Dealing with Doubt

Porgy and Bess . (View at the end the libretto from It Ain't necessarily So." )

Based on the Novel, Porgy by DuBose Heyward, in 1935 George Gershwin debuted his opera, Porgy and Bess. Through revisions and additions, later productions made the opera his most famous and an integral part of the American theatre repertoire. Set on “Catfish Row” in South Carolina, the opera tells the ultimately tragic love story of the two protagonists, Porgy and his girl, Bess. The opera is has a number of famous songs. One of the most famous is It Ain’t Necessarily So, in which a character named “Sportin’ Life” gives his cynical take on the Bible to justify his bent to doing his own thing – living his life of unbridled pleasure. It ain’t Necessarily So expresses one main reason that doubt exists in life, doubt about what God says to us – denial. I don’t want it to be so – so it “ain’t” so. However, there are other reasons to doubt what God says. Today’s lesson, taken from Jeremiah 20:1-18, examines the phenomenon of doubting God as told through the words of the Prophet, Jeremiah

God Speaks Truth Jeremiah 29:1-6.

We find Jeremiah as he is smack in the middle of “Dealing with Doubt” because the evil priest, Pashhur, has had Jeremiah arrested and is holding him in the stocks overnight. In this time, stocks were usually accompanied by close quarters in a cramped position, thus Jeremiah is not only humiliated and embarrassed but is also uncomfortable.
The reason for his treatment was that in the previous chapter (Chapter 19) God has told Jeremiah to go out into the valley Hinnon with a clay jar, break the jar a prophesy that because of the people’s sin, the nation will be destroyed like the jar – broken and not able to be repaired. The place of the prophesy is significant. The Valley of Hinnon, more precisely, The Valley of the Son of Hinnon, was the famous garbage dump on the Southeast side of Jerusalem where the fires never go out and the “worm never burns.” It is a prototype of our picture of Hell Fire. It is in this place, that the Jews have committed the ultimate abomination against God, the ritual murder of their children in sacrifice to the God, Molech.

This bad treatment notwithstanding, Jeremiah remains firm in his insistence that God has told him what to say and further, that Pashhur will come to personal ruin as God has re-named him “Magor-missabib” which means “terror is on every side.” God will, and ultimately, uses the aggressive resurgent Babylon to capture and destroy Jerusalem as they were on their way to Egypt to attempt to do the same thing. It should be noted that God has already set history into motion centuries before as the internal geo-politics of this region begins to take shape manifesting the desire for dominance of the great powers of the world: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia. God evinces His inimitable manner of using the black heart of man to bring about His [God’s] perfect will played out on the stage of history on which we thought we were the players.

Be Honest in Your Doubt (Jer. 20:7-10)

Perhaps hiding behind his words, Jeremiah is really dealing with doubt. When he is free, he confronts God with the charge that God deceived him. Jeremiah’s opening charge to God was bold indeed—you deceived me, Lord. He asserted that God had virtually forced him into accepting the prophetic call. Almighty God had seized a helpless young man and prevailed over him—Jeremiah never really had a chance. Really/ I don’t think so. God never seizes our free will – it is too precious to Him. Nevertheless, Jeremiah feels that way.
Further, he states that he would like to get out of this situation by keeping his mouth shut and not speaking of this any more. But that won’t work because he feels the pull of the words too strongly. Jeremiah knows that God is telling the truth, that terrible things are going to happen to his people and that he, Jeremiah, must give them the message so that they might repent and stave of doom. But as we learned last week, this word from God comes at a high price. Jeremiah is now the laughingstock of the community.
In all this, Jeremiah gives us an important lesson that he had not even intended to give us. That is to honestly confront our doubts with God. When we feel or believe that It Ain’t necessarily So, we have the rare and special privilege to go to God and say so. We are not, I assure you, going to take Him by surprise. Only by getting our doubts out on the table can God deal with them in our lives and thus allow us to receive the blessing He has for us.

Remember Who’s in Control (Jeremiah 20:11-13).

Deal with it He[God] does. At the time when Jeremiah most needs encouragement, God shows him who is really in control and Jeremiah “gets it.” He says:
11But the Lord is with me like a violent warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly shamed, an everlasting humiliation that will never be forgotten. Jeremiah sees [and tells us] that God is a strong warrior who will ultimately prevail. If we are ridding with Him, we will prevail also. Those who stand in God’s way will be run over. Jeremiah closes his passage with a newly found doxology: "Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord, for He rescues the life of the needy from the hand of evil people.”

Let me encourage you in the words of the author of this weeks’s lesson, “if you are dealing with doubt right now, circle the action in the previous activity that you will take and trust God through your doubts. If you are not presently facing doubt, recognize that doubt and weariness will come. Commit to God that when they do, you will continue to trust Him.” -- It’s ain’t easy, but it is necessarily so.

See now the text of "Sportin' Life's take on the gospel. Do you ever come up with this sort of doubt?

It Ain't Necessarily So

-by Geroge Gershwin

It ain't necessarily so, It ain't necessarily so,

De t'ings dat yo' li'bleTo read in de Bible, It ain't necessarily so.

Li'I David was small, but oh my! Li'I David was small but oh my!

He fought big GoliathWho lay down an' dieth, Li'I David was small, but oh my!

Wa-doo - Zim bam boodle-oo, Hoodle ah da wa da - Scatty wah. Yeah!

Oh, Jonah, he lived in a whale, Oh, Jonah, he lived in a whale,

Fo' he made his home inDat fish's abdomen. Oh, Jonah, he lived in a whale.

Li'I Moses was found in a stream, Li'I Moses was found in a stream,

He floated on waterTill ol' Pharaoh's daughterFished him, she said from dat stream.

Wa-doo - Zim bam boodle-oo,Hoodle ah da wa sa - Scatty wah. Yeah!

It ain't necessarily so, It ain't necessarily so,

Dey tell all you chillun De debble's a villunBut'tain't necessarily so.

To get into Hebben,Don't snap for a sebben!Live clean,

Don' have no fault.(Look at me!) I jus' takes dat gospel

Whenever it's pos'ble.But wid a grain o' salt.

Methuselah lived nine hundred years, Methuselah lived nine hundred years,

Say, but what's good o' livin' When no gal'll give in To no man what's nine hundred years?

I'm preachin' this sermon to show

It ain't nessa, 'tain't nessa,'tain't nessa, 'tain't nessa,

'Tain't necessarily so.