The Other Side of Life

Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, the LORD delivered into their hand a very great army, because Judah had forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 24:24

Back in 2014, I attended an urban inpatient drug treatment program in the Twin Cities where we attended a different church each weekend. One such Sunday, we loaded up the vans and visited a wealthy suburban church where they provided a breakfast for those less fortunate. Being part of the group of guys in treatment, I was on the receiving end of that breakfast. As I was being served the charity meal, holding my Styrofoam plate out, I wanted to scream, letting everyone know that I was on the wrong side of the serving table. I was a physician making six figures a year. I don’t belong here! As the other guys – apparently accustomed to handouts – reveled in the stacks of free pancakes and the piles of welfare eggs, my pride was taking a beating. Just recently, I’d been on the side of the table doing the handing out. Now I was on the receiving end and it did not feel good.

The problem though, was that I was on the side of the table that I belonged. I wasn’t making six figures a year. In fact, I wasn’t earning a paycheck at all. Rather, I was a physician who had just been fired for bad behavior stemming from my drug addiction. That was painful – to accept that I was on the side of the table that I belonged.

In today’s passage, God’s people also found themselves on the wrong side. Previously, in following God, they had been the underdog, with God using them to defeat much larger forces. Though they’d been small, God had fought for them, repeatedly attaining victories against tremendous odds. In today’s passage though, God was angry with his people for their idol worship, and so he used a much smaller Syrian force to defeat the much greater Israelite army. I imagine God’s people were dismayed. I thought you were on our side! They were, however, on the exact side they had chosen – enmity with God – and they found it was a terrible side on which to live.

I’d rather be the physician than the patient. I’d rather be giving out charity than receiving it. And I’d certainly rather live on God’s side, than on the opposite side. The choice, with God’s side at least, is mine. God doesn’t switch sides. He remains steadfast. It is me who daily, chooses to align myself with God’s will, living on his side, or to follow my will, living for my own side. One of these sides has a beautiful future and new life. The other looks forward to only misery and pain. Today then, I must make the choice to align myself with God and his will, or I will just naturally drift to the side on which I do not want to find myself.