May 28, 2015 | Sinkholes

Because of a sinkhole that destroyed a runway this week, flights were canceled at one of the busiest airports in the world. The astonishing news immediately reminded me of a Bible study I taught about a year ago …

The Sinkhole Syndrome

Sinkholes occur when a gap appears in the ground beneath the surface. Usually it’s because an underground river or aquifer has run dry or been diverted. Acidification because of limestone soils also plays a role because the more acidic lime water eats holes in the rock beneath. When that happens, the unseen ground underneath experiences a cavernous emptiness. It’s all dry and terribly unstable though no one on the surface knows anything about it.

Then, at some point the surface collapses into the empty space. Ironically, this usually happens when it rains really hard. Water is very heavy and the flooding water seeps down, eroding the dry structure underneath. By the way, Florida has the perfect combination of underground rivers, lots of rain, and limestone soils and thus Florida has many large sinkholes. Missouri and Texas are also known for sinkholes.

Years ago, I was on an advisory board headed by a famous preacher named Gordon MacDonald. Gordon had just written a best-selling book about what he called “The Sinkhole Syndrome.” This concept is brilliant. Gordon looked at scripture and life and realized that:

“The majority of humans spend their lives only on the surface. They have accumulated a host of good and perhaps even excellent assets such as academic degrees, work experiences, key relationships, and physical strength or beauty … There is nothing wrong with all that. But often it is discovered too late that the private world of a person the [inner soul] is in a state of weakness. And when that is true one is very close to collapsing in the sinkhole syndrome.” – Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World

As you may know, Jesus claimed that He is Himself the giver of Living Water. The one who trusts in Jesus has ever-bubbling springs in his soul no matter how dry the circumstances of life. Read again Jesus’ words from John 7:38 posted above and think on that truth.

Without Jesus, without the relationship with God offered in Christ, a person is empty under the surface. Gordon’s thesis went on to describe how over time even people who have received Jesus as Savior can still dry up inside. It’s not that they become unjustified or unborn again – that’s biblically absurd. However, they do stop going to the well. They stop actively trusting Jesus. They let the living water get diverted. They get absorbed in all the surface issues that consume our days.

Christians can even do this in their efforts to follow Jesus in spiritual life! I’m serious. We can become dried-up sinkholes waiting to happen even as we diligently work on being mature followers of Jesus. This is why Paul would write the churches in Galatia – and all of us:

“How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” (Galatians 3:3 NLT)

The New Testament is full of these stories. So is every pastor’s counseling file. Hard-working, well-intentioned people dry up with no inner spiritual living water. Christians forget to draw on the real inner life they have in Father, Jesus, and Spirit. We get fleshly and surface about everything – even our Christian walk. And that means we become a sinkhole waiting to happen.

Such was Gordon’s fantastic summary of a sad scriptural reality. Tragically, it also became his personal story. Mr. MacDonald made national headlines when he was caught in adultery. He was revealed as a liar and manipulator of the highest caliber. It was an awful time, especially for Gordon’s family and for the board on which I served.

Yet it was also a great season. Gordon humbled himself. He went through a restoration process and has seen the Lord rebuild his life mightily. While I have some concerns with the process of Gordon’s restoration, I am thrilled with the result – especially the fact that he and his wife Gail are approaching their 50^th wedding anniversary.

Here’s the point: if a spiritual leader like Gordon MacDonald can find himself at the bottom of a sinkhole, if biblical heroes like David can see their inner world collapse, then you and I are not immune. I’m thrilled that Gordon, David, and many others have been rebuilt. But my prayer is that you and I never collapse in the first place.