I've been thinking.
Yes, yes, I know, that's a recipe for disaster.
But I decided it was worth the risk.
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Why is it that we blame God when things go wrong? What I mean is - are we so hard done by, that any misfortune is [mis]construed as some divine retribution for our past behaviour, or lack of it? We are I am so quick to take the credit for the [God-given] blessings, and just as agile at dodging the bullet of self-condemnation and the admonishing prickling of our my conscience.
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There's a time and place for realizing our part in the disaster and I think it's time we started doing just that. And go as far as admitting our absolute inefficiency or inability to save ourselves.
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The problem with us me is that it's all too easy to pass the buck. It's a habit of going Woops! There's a problem... WHY has God allowed this to happen? See what I mean? And even though we may not verbalize it, that thought tumbles around in our heads, eventually resulting in all manner of distrust in the God who really only has the best planned for us. Boy oh boy, is Satan having a field day with us me!
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See that wily old serpent, the devil, has been in this game much longer than you or I. Already in the Garden of Eden he was sowing his seeds of discontent and distrust. He didn't blatantly call God a liar, but he insinuated that God was witholding blessings from mankind - deliberately keeping mankind in a position of man-ness when he claimed that we could be "like God". Notice all the deception in that insinuation. First he inferred that God didn't really want what was best of us. Second, that God was witholding something from them that was much better than what they currently had, i.e. being like God. He even said that if they ate from the tree, they would not really die... And can you believe that man fell for it hook, line and sinker? To this day there is still all this unbiblical theology, widely believed too, about reincarnation, and even that when you die your spirit wafts around, or goes straight to heaven, or to pergatory, or some other weird place, depending on the doctrinal theology of the church with which you worship. The state of the dead is a really interesting study, but not one we're tackling today. Maybe another day we can look into that topic together.
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See, I've lost my point already.
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What I was really trying to say, is that Satan made God out to be some deity that didn't really want what was best for us... Some arbitrary God who is trying to restrict our lifestyles, rather than enhance it. And worse: a God who would withold the truth from us, to keep us in the captivity of deceit.
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And we have grown to believe it.
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The Word says that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." [James 1 v 17] If we believe God's Word, there's no way we could buy into a theology that says that anything but good could come from God.
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For example cancer. Or infertility. Or an 18-year old dying in a car accident. Whatever it may be. Have you also been the recipient of comments like "everything happens for a reason"? Or "It was God's will". I don't really think the individuals who make those comments have really given any serious thought to what they're saying. Because what they're really saying is that God sent this to the person so that they would (a) learn a lesson; (b) be an example; or (c) be punished for some perpetration. Could you really love a God who would do that all willy-nilly? And at the same time bless others who don't deserve to be blessed?
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This is why I just can't reconcile these two pictures of God. Your opinion may differ, but the God I serve is not One who acts in that way. I serve a God of Love. Everything about Him IS Love.
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The fact that bad happens is... well... bad. But it's the product of our choice. In Eden, I mean. Yes, until Jesus comes to take us home, we have to put up with Satan pulling all sorts of tricks on us. And then he shoves our choices in God's face, saying like he did about Job, that we only worship God because He puts a hedge of protection around us.
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So, why do you really worship God? Because He can protect you? Because He can bless you? And if so, what do you do when you aren't the joyful recipient of such treatment?
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All of this bad stuff, like sickness, death, unhappiness, evil... it all came into the world with sin - which is why Adam and Eve were banished from the tree of life. We all suffer the effects of sin. It is handed down through the generations. It is inescapable. It doesn’t mean that you might have done something really bad and that's why you got cancer, or became infertile, or became a widow, or lost your job, or were falsely accused, or had your belongings stolen, or or or... It all just means that we live in a fallen world and until Jesus comes, this is what we can expect from life on this planet.
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Can God protect us? Yes He can.
Can God heal us? Yes He can.
Can God save us? He already has.
Does He deserve our worship? Without a doubt!
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Sometimes He doesn't protect us / heal us... Sometimes, God works in the midst of the suffering. He does not forsake us, He just uses the bad, along with the good, for the eternal good of those who love Him. [Romans 8 v 28] Sometimes, the bad prompts us to take a look at our circumstances, realize our need of God, and draw even closer to Him. Because, ultimately, He is God, regardless of whether or not you choose to worship Him. He will remain God, whether or not you choose to worship Him.
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But worshiping Him brings peace. Don't mistake peace for protection from sin and it's results. He allows us to make our own decisions. As much as He has to respect my decision to choose Him or reject Him, He also has to respect the choice of the murderer, thief, rapist... And that is why, until the Heavens open and Jesus comes on the clouds of glory, with thousands and tens of thousands of angels, and with the trumpet sounding and lightning flashing from the east to the west, and the graves opening and every single eye seeing Him - until then, bad things will still happen.
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Are you going to allow those bad things to destroy your relationship with the One who is building your house right now, in Heaven? Or are you going to choose to draw even closer to the God who lay aside His crown, put on humanity and died to save you?
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