August 6, 2023
Author, Shel Silverstein is known for his book, The Giving Tree. But he also wrote the children’s poem entitled, “What If?”
It’s a poem that is meant to help people who find it hard to go to sleep at night because of all of the worries that can go through our minds. We wonder, “what if” this happens, or “what if” that happens, and we just can’t turn off our minds and get a restful night of sleep.
His poem offers a humorous way of revealing just how irrational it is for us to allow these worries and “what ifs” to get the best of us. Here’s the poem:
Last night, while I lay thinking here, some Whatifs crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow tall?
Whatif my head starts getting small?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then the nighttime Whatifs strike again!
I remember reading an article a few years ago that was put out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that 33% of us do not get enough sleep on a daily basis. 33% of us! I thought that percentage would be higher but it’s still a troubling statistic.
I was watching an interview with a television celebrity who is now a single parent of a young child, and the interviewer asked him how he was managing his busy life along with being a single parent. And his response was really interesting. He said that he is becoming more and more like his mother who he remembered as someone who was always worrying about all the things that could go wrong.
And this celebrity said that there are many nights now where he just can’t stop worrying about things and thinking about his son. And he referred to these times as watching a carousel of worries go round and round and round. I thought that was an interesting way to describe how we can allow our worries to get the best of us. A carousel of worries.
The good news in all of this is that our appointed Romans scripture reading for today offers us a way to not allow the carousel of worries to get the best of us. This last part of Romans chapter 8 is one of my favorite scripture passages in all of the Bible.
In this passage, the Apostle Paul does what the poet, Shel Silverstein does with his poem, “What If?” He lists a bunch of things that can lead us to worry and fear. Paul’s list includes worries like “hardships, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword.”
Like Silverstein, these lists do not include every single thing we may worry about, but they offer us a wide spectrum of things that can rob us of a sense of peace in life. I’m sure that given some time, we could all add more specific things to these lists.
I think it’s good to be able to name those things that keep us up at night. What are those things that keep us tied up in knots? What is part of that carousel of worry that goes through our minds when trying to go to sleep at night or wakes us up at 3 in the morning?
I remember a dream that I had in the wee hours of the night one Sunday morning early in my pastoral ministry. In the dream, it was time for me to go to the pulpit to preach the sermon, but for some reason I didn’t have the sermon that I prepared. And then when I tried to just start preaching anyway, my mouth wouldn’t move which isn’t a good thing if you’re a preacher.
You really need to be able to move your mouth up and down if you’re going to preach. I think every preacher has experienced those kinds of preacher dreams.
The Apostle Paul is inviting us to name those things that might not be the same things that others may be struggling with in their lives but are particular fears that come our way. We’re all unique. But what we all have in common is the good news that Paul is offering us in this last portion of our scripture reading.
Paul abruptly cuts short his list of worries with the word, “no.” “No,” in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
And then he says, “For I am convinced,” and the Greek word for “convinced” is a very strong word that means, “without a doubt” or “with absolute certainty.” For I am “convinced” that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now, I don’t know about you, but this is one of the very rare times you will ever hear someone offer you a promise that can actually be backed up 100%. Don’t look for that from any politician regardless of your political party. Don’t look for that from your most trusted friend even though they may have your best interest at heart. Don’t look for that kind of promise that can be backed up 100% from any other source, except from this one source that Paul is offering to us today.
That source is the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if you want a visual symbol of how this promise can be backed up, just look at the cross because it was on the cross where God’s love was made known to us through Jesus’ death. The cross is the reason why we can never be separated from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Not even hardships, or persecution, or peril, or things present, or things to come, or height, or depth, or what were some of those other what ifs from the children’s poem? Not even if I flunk that test, or get green hair on my chest, or if nobody likes me, or a lightning bolt strikes me. Or if I tear my pants, or never learn to dance.
No, Paul says that there is nothing in all creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, no matter what you may be facing in your life, and it could be a very big fear or worry that seems so large that there is no hope, this is a verse that we can turn to again and again and be assured that we can never ever be separated from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Yes, doubts can creep in and rob us of a good night’s sleep. Worries about what the future holds can rob us of joy and peace. The “what ifs” of life can have us all tied up in knots, but Paul wants us to know that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing!
One of the best things that we can do for each other is to pray for each other. Prayer is a way for us to remember this great promise from our scripture reading today that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Several years ago, a prominent United Methodist pastor was invited to preach at a very prestigious civil event that included members of congress, the President, and members of his cabinet. Can you imagine the butterflies that were in that preacher’s stomach as he was about to deliver his sermon.
He said that his first worry was, “what if” I if trip over one of the steps leading up into the pulpit? What if I get so nervous that I lose my place? What if my message isn’t received well? All of these “what if” questions going through his mind.
He would later say, soon after this event, that what got him through that experience was something that he remembered just before he walked up to that pulpit. He remembered that in that moment, in that very moment, he had hundreds and hundreds of people from his home church and throughout the country who were praying for him.
And he said that it was in that moment that all of his “what ifs” went away. And in replace of that worry and anxiety, he felt an assurance that God was with him.
Several years ago, I visited with a church member who was in ICU. Some church members heard that I was going to make a pastoral call, so they quickly got a get-well card and all signed it for me to give to him.
When I entered that hospital room, this man had all kinds of tubes and wires connected to him. I think he only had a couple of relatives, so I knew he didn’t have a lot of family checking on him. He was pretty much all alone in that hospital room.
He wasn’t able to communicate with me, but he knew what I was saying during my brief conversation with him. I then gave him that card that several people from the church had signed and told him that we were all praying for him. I said a short prayer and as I was nearing the door of that room to leave, I looked back at him and noticed that he was now clutching that card against his chest. He was clutching it.
I would have to think that in that moment, his church family had helped him to remember that there was nothing in all creation that could separate him from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing.
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