Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, PTSD and the Word of God (5)

Continuing with Jeremiah’s stressful situation in Lamentations 3.

·       3:25-26: The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.  I suspect this was an observation based in Jeremiah’s previous understanding of God.  The OT is full of both admonitions and illustrations of the necessity of waiting on the LORD.  Jeremiah spent some time in a dungeon, specifically, a muddy cistern that served as a prison.  In due time he was released and helped out of the muck by friends he may not have known that he had (Jer. 38:1-13).  Earlier, he had struggled when his own family members (priests!) had refused to heed his preaching of the word of the LORD.  In these situations he had likely learned the value of waiting on the LORD. Which leads to the next thought.

·       3:27-30: Afflictions are really good for us, and, if we bear them aright, will work very much for our good. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.  Often, those who deal with PTSD have experienced significant trauma as young men or women.  That is the nature of those involved in the military as well as first-responders.  They may not have had very many difficult experiences by which they could learn.  Further, you may not think it would ever be valuable to have these devastating situations.  But here is something to consider from the Bible: trauma, tribulation, hard times are common for everyone.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a passage many people have heard: a time for every purpose under heaven.  But what it is saying is that eventually, typically, we will all experience these things.  If we have suffered in our youth we are better prepared for the sufferings that come later.  It’s called maturity.  And even now, if you are in unimaginable stress, how you see the situation is not only important for today but also for your tomorrow. Jeremiah also said, Let him sit alone and keep silent because God has laid it on him.  In other words, God is at work in us at these times. 

Some may be offended by this thought, that God brings these hard times so as to benefit us.  But this is based on two truths about God.  God is our Creator; He made us and thus owns us and has given us purpose in living.  And second, God loves us!  God is at work in us to give us hope in the hard times.  A strong sense of “hope” must be learned in order to succeed at life.  It is best to begin the building the hope in our early years, to know that life will not always be the “fun times” associated with our youth. 

May I also say there is a lesson here for parents.  Sometimes parents consider it their responsibility to shield their children from trials and tribulations, to always come to their defense even when they have been in the wrong.  It makes so much more sense to say that a good parent will seek to guide their children through the hard times.  This is necessary preparation for a normal life.

2 Cor. 4:7-9 PTSD and the Word of God (4)

We are seeking to hear Jeremiah’s wisdom as he grieves over the traumatic destruction of Jerusalem.  We have posted several times on this passage in Lamentations 3, thought not in this particular context of dealing with trauma.  We have always noted, and do so again here, our dependence on Matthew Henry’s comments that we have found to be exceptional.

·       3:22-23: His compassions fail not. This seems strange, given the extreme horror Jeremiah had witnessed.  Lest you think he was either blind or naïve or living in self-denial, earlier in Lamentations (2:17,21) Jeremiah had been very clear: the LORD had not pitied!  This word pitied means simply, “to spare.”  God had not spared the city or the nation.  Destruction was total.  Well, except, of course, that Jeremiah had been spared.  And his assistant Baruch was spared (Jer. 45). A government worker who had befriended Jeremiah was spared (Jer. 39:16-18).  And many poor people were given the land to cultivate, and people who had escaped Jerusalem before the Babylonians had arrived survived and returned to the city (Jer. 40:6-8).  In other words, there was a remnant, something that meant a lot to Jeremiah.  It meant that there was still the “seed” of a nation through which God could still keep His covenants with Abraham and with David.  God’s compassions had not failed.  This word is actually the term for “womb” and tells us that while God kept His promise of judgment, He still had a deep love for Israel.  The Apostle Paul faced traumatic situations in his life, but this is how he described them: hard pressed … yet not crushed; … perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed (2 Cor. 4:7-9).  Jeremiah, seeing evidence of compassion, realized that they had not failed.  They were new every morning.  Each new day was evidence that his worst fears were subsiding.  He was still there.  He still had a life to plan for and to live.  Concerning God he had to be honest and conclude: Great is Thy faithfulness.  This is Jeremiah, who earlier struggled with the truth that God was in the judgment and fury poured out on His people.  But now he had to recognize God’s goodness and compassion.

·       3:24: The LORD is my portion.  “Portion” in the OT has to do with one’s inheritance.  Jeremiah was from a priestly family (Jer. 1:1).  Of that family, among the priests and Levites, the OT frequently said that “the LORD was their inheritance” (e.g. Deut. 18:2).  They did not receive a piece of land like the rest of the citizens of Israel, but “the LORD was their inheritance.”  In other words, God would provide for them and be the source of their joy.  But now, with the land under the control of the Babylonians, no one owned land anymore.  Jeremiah sought to encourage himself and all who were left, to consider God to be their Portion.  The traumatic situations in our lives give us a definite opportunity to make this fundamental truth a reality in our hearts.  There is coming a time when we will depart this earth and leave it all behind.  As Job put it, Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.  The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed by the name of the LORD (Job 1:21).  If I make the LORD my Portion, the source of my happiness, then I can “hope in Him” as Jeremiah said and did.  (Be patient: we will continue in the next post.)

Lamentations 3:13-24, PTSD and the Word of God (3)

We have noted that Jeremiah reckoned with the fact that God was present and active in the trauma he witnessed.  He does not speak of the darkness brought upon him by the Babylonians.  However, and however long it takes Jeremiah to come to grips with his stress, this has to be taken into account. 

In Jeremiah’s case, he had prophesied the coming judgment of God.  He had witnessed the refusal of the people of Judah to repent as God called them to do.  We believe there is a principle in Scripture by which we can say that God is always at work in and through traumatic experiences.  This would be true of those experiencing the trauma as well as those who are seeing the trauma.  This is certainly the case for those who know Christ. 

It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).  All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).  Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

We have another principle of assumption.  We assume that if God is working in our lives through a traumatic situation, He is not going to intentionally hide His purpose.  If, through the New Covenant relationship we have with Him, whereby we learn to listen to Him in His word and speak and cry out to Him in prayer, in time we will benefit through the trauma. 

Let us lay this aside for awhile as we continue to hear Jeremiah’s reasonings.  In stanza #7 Jeremiah is still in the time of “wormwood and gall.”  Yet he says: This I recall to my mind.  Therefore I have hope.  He is about to tell us something about his thought process.  Let’s see if we can hear what he says.

·       3:22: The nation has not been totally decimated.  There is some good news in the midst of the trauma.  There is still life, still some who have survived the judgment.  Even as Jeremiah recognized God’s hand in the trauma, he also sees God’s hand in the positives.  Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed.  It could have been worse.  And it is because of God’s mercy.  You need to understand that this is not the “mercy” word, as in pity.  The Hebrew chesed refers to God’s goodness.  There were actually some good things that could be seen in the trial.  This is not some attempt to trick the mind.  There are things that are not as bad as they could be, and those things Jeremiah attributed to God’s lovingkindness (I think that’s the word to translate chesed on every occasion; it might include His pity, but also His kindness, goodness, forgiveness, provision and so forth)..

Before we conclude this post, please note what Jeremiah has done.  He is dealing with the trauma in “truth.”  If the trauma was affliction by the rod of His wrath (3:1), then the good things need to be seen as the LORD’s lovingkindnesses.  Jeremiah thought like this because this is what he had come to believe about His God.  God was always at work, in every event.  Some things were hard, others were blessings.  Jeremiah was coming to accept them all from God.  In the words of Job, Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? (Job 2:10).

Psalm 108

Today (the day this was written) is the fifteenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center (9/11/2001).  Perhaps it is fitting to consider this Psalm on this day.  For some it may need to be fifteen years in the rear view mirror before they can figure out how to have the same ability to reflect on our “undeserved” troubles and to do the necessary self-examination.  Consider this Psalm first; then let us see if it helps us in our own historical context.

·         108:1-5: (These verses are identical to Ps. 57:7-11).  Pay close attention to what the Psalmist says.  The rest of the Psalm will reveal He is in need of help.  But at the outset he makes it very clear: his heart is steadfast in that he will give praise and glory to God regardless of the situation and its eventual outcome.  He will even give God glory from his own glory (v1), meaning he will use the acclaim that has been given to him and refer it to God.  He does not doubt that those twin attributes of God (chesed, His mercy or lovingkindness and emet, His truth or faithfulness) are still very real (v4).  Whatever his struggle he will not deny God!  And in v5 he prefaces his prayer by asking God to glorify Himself.  What a great call to praise.

·         108:6-13: (These verses are identical to Ps. 60:5-12).  He now engages in a two-way conversation with God whereby he makes request (v6), receives an answer (v7-9), and then goes in faith (v10-13).  The request is that God will choose to glorify Himself by saving him and the nation.  It seems that this is the prayer of a warrior (Spurgeon called it The Warrior’s Morning Song).  He will be engaged in battle.  While we have no idea which war he is engaged in we do know that he is an Israelite and it involves the chosen Nation.  Further it seems to come at a time when Israel has experienced defeat because of the references in v11.  So he is calling on God to be faithful to His covenant.  And in the conversation God answers in the affirmative in that He affirms His special relationship with Israel (v7-8) as well as His disdain for the nations that so often afflicted Israel (v9).  It is possible the warrior himself repeats these words as if to give himself courage in the light of God’s relationship with Israel.  The conversation closes with positive words, but not just the power of positive thinking.  The warrior acknowledges his total dependence upon God and gains courage from the God of mercy and truth.  Any victory will be gained by God!

The United States does not have a covenant relationship with God as did Israel.  But like any people, they are free to call upon God.  Our governmental leaders are His servants and can call upon Him for wisdom and effectiveness.  What 9/11 provided was an opportunity to see our need for God and that the greatest of men are unable to prevent every attack.  It provided one of the nations, our nation, the opportunity to affirm, Through God we will do valiantly.  Every trial of nations and individuals is a call to bow before the God of mercy and truth.

Lamentations 3:1-18, PTSD and the Word of God (2)

Did Asaph or Jeremiah suffer with PTSD?  Here are some things we can say about them.  First, take Psalm 74.  Asaph was a worship leader chosen by David.  This “Asaph” is likely a descendent of his, as his family continued in the position until the time of the Babylonian captivity and beyond (Ezra 2:41).  What Asaph saw was traumatic (v3-8).  He had struggles with hope, or better, hopelessness (v9-10).  He wrestled with God over this (v11-17) and eventually was able to pray with a solid foundation (v18-23).  The Psalm is likely a summarizing of his experience.  So we don’t know how long he struggled.  We just know it was traumatic, and he eventually found some resolution of the matter with God.

Before we move on to Jeremiah, let me say that Ps. 73-89 is a section of Psalms (Book III of the five books of the Psalms) that deals with this traumatic experience.  You will find Psalmists struggling with depression as well as their memories.  Most of the time (Ps. 88 might be the exception) they come to some ability to trust God with their future and thus to move on in life.

Now, what about Jeremiah?  The book of Lamentations has five chapters.  Ch. 1-2 certainly have a lot to say about his suffering, so I commend them to you to read.  I am going to stay with Ch. 3 because that is where we see Jeremiah with his struggles and his healing.  Let’s take a quick look at 3:1-18.  But before we do, just a reminder, that all the chapters in Lamentations are “alphabetical.”  Your English Bible should have chapter three in 22 stanzas of 3 verses each.  The verses in each stanza begin with the same letter, begin with “aleph” (v1-3) through “tau” (v64-66).  The verses in each stanza fit together so you can study it three verses at a time if you want. 

·       v1-3: Jeremiah refers to the time as “dark.”  What he saw was “time and time again, throughout the day.”  Let me note one other thing here and throughout all of vs. 1-18: what he saw he attributed to the hand of God.  The first two chapters of Lamentations show Jeremiah coming to grips with this.  The Babylonians did bad things, but it was the work of God. 

·       v4-6: Jeremiah experienced some physical issues that he relates to the “aging process.”  He is surrounded by bitterness and woe, and again, it is “dark.”

·       v7-9: What he saw was oppressive, in the sense of being heavy.  He had feelings of hopelessness, hedged in by the trauma.  His normal way of dealing with things (prayer) seemed useless.  God was not listening.

·       v10-12: He felt threatened, as if confronted by a ferocious animal.  Note: these feelings arose from what God was doing.

·       v13-15: He felt, of actually was, estranged from his family, “my people.”  He experienced this early in his ministry (Jer. 11:21; 12:6) so that when the end came it was especially difficult.

·       v16-18: Jeremiah’s anxiety was like teeth being broken by gravel.  Any sense of inner strength and hope (a reason to live) was dead.

My conclusion is that Jeremiah’s trauma was very real and as difficult as what might be experienced on any battlefield or in anything faced by first-responders.  Let’s pick this up in the next post.

Ps. 74:1-8; 79:1-4, PTSD and the Word of God (1)

I am not a doctor.  I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist.  I am a pastor who has enjoyed a life of searching the Word of God, the Creator of all life, and seeing it’s positive effect in my life and in the lives of others.  There is an extremely logical and rational conclusion of the previous statements: to ignore or neglect or reject the Word of the Creator must result in a faulty approach to facing the issues of life.

I was with a group of pastors recently when there was a conversation about PTSD.  I hear of PTSD frequently, but know very little about it.  It is usually mentioned in connection with military people, although in this pastoral group it was in the context of first-responders.  About the same time as this conversation I was reading Jeremiah and Lamentations.  The thought occurred to me: Jeremiah was a candidate for PTSD.  I wondered if Lamentations might be helpful for people with this disorder.

What is PTSD?  Here’s the doctors I tend to trust, the folks from Mayo Clinic.  It’s from their web page.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event — either being part of it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

Most people who go through traumatic events may have a hard time adjusting and coping for a short time. But with time and by taking good care of themselves, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or years, and affect their ability to function daily, they may have PTSD.

Getting treatment after PTSD symptoms arise can be very important to ease symptoms and help people function better.

Further “Googling” revealed a fairly consistent pattern for identifying if a person has PTSD.  There are four categories of symptoms, and if you have some experience of each of these categories you have PTSD.  The four are: 1) Intrusive memories (regularly reliving the traumatic experience); 2) Avoidance (altering your life so as to avoid situations that bring back the event); 3) Negative changes in thinking and mood (ongoing fear or blame, detachment from friends, etc.); 4) Changes in physical and emotional reactions (trouble sleeping, irritability, fast heartbeat).  Again, this all came from the Mayo web page.  I saw others that were similar so I take this as a common understanding of a very real problem.

The next question is, did Jeremiah have a traumatic event as spoken of by the medical people.  Today’s passages from the Psalms can help us here.  Jeremiah was not the only one to see what happened to Jerusalem in 587BC.  The Psalmists also saw this, as their words indicate.  I can’t tell you whether Asaph or Jeremiah had PTSD, in other words whether they experienced continual symptoms.  But I can say that they saw something deeply traumatic. The actual day of the destruction of the temple is remembered today in Israel as Tisha B’Av.  It is a day of mourning for Jews, of course.  It is not just that Asaph and Jeremiah saw people killed mercilessly, and their sacred city and temple destroyed.  They also saw something that challenged their very concept as the people of God.  They were part of a chosen people, special to the LORD in certain ways, and now it seemed that all that was gone. 

You might imagine a house fire where all of one’s connections with the past, with pictures and memoirs and special knick-knacks destroyed.  Except multiply it by a very large number and you might get a thought about what these people experienced at the hand of the Babylonians.  The holy city and the temple of Solomon destroyed, the Davidic king’s descendants killed and the king blinded and taken to Babylon to die.  Not to mention the raping and killing of people they knew and loved.  As we said, we do have candidates for PTSD.

John 20:30-31; 21:25, John’s Contribution to Gospel Story

Of course, there are differences in the four accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  So what we are about to do is not surprising.  Although as I was reading recently in John’s Gospel I was caught by some of the details John provided that were unique to John’s Gospel.  So I thought I would list ones I noticed.  It speaks to John’s eyewitness account, and perhaps to the Spirit leading him to disclose some names and details when the other writers were happy to leave those specifics out.  The rest of John’s gospel also has conversations and events not in the Synoptics.  The Spirit has provided a wonderful rendition of the Gospel Story without contradiction!  We are limiting ourselves to John 18-21.

·       18:8-9: Jesus asks the mob, “Whom are you seeking?” Perhaps asked after Judas’ kiss, so as to allow Jesus to protect the rest of the disciples.

·       18:10: It was Malchus, a servant of the high priest, whose ear was cut off.

·       18:6: The mob fell to the ground.  I don’t see this as “slain in the Spirit” but fear. They were there to arrest the One who had calmed storms and cast out demons.

·       18:13: Jesus appeared before Annas first, before Caiaphas.

·       18:15-18: Peter got in because of another disciple (John).

·       18:19-23: A man struck Jesus.

·       18:28: Jews did not go into the Praetorium.

·       18:24: John gives none of the conversations before Caiaphas.

·       18:31-32: John mentions the issue of crucifixion, why the Jews needed Pilate.

·       18:33-37: John includes much more of Jesus’ conversations with Pilate (19:8-11).

 

·       19:5: “Behold the Man,” and 19:14: “Behold your King.”

·       19:8: Pilate’s fears when told Jesus claimed to be “Son of God.”

·       19:12-15: Jews sudden “love affair” for Caesar.

·       19:21: Jews argue about the sigh over the cross.

·       19:23-24: A description of Jesus’ tunic, and why they had to gamble for it.

·       19:25-27: Jesus’ giving care of His mother to John.

·       19:28-30: “I thirst” and “It is finished.”

·       19:32-34: Breaking the legs of the two criminals, piercing Jesus’ side.

·       19:35: John identifies himself as the eyewitness.

·       19:39: Nicodemus helped Joseph of Arimathea with the burial.

 

·       20:1-10: Peter and John going to the tomb.

·       20:11-18: Mary Magdalene being the first to see the risen Jesus.

·       20:19-23: Jesus’ appearance to the “10.”

·       20:24-29: Jesus’ appearance to the “11” and Thomas’ response.

·       21:1-14: Jesus’ appearance to the disciples who went fishing, the third appearance to a group of disciples.

·       21:15-25: Jesus’ restoration of Peter.

 

Perhaps a study like this of Luke’s Gospel would yield many unique details since the good doctor interviewed many eyewitnesses, including Jesus’ mother, given the details we have in Luke of the annunciation, birth and childhood visit to the temple.  Each of the four Gospels stands on it’s own and is useful in preaching the Gospel.  An occasional journey through a “Harmony of the Gospels” can also be valuable.