JOLTS AND MISHAPS

The slings and arrows, as Shakespeare put it, add up to assaults by outrageous fortune. If all seems to be tranquil, we may find ourselves becoming complacent. But the jolts and mishaps abound. Luke, that man of aesthetic sensibility, put it elegantly, 'And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.' (Luke 17.26,27)

When all is tranquil, it is time to beware. We can think of the calamity when surging waters first, as we speculate, broke in and formed the Black Sea. Or we can think of the more cataclysmic event that resulted in the formation of the Mediterranean. We are familiar enough with the lesser floods that we have seen in this country of recent years. Floods remind us sharply of the fragile nature of our life on this planet.

Floods, of course, are not the only unpredictable event in the human story. Droughts are another lethal component of our experience. And leaving aside other natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, we have to consider the strife and gainsaying that characterise human endeavours on a major scale. At the end of the day we find ourselves contemplating the damage that flawed human nature has been responsible for. And here the Scriptures have much to say that chimes with our history and our present experience.

In short, we are foolish to take peace, progress and prosperity as inevitable features of the human scene. We are not basking in the unsullied temperate climate of a Garden of Eden. We live close to a jungle with savage beasts on the look-out for our weaknesses. But in all our fragility we can take heart. It is not just comfort we find in Psalm 121. It is an expression of confidence in a supreme Governor of the universe who has a purpose in mind for his creatures. That gives me the confidence to carry on.

Others have given thought to this matter. The poet John Keats had a sensitive ear for the troubles of this life. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. He coined the phrase ‘negative capability’ to define the experience of living with uncertainty. We all have to deal with this. The Gospel helps us see a purpose behind the passing show with all its jolts and mishaps. Most clearly we glimpse something of it in the Gospel story of how Jesus died for us and rose again.

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