Many of you found out that my email was hacked this weekend. I apologize for anyone who was inconvenienced or confused by weird messages you received with my email address. Someone did that without my permission or knowledge, and I am sorry!
There is no more difficult moment in our reliance on technology and the internet than to have someone break past our defenses and steal from us. Worse is how it affects others as well. I am fairly certain the word “hacked” is an outgrowth of “hijacked.” The action and result is the same. Someone takes control of what is not theirs for the sole purpose of stealing or harming others. There is no love or upside in hijacking or hacking for this dark selfishness that is another sign of a broken world. When someone’s house is broken into we change the locks. When email is hacked we change passwords. When airliners are hijacked or cancer cells attack healthy cells it is simply hacking of a different degree.
No one escapes life on this earth without having something personal being hacked, hijacked, or stolen. The Bible is full of warnings of the brokenness of an evil and imperfect world, lurking in the shadows seeking a weakness that will facilitate an attack. Any outsiders (whether human or demonic) break into our space and take control of what was not theirs to begin with. What follows is pain, grief, anxiety, and confusion as how best to respond. Sin is the theological version of hacking.
What do we do when we cannot change what others have inflicted and might still control? Luther in a powerful hymn reminds us of the strength of faith in God over all. Remember the climactic words; “Were they to take our house, goods, fame, child, or spouse, though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day. The kingdom’s ours forever!” Faith brings us into God’s kingdom now! And so the hacking and hijackings of a broken world might still intrude, but cannot and should not get between us and God.
We still sometimes need to change passwords. Daily we need to inspect and review what we are up against, and remember to bring God close in our time out for meditation, scripture, and prayer, and do whatever necessary to allow his love to become more the light of our living than the dark shadows that lurk nearby. Never forget the greatest firewall and antivirus of all (which Luther called a fortress) which is faith and faith alone. No matter what we face, with God’s powerful strength and presence each step of our way we are gifted with the perfect protection. There is nothing we need experience alone, and even in the moments of greatest fear we already are being safely carried to the green pastures and still waters of God’s loving peace.