Big Questions that Want Answers

From the time we can talk, one of the first and most consistent questions we ask is, “Why?” There is no end to what children attach to that word. Why is the sky blue? Why is there a moon? Why do I need to go to bed? And on and on they question. As we grow up, the question takes on a different intensity. Scientists and philosophers answer the question with their research and ponderings.

One question in particular plagues us most of our lives. Why do ‘bad’ things happen to ‘good’ people? It is an age-old question that comes up pretty much every time we suffer hardship or loss.

Reading God’s preserved stories about Joseph and Job simultaneously and adding my own experiences with suffering, has given me a different perspective on this big question, “Why?” Joseph answered the question with, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Genesis 50:20 NLT And Job was answered by God with, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” Job responds with, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I – and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things too wonderful for me… I have only heard of you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I have said, and I sit in the dust and ashes to show my repentance.” Job 42:2-6 NLT

Somehow, in this world, we have a magnified self-importance. We forget who created us for what purposes and we get busy taking care of our own interests – things that make us more comfortable and put our mind at ease. Like Job, we may be good people doing a lot of good for others or like Joseph, we may be striving as slaves for masters who get all the benefits of our labors. Both had a relationship with God but could only see their little part of the world. Job used his wealth and position to bless others. Joseph used his gifts and talents to do well where he was placed. He didn’t know why, but he continued to believe that God had a plan, and he used his time in slavery to learn and develop skills that would later take him straight to the top in a foreign land, second only to Pharaoh. Job lost everything including his health and questioned God. Up until now, he believed that if he shared and was hospitable and used the wisdom God gave him to bless others, God would fulfill his need for comfort and peace. So he was trying to defend himself but God wouldn’t listen to his defense! Different journeys, but same destination! God, in His wisdom, uses the trials in this world to bring us to a place where we meet Him face to face and come to terms with His sovereignty and our need of His grace and mercy.

It is in our own suffering that we are able to gain this new perspective of where we fit into the picture. Without suffering, I believe I am king or queen of my own little universe. When suffering comes, my little perfect universe begins to crumble, and I begin to see that God is truly the ruler of the whole universe. He created it and He knows how to best manage it. I am a small but important part of His creation. He loves me dearly and will do what it takes to open my eyes to His glory, His goodness, His faithfulness, His power, His love and His awesome presence. Who am I to question my maker? As Job says, it is all too wonderful for me to comprehend!

Now He has me in a place where I can more easily be used to His purposes. I become more flexible, more in tune with the Holy Spirit, more willing to obey. I don’t just go through the motions of worship. I truly worship because now I recognize who He is – my awesome Maker! God inhabits the praises of His children. His presence in me is more pronounced. His grace is evident in me and is easily extended to others because that is who He is!

We don’t naturally choose suffering, but God, in His mercy, knows exactly what each one of us need to come to the place where we can meet Him face to face and see His glory! He can use any circumstance in this world to bring us to this place. If we give it to Him, He will use it for good because He is good.

Thank you, Lord, for not allowing me to be lost in my own little kingdom. In your mercy and grace, you called me out and brought me into your presence through your word and through my life circumstances. I praise you and honor you and give you all the glory, for you alone are worthy of all glory and praise! Amen.

Here I Stand

Job’s friends were without mercy! The kept telling him God wouldn’t be punishing him if he hadn’t done something wrong. Job is in pain – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He is grieving deeply and doesn’t understand why all this has happened to him, but he does believe he is in God’s hands. Job begins his response to his friends with sarcasm. “You know everything, don’t you?” In his pain Job tries to help his friends see how they are hurting him, not helping him! “People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling.” Job 12:5 NLT.

Job is frustrated with his friends who are speaking from their own wisdom and not God’s wisdom. He would prefer them to remain silent! He asks them, “Are you defending God with lies?” As though God needs to be defended! He tells them their “platitudes are as valuable as ashes,” and their “defense is as fragile as a clay pot.” Job 13:12 NLT This is so full of warning to self-righteousness! Job teaches us what it means to fear God. “Doesn’t His majesty terrify you? Doesn’t your fear of Him overwhelm you?” Job understands that God is powerful and that his friends could be next and not know it! They believe they are protected by their “right living.”

When we speak from a place of self-righteousness, we are believing it is our good works that protect us. Job understands it is God who protects us and allows us to suffer. He is miserable and he wants relief. He wants so badly to talk with God about what he feels is an injustice visited on him that he says, “God might kill me, but I have no other hope.” Job 13:15 NLT Job understands his vulnerability before God – the God who gives breath and knows the number of our days. Job is in a submissive position – like a dog on his back with his belly exposed. He fully trusts God and yet understands God has full authority and power over his very life.

Psalm 14 reminds us that none of us are righteous in our own right. We all need God! Psalm 15 says, “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?” And then answers … those who speak truth with sincere hearts, refuse to gossip, refuse to harm neighbors, refuse to speak evil of friends… keep promises even when it hurts, lend money without interest, cannot be bribed to lie. While we are busy being self-righteous in our churches, how many of these places do we fail? In the past couple of months, I have seen lies, gossip, harm, and more in our little church alone. How many churches struggle with this? Lord, come and convict us and turn us around! We want to worship you with all our heart and we need to prepare ourselves to do this with repentance!

Self-righteousness is never fruitful. It judges others and harms them without understanding the pain and suffering the other is enduring. It says, “If you live right and make good decisions, no harm will come to you.” And it doesn’t take into account where God is working and that there is an evil force in the world that brings much pain to its victims. Job makes me ask the question, “How can I catch someone who is stumbling rather than push them on down?” What does this look like in our church? In our family? In our neighborhood? Lord, give me eyes to see and wisdom filled with love and mercy to care for those around me and help them get back up!

 

I Can Use That!

When our children were young, they loved doing crafts and we loved to recycle as much as we could, so we often made crafts out of “trash”. Our son would walk by the trash can and look in and pull out a paper towel or toilet paper roll or tuna can and say, “Don’t throw this away! I can use that!” And he did use much of it in very creative ways. 

When Joseph was young, he was a bit arrogant and his brothers were very irritated by him and by the fact that their father favored Joseph. When they had an opportunity, they sold Joseph into slavery. Joseph could have said, “Well, I guess that is the end of me. I think I’ll just kill myself rather than be a slave.” But he didn’t. He became the best slave a master could ever dream of having! Joseph didn’t blame God, but rather used the opportunity to learn as much as he could and was promoted to being in charge of his master’s entire household and property. 

When his master’s wife couldn’t get the attention from Joseph she wanted, she accused him of attempting to rape her and he was thrown into prison. Again, Joseph could have blamed God and just quit – given up and waited to die. But instead, he became the best prisoner any guard ever had to keep. He was promoted to a place of caring for the other prisoners. And when the time came, Joseph had been fully educated and trained for the position God had in mind for him – second only to Pharaoh in ruling over Egypt. He was released from prison and put in charge of the kingdom.

It is easy for us to read about Joseph in the Bible and not think about how difficult it was for him for many years because we focus on the end. But if we stop and ponder a bit, there were a lot of years between him being sold as a slave and him becoming a ruler in Egypt. And all those years, he was either a slave or a prisoner. He had been mistreated, lied about, betrayed, and left as trash. And God looked down and said, “I can use this!” Joseph saw in the end how God had used his circumstances for His purposes. He told his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God used it to save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20)

Sometimes we go through life and hit rocky places – difficult things that irritate or hold us back. We feel like trash – not good for anything or like we have been trashed. But God looks down and says, “I can use that,” and He uses the very things we think are hurting us or hindering us from reaching our goal to shape us – to make us into more useful, productive people for His Kingdom work.

Someone recently told me, “God is really changing me. I used to get upset whenever my car wouldn’t start and throw a fit, kick tires, slam doors, and mutter. Now I don’t feel like I need to do that anymore. I just get out, use the portable battery starter, hook it up and start the engine and go. I have way more patience now than I used to have.” It took several months of an unpredictable vehicle that started some days and not others and no one could determine the cause. So he had to frequently get cables and jump start his vehicle. In all of those many times of being detained and inconvenienced, he grew less and less impatient and angry and learned to be grateful that he had options and wasn’t left sitting without help. 

Yes, God can use the “trash” in our lives and do good things with it. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 NLT

Lord, help me to see when You are working to change me, calling my heart closer to You. I want to trust You to always be doing Your good work in me and through me no matter what I am going through. You sometimes do Your best work through the deepest suffering. Help me to keep it in that perspective and always be willing to suffer for the good You are doing and will do. There is nothing too big or painful that You cannot redeem and heal. I worship You and praise You for who You are and the work You are doing in me. Amen.

Suffering Saints

“Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me. Arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?” Oswald Chambers, November 1 in “My Utmost for His Highest”

If there is no wound, we cannot experience God’s healing touch. If there is no sorrow, we cannot experience God’s comfort. If there is no loneliness or desire, we cannot experience the intimacy of God. It is in our suffering – in our darkest moments – that we draw close to our Father and experience the depth of His love for us. Somehow in our sin-damaged minds, if things are going well for us, we tend to believe that we are responsible for that. We become arrogant and entitled. When we come to the end of ourselves in our suffering, we turn our faces to the One who can save us, heal us, and make us whole again.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:19b that we are not our own. That is a hard pill for us to swallow. We want to be in charge of our lives. We want to believe that we have power in and of ourselves. We work hard and we believe that all we have we earned. But if we will stop a moment and allow ourselves to experience fellowship with the Creator of the universe and everything in it, we will come to a point of recognizing that my next heartbeat, my next breath, and my next thing on my “to do” list all belong to God. It is a humbling experience to come before Him stripped of all our self-righteousness and arrogance and realize I have nothing to offer Him except worship and obedience. And when I come to that place, my worship of Him is real and my willingness to obey becomes less of a struggle because I trust Him completely. I trust His love for me. I trust His plans for me. I trust He has my best interest at heart and will do whatever it takes to draw me into an intimate relationship with Him.

Do you notice that in Scripture the words “joy” or “rejoice” often come with the words “trials” or “suffering”?

Here is what Peter has to say about it: “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 1 Peter 1:6 NLT “Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world.” 1 Peter 4:13 NLT

Lord, help me take my eyes off of me and put them on You. Only then will I ever experience the true joy of walking in full intimacy with You and experience the joy of seeing Your glory revealed to all the world. Thank You for allowing me to suffer with You in order that I can experience the fullness of Your glory and of Your love. Amen