Surely I am more stupid
than any man,
and do not have
the understanding
of a man.
I neither learned wisdom
nor have knowledge
of the Holy One.
Proverbs 30:2-3
Solomon in his song, a book that is seldom quoted from by pastors or teachers, but a book that is rich in meaning and in building our faith, says this by the daughters of Jerusalem: "Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with you" (Song of Solomon 6:1)? When tragedy strikes, when troubled times come upon a person, when we look for answer, we find that we cannot find the One we love: He seem to have gone, even when we turn to those who may have an answer. We may cry out in our distress and as the Shulamite cried: "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices" (Song of Solomon 8:14). We look for Him, we cry out for Him to come, and often we cannot see where He is, or why He seems to have left us in our moment of anguish, or time of grieving. Have you been in that state, has this happened to you? If so, join the great crowd of people called human. We all suffer from time to time and wonder where is God, where is the help we need, and furthermore, why did this happen? Then the worst thing happens to us, we question our question, how could we be so insensitive to our faith, yet, we are struggling with the situation we find ourselves in, and we need answers, but we may then become depressed, not only due to the struggle of the time, but because we are in some way doubting that God can help, that He has left us to our affliction. Has He? No! But how do we answer the question so often asked by those not only in the Church, but by those who are non-Christian, in regards to why God allows pain and suffering? How do we answer this question? We don't! We can't! We are stupid! But....God does give us a brain, He does not leave us destitute (He does give us His word, the Bible), so that we cannot answer this question, or any question, and in finding the answer we can build our faith in Him, that He is Providential, and that He is Omniscient, and that He is there to comfort us in all our troubles: But, He will not necessarily take those troubles from us, even though we wish it were so. Why? Great question, and I will attempt to give some answers that will help.
Before I begin I must ask some personal questions: The first one is: Who are you loyal too? You or God? Many of us are loyal to the notion of God, but are you loyal to Him? Another question is: Are you willing to take a step in faith? Remember that our faith is not in faith, it is in Him, the Son of God. That is: are you willing to abandon your notions, and be recklessly abandoned to Him? We may say that this or that should not have happened, but it did so what do you say to that? By even saying the question we are placing our selves as being providential, that we would have done things better, better than God. That God could have done so and so, and by not doing it then we begin to question Him. Some have done so be becoming Deist, that is, God created then left all to chance, He just sits back and waits for things to happen, so nonchalantly He is not concerned about how we feel or how it all turns out, He did His part we must do ours. Is this so? No! God is not just sitting back waiting for things to happen, God is Omniscient and all things occur due to His ordination, by His decree, for if He did not decree a thing to happen then it would not have happen, and if by His ordination, and by His Providential care, He allow and controls all things, thing it is by God decree that what occurs will be made to be good in His overall purpose. God works through the circumstances of life, it is then we come to realize that we need God, but that knowledge does not take away the pain we feel. Is God uncaring? No! But God will not remove from us our humanity. We are the cause of second causes. This will be shown to be true, and even though those causes create a bad situation, God can and will use that situation for good. Will God take a bad situation and use it for Good? Yes! Our best example is that of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ: "and thy will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. and the third day He will rise again" (Matthew 10:34). If Jesus Christ did not die, die as a perfect sinless man, then there would be no salvation for any man or woman, or child, we would be left to whatever occurs in this life: we would live and die: period! Our view of God, or notion of God will determine how we handle adversity. If all we have is a notion of God, things will not work out for our benefit and leave us in a quandary and our dilemma may overtake our senses; we question the goodness of God. If our faith is in Him, not in a notion of Him, then we can find solace and great strength in times of trouble, but we still needs answers for our in our human strength we have none, and we are not able to help or give answers to those in need of an answer. We must be ready to give answers for our faith to anyone who would ask: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in your, with meekness and fear" (1Peter 3:15). So then, how can we be ready? By taking time to examine what we believe in regards to the pain and suffering that occurs in the world. If we do not have any satisfactory answers for ourselves how then can we be ready to give an answer to those who ask? We can't! But we must! We are here on this earth as ambassadors of Jesus Christ: "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though god were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2Corinthians 5:20). Paul was literally in chains as a prisoner in Rome, but we may be chains of despair, struggling with life and with all the bad that seems to occur both in the Church and outside the Church, but we must act as Paul did: "and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:20).
By God not taking away the pain and suffering from His Son, who is God Himself (lest we forget this), and did not bring salvation in any other way, yet, by His Providence, He allowed this seemingly unsightly, and horrible thing to occur to the One He sent to earth, then why should we not think that He will take the bad in our life and turn it for good? I am sure, at least I will surmise, that Joseph did not fully understand why his brothers wanted to kill him, then by not doing so threw him into a pit, only then to sell him to some gypsy travelers. Then being accused of a crime he did not commit and to be thrown into prison some thirteen years and having befriended those who who could help but did not, He may, even with his great faith, wondered why? Then God did the unthinkable, He had Joseph released from prison and to become the second in power in Egypt. But this was not the purpose that God intended, for in His Providential care for His people who were to undergo a great famine and needed food, came to Egypt to live and be saved from death due to that famine, said this to his brothers: "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, ink order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive" (Genesis 50:20).
This is where we shall begin in order to give us answers and the help we need, not only for ourselves, but for those who need answers. I will continue in the next blog with that help.
Hear my prayer, O LORD,
and let my cry come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me
in the day of my trouble;
incline your ear to me;
in he day that I call,
answer me speedily.
Psalm 102:1-2
God will not despise your prayer
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment