Put your trust in God
Hello everybody! Welcome to the new dudes and a conversational "wassup" to all the vets. (Forgive the cheesiness, just be glad I didn't cut any in the making of that sentence.)
Your friendly neighborhood manchild here. I'd love to talk about Augustine in Book IV.
Here's where things get pretty deep pretty quick. One thing that really struck me and stuck to me was this: Book IV Chapter 9 says that "'Grief darkened my heart', and that "everything I set my gaze on was death." As you guys probably know, this was the part of book IV where Augustine lost his dearest friend, in whom he put his happiness and love. I believe this to be one of the lowest points of Augustine's testimony thus far because this is the very first time that we see him in true, deep pain and not surface-level pain as aforementioned in book III "I only wanted to hear stories and imaginary legends of sufferings which, as it were, scratched me on the surface." Now that Augustine truly feels this deep pain, you would think that he begins to question his beliefs. But he doesn't. He wallows in his misery for what seems to be a long period of grief and darkness and then shoves it down inside him when he finds new joy in new friends. Yes, life goes on of course and times change. Augustine could've just been over it by then but truthfully I doubt he dealt with the pain he experienced until he came to Christ. Looking back on it he says that "at that time that was my state: I wept very bitterly and took my rest in bitterness. I... felt a greater attachment to my life of misery than to my dead friend."
Some powerful stuff, huh? I've seen that happen in others, and in some ways myself. A lot of times we can put our hope and happiness and love completely into a passion or into a relationship or a loved one, but what happens when it passes away? What happens when all of it is taken from you? One thing is for sure, it sucks. To hate everything and wish not to live but yet fear death. Thankfully, we have someone far greater to put our trust in. Augustine even says that if his mind would have let him, his soul would say to put his trust, his happiness, and all other aspects of his life in God.
I encourage us to take his advice. Socrates even said he knew that he did not understand anything (at least to a point of value) because he believed that his god held the answers to everything. If that was so, how much more can our God understand? (A lot more.)
With that said, I conclude my blog. You guys should try drinking some Earl Grey tea sometime, it's great stuff! I'm gonna find me some tonight. :)
I commented on Syndey and Kaye's posts.
Your friendly neighborhood manchild here. I'd love to talk about Augustine in Book IV.
Here's where things get pretty deep pretty quick. One thing that really struck me and stuck to me was this: Book IV Chapter 9 says that "'Grief darkened my heart', and that "everything I set my gaze on was death." As you guys probably know, this was the part of book IV where Augustine lost his dearest friend, in whom he put his happiness and love. I believe this to be one of the lowest points of Augustine's testimony thus far because this is the very first time that we see him in true, deep pain and not surface-level pain as aforementioned in book III "I only wanted to hear stories and imaginary legends of sufferings which, as it were, scratched me on the surface." Now that Augustine truly feels this deep pain, you would think that he begins to question his beliefs. But he doesn't. He wallows in his misery for what seems to be a long period of grief and darkness and then shoves it down inside him when he finds new joy in new friends. Yes, life goes on of course and times change. Augustine could've just been over it by then but truthfully I doubt he dealt with the pain he experienced until he came to Christ. Looking back on it he says that "at that time that was my state: I wept very bitterly and took my rest in bitterness. I... felt a greater attachment to my life of misery than to my dead friend."
Some powerful stuff, huh? I've seen that happen in others, and in some ways myself. A lot of times we can put our hope and happiness and love completely into a passion or into a relationship or a loved one, but what happens when it passes away? What happens when all of it is taken from you? One thing is for sure, it sucks. To hate everything and wish not to live but yet fear death. Thankfully, we have someone far greater to put our trust in. Augustine even says that if his mind would have let him, his soul would say to put his trust, his happiness, and all other aspects of his life in God.
I encourage us to take his advice. Socrates even said he knew that he did not understand anything (at least to a point of value) because he believed that his god held the answers to everything. If that was so, how much more can our God understand? (A lot more.)
With that said, I conclude my blog. You guys should try drinking some Earl Grey tea sometime, it's great stuff! I'm gonna find me some tonight. :)
I commented on Syndey and Kaye's posts.
First and foremost, Earl Grey is the superior tea. Congrats on being a beverage intellectual. Secondly, your observations here are really well said! It's so true that we need to recognize the dangers of putting our happiness in the hands of anything that runs the risk of being temporary. But we do it all the time! Whether it's people or jobs or skills, it seems like we never put all our trust in God until we get our hearts broken. I guess that's part of the beauty of redemption - it comes in the midst of our self-destruction.
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