All things work together for good. ROMANS 8:28
Anger is a universal emotion. Even babies lose their temper if they don’t get their way. Few of us make it through a week without fuming or fussing about something. Occasionally our anger is justified, but often we harbor an unhealthy, unforgiving spirit. Sometimes we’re just angry at life. Grace Saxe, for example, a dedicated Bible teacher of an earlier generation, had hoped to become a missionary. After her acceptance by a mission’s board, she packed her bags, bade her friends farewell, and prepared to sail off; but the night before her departure, her father was seized by a life-threatening illness. She was unable to leave, and the ship sailed without her. In a day or two, her father recovered. “Why would God treat me like this?” Grace wondered. For several days, she was angry and depressed. At the end of the week, a report came that the ship was lost at sea and everyone aboard had perished. Grace’s resentment melted into understanding, then into thankfulness. Are you resentful at life’s circumstances? Is your Christmas being marred by a bitter spirit? Give it to the Lord and let Him have His way. Trust Him, for He knows just what He is doing. - Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening
Oh the many times we question God's reasons for allowing what He apparently has!
Even in the midst of our recent days of our moving this thought has been brought to bear on my mind. If your human you likely have your moments of crying out in your heart to God, asking questions like "Why!?!".
More often than not we who have been in the Bible can recount verses that the Spirit brings to mind in these moments, once the emotions come down a few notches.
Verses like Isaiah 55:8-9 NASB "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts."
Life isn't all roses and sunshine. It was intended to be, before Adam and Eve sinned.
We have seasons of highs and lows. Have our moments of intense lack of understanding.
When things like cancer happen. When children are born with issues unforseen. When we go from a very good day to something akin to the brakes of life pulling us to an abrupt halt. When we think we know and understand to great moments of not understanding.
Daniel was a man very beloved of God. Was granted throughout his decades of obedience to God with the ability to understand all kinds of dreams and visions. Yet in the last chapter of his book we read of him being told that the great and fascinating things he saw he won't understand. Write them and that would be all for him. Others would be granted that knowledge.
Job was also a man who walked well with his God. He lived in obedience to God's Word as he knew it. To the point that he was talked about in Heaven by Jesus Himself. He went through horrific things in a matter of weeks. Unexplained loss of family, fortune and health. Enduring the lack of wisdom in people he had thought were friends, some others recommended he curse God and die. At the end of his book we read how it turned out, but we never know if Jesus ever told him why he went through it.
David, King of Israel, was mightily blessed by God. He goes in and sits before God and tries to understand why. He knew his family history and they were taught that sins consequences passed on to the children.
David didn't know why and didn't learn until later. Job didn't know why and didn't learn until later. Same with Daniel. We shouldn't expect to know our 'whys' in our lifetime.
We cannot see what God sees in the scheme of things. We cannot know what God knows because we are man and not God. We can live in obedience all our lives, learning to be like Christ and still not be granted to know why God allows things to happen to His Bride.
In the Scriptures are found the answers but we must be willing to accept them.
We can't pick and choose passages to cling to and disregard others.
We can't sit and sulk with God’s decisions not agreeing with our wants and desires.
We are not in a position to know because it's not for us to know in our lifetime.
Some things we just have to wait until our minds and bodies are glorified by God in order to begin to grasp the meaning behind His hand.
As I eluded to earlier, things happen and we don't know why. In my thoughts I have often wondered what I would have been like had I not been born with the physical issues that He permitted to happen with me. As a person with an inventive mind I ran an experiment in looking at the lives of other people with my same name. Finding a few with apparently a similar IQ. I can see by way of comparison and looking at potential family traits, I would not get along with that version of me. I am who I am because to be useful to God I needed to be born as I was.
I know of family and friends who have or were tasked with taking care of special needs children and even adults. It's no doubt they wonder why their child was born as they had been. They might not see it themselves but a level of the love of God they never would have shown to another person comes out in them because of those circumstances in their care for those people.
We are to live lives that reflect Christ. To shine in such a way that it draws people out of the darkness of the world into the marvelous light of Christ Jesus, regardless of the circumstances.
I blow it more often than not in regards to not stepping back to remember this truth. I have snapped and began crying because of the pain of the moment. I have wanted to take the place of loved ones going through things that were not good. I have questioned God on many occasions as to why He allowed me to go through things that made no earthly sense.
And then at most times my senses return and I remember to ask His forgiveness.
Jesus never said that taking up your own cross would be easy.
Daniel, Job, David and others both as seen in the Old Testament to the New Testament in all reality were taking up their own cross to follow Jesus. We may indeed live in a very advanced world. Interestingly enough wisdom about it comes from unforseen places. In a M*A*S*H episode one of the few definitely serious moments of one character he says "I don't know why. I only know what they taught us in command school. Rule number one is people die. Rule number two is that there's going to be times when Doctor's can't change Rule number one."
We cannot know all the ways and reasons behind what God's allowed in our lives. Honestly I believe we would not be able to handle knowing why.
A hot topic of late has been the abortion issue. Why has God allowed so many babies to die this way? The Bible says that they are precious to Him. The harsh truth is that's enough of a reason for Satan to twist the minds of mankind to destroy them. Secondly Satan knows your Bible better than you. He knows much of what is to come and is trying in his twisted way to thwart God's prophetic word. To try to stop the future that God says is going to happen.
Lastly we can hardly wrap our heads around this other truth and the absolute need to follow up in obedience to its words and instructions.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having belted your waist with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints, and pray in my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:12-20 NASB
Our grasp on verse 12 sets the stage for our outlook on life.
Our doing the verses that follow will get us through that valley of the shadow of death we perceive ourselves as going through.
We will not ever really understand, even if we think we do, as to the whys of life.
God's moving mankind towards the final judgment written in Revelation. Pure and simple but it leaves out a lot of details. That's what Daniel understood to a point.
Everything we go through in life is heading towards the events of the Bible coming true.
We are tasked with accepting the Will of God and living in obedience. We are tasked with the Great Commission...to do the same Father's business as Jesus said He was here to do.
We, I, might not get it, might not understand it, but I am to have faith that Jesus has everything well in hand in regards to His work in my, our, lives.
Pray, Praise, and obey God in all things.
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