I witnessed a bittersweet juxtaposition this morning. At 11am, at Providence Baptist Church, I savored the wedding of two dear friends, Marcus and Melanie. This event was nothing but joy, owing to my love and respect this couple. Mel was one of the first people I met when my family visited the church 14 years ago.

As I approached the church, I could not miss the massive motorcade of fire trucks, police cars, and motorcyles assembling across the street at McLean Bible Church. They were preparing for a 1pm service honoring Detective Vicky Armel, slain this week in the line of duty.

While these two events–one joyous and one tragic–were clearly separated by Route 7, I experienced a curious mingling of emotion in my soul. How is it that I can simultaneously rejoice with my newly married friends and mourn the senseless and tragic murder of an honorable public servant?

But this is typical of the human condition, is it not? Our entire lives are a blend of blessing and tragedy, of joy and sorrow. This won’t surprise us, if we remember our Bibles. We live in what theologians call “the already and the not yet.” Here’s what that means: by his death on the Cross, Jesus secured for us access to the power of the age to come. He has given us a taste of heaven. As Christians, in many ways, we are already experiencing the blessings that will be fully ours in the future. And yet, we have not yet been set free from this sin-ravaged world. We are sinners surrounded by other sinners. Nothing is the way it is suppposed to be; sin has tainted everything.

And so our experience is painfully conglomerate. We have Christ, so we already enjoy (though not fully) the blessings of heaven. But we have not yet escaped this fallen world, so suffering remains our lot. Surely Job felt this unbearable tension when he spoke the words recorded in Job 1:21:

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

I love Job’s affirmation of God’s goodness, whether he is tasting of the already (the Lord gave) or the not yet (the Lord has taken away). Either way, Job’s response is faith-filled worship: “blessed be the name of the Lord.”

How can we worship like Job when suffering strikes? How can we walk in humble thanksgiving when savoring prosperity? By remembering the already and the not yet. Then we will be able to walk in the “patient endurance that is in Christ Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).

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