Considering the state
of this world,
can there really be a loving God?
If there’s a loving God, how come we see so much wrong in the world? No
better example exists than the terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center
September 11th. Many are asking how God can allow such evil to take place.
It's not a new question. So
often the good guys lose, the bad guys win, and things never seem to change.
Wars the world over, government corruption, apathy by the people, swindles,
robbery, murder, child abuse, no end of evil. No need to detail it; we see it
around us every day.
How striking are the words of King Solomon who in all his
wisdom remarked, Some three thousand years ago, “Everything under the sun
is vanity,” that is, that in this present world everything appears empty
of meaning. Solomon said something else, too, “There’s nothing
new under the sun.” Yeh, what comes around goes around. The more things
change the more they stay the same.
That’s what it looks like, yet even Solomon’s final word was to ”Fear
God and keep His commandments . . . For God will bring every work into
judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” We’re
free to agree or not agree with his conclusion and advice; yet the question
remains, is there no way for us to understand what in the world is going on?
What about the issues of life and death? Who are we? Why are we here? What's
our purpose? What's God really like? What about death? If there's an
afterlife, what's it like? Perhaps many think it's pointless, impossible to
get answers to these things. Yet, what of the things we do know? The wonder of
creation around us, the incredulous design of our very own bodies logically
point to a Creator. We're born with a conscience that can point to right and
wrong (although it can be ignored and blunted), we have a desire for justice,
we can see love and goodness, even in the face of evil.
Even so, we’re left with questions. And, so far as I know, there is only
one person qualified to speak on the subject. Of course, what he had to say
got him strung up on a cross. However, considering that he's the only one ever
resurrected after being in a grave three days just as he predicted---well,
that should make him worth listening to. We can learn a lot from His
words.
Do you read and study the Bible? It appears most folks are too busy.
Still, many people who do read it say they can’t make sense out of it. I
remember a letter published in Billy Graham's newspaper column from an 85-year
old man saying he had read it through five times and still didn't understand
it. If that's the case with you, maybe you are approaching this special book in the wrong way. Just
as the Bible claims to be inspired by the Spirit of God, it
only can be understood by the same Spirit. In the apostle Paul’s first
letter to the Corinthian church, he reveals a vital truth.
“The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned.”
Paul likens the problem to your inability to know my thoughts just as I
can’t know yours. So it is with knowing the thoughts of God. If you’re
going to understand someone speaking a foreign language, you need an
interpreter. God has promised us He will be our interpreter if we ask.
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask Him!”
Some may say, “I asked but He never delivered.” Aside from accusing
God of lying, the answer suggests God was asked in the wrong way---either for
the wrong reasons or without faith. Concerning the first, James puts it this
way: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume
it upon your lusts.” Contrary to much popular preaching, God has never promised to
grant us our every worldly desire, to act as a kind of Santa Claus. No, His
desire is that we come to know Him, that is, really trust Him, the one who has made us, so we might enjoy
His eternal life here and now, and forever. That’s a staggering thought, isn’t
it? Although the life of Christ was hard; and so it may be with His followers,
we are assured He can enable us to meet any trial and never be separated from
Him.
Secondly, besides asking amiss, to seek selfish desires, a lack of faith
may be the problem. The book of Hebrews tells us:
“Without
faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who
comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him.”
Have you done that? Perhaps you’re like some who say, “I asked Jesus
to come into my heart,” but nothing happened; I didn’t feel any different.”
God doesn’t deal with us on the basis of our feelings; He looks for faith
that believes Him regardless of either feelings or intellectual understanding.
To depend on either of these is to totally miss the spiritual blessings
entered into only by making God’s word your standard. Are we then only cold
zombies who throw away our brains? No, it means first, we live by faith in
what God has revealed; then feelings and understanding follow in God’s own
time. Our job is to believe that He exists and that He is true to His word to
anyone who holds him to it, who simply won’t take no for an answer. How
serious are you?
What does God say about faith? In the book of Jude, verse 3 refers to “the
faith once and for all delivered to the saints.” Faith
is spoken of as a body of truth, the revelation that God has made to us in
scripture. Biblical faith is to trust in this truth. The Bible says, “Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” Just as we naturally
learn by faith what is trustworthy in this world, so, too, God asks us to give
an attentive ear to what He says and act upon it. We are told “to test
all things and hold fast to what is good.” The trials of life are not
accidental. They are God’s means of showing us our dependency on Him and His
sufficiency. They are the means by which God proves our faith. As the Bible
says:
“Faith is the
substantiating [proving out] of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen.”
You may ask, what are we to test, what are we to believe? For starters, it
is all summed up in John 3:16, a Bible verse everyone should know:
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that
whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Notice, it’s a gift, and not a cheap one. It cost God His only Son,
Jesus Christ, who willingly took upon himself the punishment for sin. Will you accept His
gift of eternal life, that is, the very life of God? Certainly, neither you
nor I deserve it. You can’t earn it. We are asked, like a little child, to
humble ourselves and accept His love by simple trust in what He has declared.
Will you do it? All that’s needed to make His gift personal is to make the
word “whoever” apply to YOU, and give thanks to God. But, please,
don’t stop there, as so many seem to do. Jesus said that we should “live
by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” and we surely can’t
live by it if we don’t know it
If you are to grow in understanding things invisible and beyond your
natural comprehension, trust what God says by obeying His words in your
everyday life. Make up your mind. Does God mean what He says? Are His words
accurate and reliable? Can you bank your life on them? Here’s what scripture
says:
“All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete.”
Is that true or not? If it isn’t, what will you hope in? Some say the
Bible is only the ideas of men. While it’s true that men wrote the
Bible, God inspired them with the very words He wished to use. The
Bible is no fabrication or myth; it is the TRUTH from start to finish.
Revealing God’s master plan for the ages, it is like no other book. The
writings of the world's religions and cults pale beside it.
Its historical accuracy has been affirmed by archeologists in a host of
continuing discoveries. It has withstood the most intensive scrutiny of
skeptics over the centuries, converting many, never proved in error when
honestly understood. Isaiah gives the strongest proof for God’s inspiration
of scripture:
"I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’”
With all their technology and expertise, the weather forecasters are
notable for their goofs. Not so with God in respect to His prophecies. Every
prophecy to date made over thousands of years by men ranging from shepherds to
kings has been literally fulfilled. Some 300 prophecies relating to Christ are
fulfilled in the Gospels alone. Today’s headlines read like prophecies of
the end times to believers. Prophecy and its fulfillment has been God's way of
proving who He is.
Know this. God is holy and unchangeable in His character. He cannot lie.
When He makes a promise, He is honor bound to make good on it. He simply wants
us to prove what He says is true and reliable..
“Draw near to God and He
will draw near to you.”
He is eager to reveal Himself to anyone who humbly seeks Him. You can do
that now with a prayer admitting your need and helplessness, holding Him to
His promise that He will help you. Don’t put it off, and make it your
lifelong pursuit to understand and obey His gospel. Anything worthwhile
mastering in this world requires time, study and effort. How much more to
realize the life of God that determines our eternal destiny! You may fail to
understand Him and often prove untrustworthy, but rest in the knowledge that
He knows all this beforehand and can make even your failures fulfill His
purposes for good. What a God!
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