“I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Psalm 16:8
When we face difficulties, we can quickly shift between extremes of over-negativity and over-positivity. These extremes, though not wicked, can be nevertheless unhelpful. Two fictional characters help us understand these extremes. Puddleglum, a character C.S. Lewis introduced in The Silver Chair, is over-pessimistic. On the over-optimisim side is Pollyanna, a person created by Eleanor Porter in her book, Pollyanna.
Who is Puddleglum?
Puddleglum is a gloomy Marsh-wiggle that lives on the great flat plains of Narnia. He is a creature that likes his privacy and is characterized by Lewis as having a “long thin face with rather sunken cheeks, a tightly shut mouth, a sharp nose, and no beard” (Sliver Chair, p. 69). Puddleglum is interesting because his default view on circumstances is usually dismal. He sees the world as half-empty without much hope. For instance, when given a morning greeting, he responds with, “Good morning, Guests…though when I say good, I don’t mean it won’t probably turn to rain or it might be snow, or fog, or thunder. You didn’t get any sleep, I dare say” (Silver Chair, p. 69). Puddleglum lives into his name.
On the other hand, we can also lean toward over-optimism. Enter Pollyanna.
Who is Pollyanna?
Unlike Puddlelgum, Pollyanna is a young girl whose outlook on life tends to be over-optimistic. She sees the world in rose-colored glasses and is ever-hopeful. When difficulties arise, she springs in with a rosy and irrepressible optimism to the point of what some might dub as excessively naive. Her outlook on discouraging events and adverse situations leans toward not accepting reality or refusing to accept the facts. She swings the pendulum in the opposite direction of Puddleglum.
Now, are Puddleglum and Pollyanna completely wrong? No. However, when Puddlglum-ism and Pollyanna-ism become our default, we’re heading down an unhelpful path in the Christian life.
What do I mean?
Difficulties are inevitable because we live in a world marred by sin, full of people broken by sin expressed in various forms of vice, hatred, indifference, and more.
The result is that even when we have good desires or expectations, they are easily altered or forgotten. What do I mean? I mean that the longer we live, the more depravity we see. The evening news reveals this. Our friend groups reveal this. Our spouses, if we’re married. Our children, if we have them. The ministries we serve. The church we are members of. The boss we work for. The employee that works for us. Our own motives, thoughts, and actions. And on. And on.
I’m just stating the obvious. We all know this intuitively. And so, the central point isn’t that we face difficulty but how we respond to difficulty.
How do we respond Christianly to difficulty or unmet expectations?
When Haggai, a post-exile prophet, wrote Israel, he sought to both indict and encourage. His indictment revealed how distracted and self-centered those who returned to the land of Israel had become. Instead of building God’s house to restore fellowship through the sin offerings, they were paneling their own houses. At the same time, when they rebuilt the temple, Haggai wanted to encourage them in their faithful work because the rebuilt temple paled in comparison to the former temple built by Solomon.
Previously, Solomon’s temple to the Lord was magnificent. Now, it was small. And so, those who had seen both were feeling the gloom. Their expectations were not met. They faced a difficult circumstance.
“Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison?
Haggai 2:3
How should they respond? “Be strong…take courage.” Haggai implored the Israelites to be strong. But how? How were they to be strong?
Relating it to us, How are we to be strong? We know we ought to be strong and have courage, but we can also lack godly courage.
Can you feel the tension? What makes you strong in difficulty? How do you find strength in adverse situations?
As I mentioned above, if our outlook is like Puddleglum’s, we will be pessimistic and miss the blessing of God’s refinement. Instead of embracing the trial as an instrument of grace and development, the Puddleglums among us tend to complain, gossip, and may even slander. The outcome is usually more negative.
On the other hand, if we’re like Pollyanna, our over-optimism will lead us to deny reality or act as though everything is just “fine.” In this case, we don’t face the facts and miss the blessing of experiencing true transformation, which alienates us from relationships and hardens even our closest friends and loved ones. We tend to become unrelatable and removed from authenticity. The outcome is usually also negative.
What’s the way forward? How do we respond to difficulties biblically?
As Haggai reached the end of encouraging the leaders to be strong after they realized their new temple would not be like the old one, he declared, “For I am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts.” He then recounted how the Lord’s Spirit has always been with them as He was when they came out of Egypt. Haggai states, “My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!”
That’s the first point. God is with you in your difficulty, adverse situation, or challenge. Just like the Israelites of old need reminding, so do we. He is with you. And that fact enables you to respond biblically. But there is a second point.
What’s the second point? God is the object of our hope. And when God is the object of our hope, we see our circumstances in light of His goodness and grace. What do I mean? In Titus 2, the apostle Paul reminds us that our present obedience (avoiding a Puddleglum and Pollyanna mentality) is governed and guided by a future reality of Christ’s return. Listen to what the Spirit says through Paul in Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” We are encouraged to live Christianly today when we look ahead with God as our focal point.
Combining these two points (God is with us, and He is the object of our hope), we have both power in the present and a promise for the future. This equals a steadfast and enduring hope for the Christian.
Therefore, our responses are balanced as our circumstances are filtered through the reality of God’s nearness and promise of Christ’s return. We no longer lean toward unhelpful pessimism and naive optimism. We embrace each day as a gift and trust that God uses all things together for good.
God help us respond well to unmet expectations!
— September 18, 2024