me?” I’m not sensitive enough to His goodness, but will awaken when things go wrong. When difficulties come into my life you can bet I will run to Him and plead for relief, healing, salvation. In reality I should be awakened to His goodness each day the sun shines and ask with urgency, “Why have you shown favor to me?” The answer of course is one word – Grace, the most profound act of God.
