We like to think we are novel.
To see ourselves as wholly unique in this world.
We like to think that even our problems are special. This belief absolves us from the responsibility to take action in a prescribed manner. For if what we are experiencing is truly unprecedented, no one can fault our path to resolution. Now free from convention, or even the responsibility to change our behavior, we stumble through our own convoluted process, forsaking often abundant wisdom available on the topic. For the price of that wisdom (admission that we are not unique) is too high.
The truth, however, is nothing is new. While the tools, organizations, and locations may have changed, the fundamental problems we face are ancient hallmarks of the human condition: loss, jealousy, disappointment, temptation, inequality, and impatience to name a few. It has all been experienced before. While this frustrates our specialness, it also unlocks all of human history for us to explore how others have managed and overcome the challenges we face. Furthermore, God even went as far as to experience it all personally so he might better support us.
“That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself - all the pain, all the testing - and would be able to help where help was needed. ”
I had to read this one a few times before it really sank in. That God has actually experienced all the feelings that I feel: the frustrations, the temptations, and the hurts. I always accepted that he experienced pain, but I hadn’t really considered Him navigating the day to day with all its disappointments, stress, and interpersonal conflicts. And to think He did it all just so He would know how it felt, and be able to help in exactly the right way (at no benefit to Himself). It really peels away the notion that God is some disinterested curmudgeon in the clouds.
In reading, “By Water, Beneath the Walls” by Benjamin Milligan, I was struck by his story of Draper Kaufman’s humility during WWII. Already a war hero many times over, Draper was entrusted to design the training curriculum for the US Navy’s new Underwater Demolition Teams. Knowing the challenges of combat, he generated an exhaustive curriculum he felt would best prepare them. However, not content to simply author and oversee the process, he submitted himself to the training and experienced it all as a student so he might ensure he understood all they went through.
Maybe it is time to let go of the specialness of our problems and humbly admit they are just like everyone else’s. If we can do so, a multitude of resources suddenly become relevant and might just bring resolution and peace. God showed the way and has literally felt what we’re feeling today.