Psalm 66

"You have tested us"

Describing this testing, Psalm 66 uses a metallurgical metaphor: "You have purified us like silver." 

Every semester in my Experimental Psychology class I break the students into research teams. I give them a list of variables to choose from and they pick one for the research project they will do together during the semester. This semester one of the teams selected the psychological construct of "grit" to study.

Grit has gotten a lot of attention since 2018 when the psychologist Angela Duckworth published her best-selling book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. A lot of people have used grit to beat up on kids today, and I don't want to do that. But it is true that doggedness and perseverance, pushing through obstacles, hardships, and failures, and sticking with things to achieve long-term goals, is an important trait. If you lack grit there will be a lot of things in life you'll never experience or achieve. 

So, what about grit in the spiritual life?

Throughout the Bible, God is described as testing us, a testing that produces grit. A famous passage in this regard comes from Hebrews 12 (which also cites Proverbs 3):

“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when you are punished by him,
for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”

Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children, for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

Jesus also says in John 15, "Every branch that bears fruit my Father prunes to make it bear more fruit."

There is also, of course, the entire tradition known as the spiritual disciplines. And while grit isn't often mentioned in spiritual formation conversations, grit is cultivated by many of these practices. Eugene Peterson's description of the spiritual life as "a long obedience in the same direction" is the very definition of spiritual grit--consistency and perseverance of effort in the pursuit of a long-term goal.

Again, I don't want to beat up on the younger generations. I'm GenX, so my cohort wasn't especially known for its grit. And the Boomers were flower children. So people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. But I do think there's a general concern that a lot of our descriptions of the spiritual life have tipped toward the therapeutic and traffics a great deal in affirmation. The church tends to match the culture in that regard. And to be clear, I've affirmed much of this within the church. I think the message of God's unconditional love and affirmation is central to the gospel and medicine for the soul. But at the same time, messages about spiritual grit are also important. It's not fun to talk about or experience, but God tests, tries, refines, purifies, and prunes us. The life of faith demands discipline and perseverance. We need some grit.