August 6, 2002
Joe was the runt of the litter, at least in the minds of his brothers. They hated his cocky self-assurance and that their father gave him the best of everything.
One day while they were at work, along came Joe. He said dad had sent him to see what they were up to. Their tempers flared. They began to plot how to get rid of him and came up with a scheme. Slave traders passed by on occasion. They would sell Joe to a slave trader but tell their father he had been killed in a horrible accident.
They got away with their scheme. Their father, Jacob suffered grief beyond imagine. The brothers felt guilty but stuck to their story.
In a few years, a drought hit their community. Soon Jacob had to send them in search of food. They found it, but they also found something they did not expect: Joe was the kingpin over all available grain. When they finally recognized who he was, they realized they were at his mercy. What would he do to them?
This story comes from Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Joseph wound up in Egypt. By living with integrity, he landed first in jail for something he didn’t do, and then in the Pharaoh’s court for something he did do — with the Lord’s help, he predicted a severe famine.
The Pharaoh saw his wisdom. He put Joseph in charge of everything, and by his prudent decisions, the Egyptians had food enough for themselves and other nations.
The brothers did not know how Joseph came to such power. All they knew was that they had wronged him, and he could now do whatever he wanted to them. They were terrified.
But Joseph wept as he heard them talking. He realized they did not know his character. Finally he told them his story, then said, “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
He added, “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” At that, Pharaoh told Joseph to invite his family to live in Egypt where he could take care of them.
After a time, their father died. The brothers thought Joseph would now retaliate, but they were wrong. He forgave them and said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Throughout Scripture, this theme repeats itself. God’s people suffer, yet out of their suffering comes good. Job suffered yet God eventually blessed him (and us too, as we read his story). Jesus suffered, yet God raised Him from the dead to provide salvation for sinners.
The Bible says, “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.”
Often, this verse is interpreted to mean that good things will happen to anyone who suffers, but the words are specific: this promise is for those who “love God” and obey His call on their lives.
More than that, the context is also specific. The next verse says that these called ones who love Him will be “conformed to the likeness of his Son.” In other words, God teaches His people the Christlike response to suffering, and this is the “good” that comes from trials.
Jesus, like Joseph, “did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
Jesus knew that the Father was just. Yes, He died on a cross for sins He did not commit, but God also raised Him from the dead to rule at His right hand and live forever.
God can work good from our troubles. Sometimes, those troubles are the only way good can happen. We may not become world-class leaders like Joseph, but nothing happens to us haphazardly. God will reveal His purpose in His time. He promises, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Suffering may be here for a little while, but His people must not give up hope. God is still in control.
Showing posts with label God uses all things for good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God uses all things for good. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
Why bad things happen ............. Parables 758
July 23, 2002
When the popcorn bowl runs out, I like to suck the butter and salt out of those partly popped kernels in the bottom. Sometimes I gnaw on them, despite a little voice that tells me to stop it. Once I cracked a filling in a back tooth. My dentist added insult to injury by reminding me I’d made a foolish decision.
This incident reminds me of that huge question: Why does God allow suffering? People in every corner of the world ask it. While the biblical answers may not satisfy everyone, over the next few weeks I’ll offer a few that immensely help me.
First, three foundations. One, suffering does not always imply God’s punishment. Sometimes it does, but not every time.
Two, while God can bring good out of anything, that is not always the reason He allows bad things to happen. Sometimes they are just bad.
Third, God does take responsibility for everything. Job said, “Shall we accept good from God, and not evil.” The very next line reads, “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
Jeremiah repeated the thought: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?” While the mind of God does not make sense to our limited perspective, yet the Bible affirms we can trust Him anyway. It also reveals a few why’s concerning evil and suffering.
One reason we suffer is that we bring it on ourselves. We make foolish choices, and our actions have consequences. Without them, we would never regret foolishness, or change. Ecclesiastes puts it in the negative: “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.”
Cause and effect are important to our stability. Water should satisfy our thirst. Flipping a switch should turn the lights on or off. We expect results from what we do and if they do not happen, we are perplexed, even thrown off balance.
This applies to both good and foolish choices. When I bite a hard popcorn kernel, my less-strong fillings are apt to take a beating. When I ignore God’s moral warnings, my life will fall apart. When I behave and obey Him, I experience not only His blessing but His pleasure.
The foolish choices of others can cause us suffering too. Children suffer in war. People die at the hands of reckless drivers. A construction worker neglects a safety check. Airline mechanics do too. Innocent people suffer consequences.
Consequences should change our choices but what about drivers who run stop signs, make illegal turns, drive too fast, and cut in too quick, who never get a traffic ticket or ever have an accident? Or consider an elderly couple, normally careful drivers, yet one day he failed to stop at a stop sign. They were hit by a truck and both died. Does this make “cause and effect,” and God, capriciousness?
Christians know God takes responsibility for everything. In the case of the elderly couple, He had reasons for allowing their suffering and death. They were people of faith and belonged to Him, so they were not being punished — Jesus already took their punishment for sin.
Neither did they die so ultimate good would happen. It did not, at least for them here on earth. Their death was a tragic event, even though God could have stopped it. For the most part, it happened as a result of a wrong choice.
But God also has reasons for not applying that rule of cause and effect to others who seem to deserve it. Maybe He is giving them a second chance. Maybe He has a greater plan for their lives.
Sometimes people blame God when trouble strikes, but I would not want God to change the rule of cause and effect. When I do something dumb, I do not like the consequences, yet without their predictability (in general), the world would make even less sense than it does.
When the popcorn bowl runs out, I like to suck the butter and salt out of those partly popped kernels in the bottom. Sometimes I gnaw on them, despite a little voice that tells me to stop it. Once I cracked a filling in a back tooth. My dentist added insult to injury by reminding me I’d made a foolish decision.
This incident reminds me of that huge question: Why does God allow suffering? People in every corner of the world ask it. While the biblical answers may not satisfy everyone, over the next few weeks I’ll offer a few that immensely help me.
First, three foundations. One, suffering does not always imply God’s punishment. Sometimes it does, but not every time.
Two, while God can bring good out of anything, that is not always the reason He allows bad things to happen. Sometimes they are just bad.
Third, God does take responsibility for everything. Job said, “Shall we accept good from God, and not evil.” The very next line reads, “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
Jeremiah repeated the thought: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?” While the mind of God does not make sense to our limited perspective, yet the Bible affirms we can trust Him anyway. It also reveals a few why’s concerning evil and suffering.
One reason we suffer is that we bring it on ourselves. We make foolish choices, and our actions have consequences. Without them, we would never regret foolishness, or change. Ecclesiastes puts it in the negative: “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.”
Cause and effect are important to our stability. Water should satisfy our thirst. Flipping a switch should turn the lights on or off. We expect results from what we do and if they do not happen, we are perplexed, even thrown off balance.
This applies to both good and foolish choices. When I bite a hard popcorn kernel, my less-strong fillings are apt to take a beating. When I ignore God’s moral warnings, my life will fall apart. When I behave and obey Him, I experience not only His blessing but His pleasure.
The foolish choices of others can cause us suffering too. Children suffer in war. People die at the hands of reckless drivers. A construction worker neglects a safety check. Airline mechanics do too. Innocent people suffer consequences.
Consequences should change our choices but what about drivers who run stop signs, make illegal turns, drive too fast, and cut in too quick, who never get a traffic ticket or ever have an accident? Or consider an elderly couple, normally careful drivers, yet one day he failed to stop at a stop sign. They were hit by a truck and both died. Does this make “cause and effect,” and God, capriciousness?
Christians know God takes responsibility for everything. In the case of the elderly couple, He had reasons for allowing their suffering and death. They were people of faith and belonged to Him, so they were not being punished — Jesus already took their punishment for sin.
Neither did they die so ultimate good would happen. It did not, at least for them here on earth. Their death was a tragic event, even though God could have stopped it. For the most part, it happened as a result of a wrong choice.
But God also has reasons for not applying that rule of cause and effect to others who seem to deserve it. Maybe He is giving them a second chance. Maybe He has a greater plan for their lives.
Sometimes people blame God when trouble strikes, but I would not want God to change the rule of cause and effect. When I do something dumb, I do not like the consequences, yet without their predictability (in general), the world would make even less sense than it does.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Problems with a purpose ............. Parables 707
March 13, 2001
Kathy talks about her healthy self-esteem. “My life was tough but I didn’t take society’s permission to feel sorry for myself. These days, counselors allow too much blame-shifting.”
By blame-shifting, Kathy referred to more than blaming people. Some say things like “it’s all my mother’s fault” or dump responsibility with words like, “I’m like this because of my childhood” or “I was abused” or “People reject me all the time.”
Kathy said too many people blame circumstances for their problems. She is not a psychologist but she does know her Bible. God expects us to take responsibility, not for what happens to us but for how we respond to what happens. He does not want us to be ‘victims of our circumstances’ but says we can be “more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.”
How can this be? If life hands us lemons, is it possible to make lemonade? The Bible says we cannot do this alone nor can we do it with the attitudes that Kathy disdained. We need help and we need God’s perspective on the difficult issues of life.
In the Old Testament, when Joseph was a boy, his brothers hated him because he was his dad’s favorite. Eventually their hatred took action. They sold the boy to slave traders and told their father that a wild beast had devoured him.
Joseph wound up in Egypt and because of his relationship with God, he was noticed and put in charge of his master’s household. But after false accusations from his master’s wife, he was put in prison and seemed doomed.
Yet even there, his faith made him stand out. He was given special attention. During this time, he showed an ability to interpret dreams and this eventually came to the attention of the Pharaoh. Joseph told this leader famine was coming so the Pharaoh gave him enormous responsibilities. During a time of plenty, Joseph ordered the nation to store their excess crops so they would be ready for what would come later.
When the famine arrived, it also affected Joseph’s family back in Canaan. As their need increased, old Jacob sent his remaining sons to Egypt to buy grain. They did not recognize their brother but after testing them, Joseph revealed his identity to them. Of course they were terrified. They knew his power and were afraid he would retaliate for what they had done to him many years before. But Joseph had never abandoned his relationship with God nor did he blame his brothers.
He responded with this incredible reasoning, “For two years now there has been famine in the land , and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here but God.” His family was given a home in Egypt and he took care of them.
Later their father died. The brothers thought that now Joseph would surely take revenge, but he said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Joseph looked beyond what people had done to him and the circumstances of his life to see the purposes of God. Instead of becoming bitter, he became a hero.
Kathy may not be educated in the field of psychology but she does know one thing: those who look for God in their difficulties are far better off than those who look for someone or something to blame. Life can be tough but in trials, we can discover the One who is able to show us purpose and meaning. He can even use those tough situations for good.
Kathy talks about her healthy self-esteem. “My life was tough but I didn’t take society’s permission to feel sorry for myself. These days, counselors allow too much blame-shifting.”
By blame-shifting, Kathy referred to more than blaming people. Some say things like “it’s all my mother’s fault” or dump responsibility with words like, “I’m like this because of my childhood” or “I was abused” or “People reject me all the time.”
Kathy said too many people blame circumstances for their problems. She is not a psychologist but she does know her Bible. God expects us to take responsibility, not for what happens to us but for how we respond to what happens. He does not want us to be ‘victims of our circumstances’ but says we can be “more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.”
How can this be? If life hands us lemons, is it possible to make lemonade? The Bible says we cannot do this alone nor can we do it with the attitudes that Kathy disdained. We need help and we need God’s perspective on the difficult issues of life.
In the Old Testament, when Joseph was a boy, his brothers hated him because he was his dad’s favorite. Eventually their hatred took action. They sold the boy to slave traders and told their father that a wild beast had devoured him.
Joseph wound up in Egypt and because of his relationship with God, he was noticed and put in charge of his master’s household. But after false accusations from his master’s wife, he was put in prison and seemed doomed.
Yet even there, his faith made him stand out. He was given special attention. During this time, he showed an ability to interpret dreams and this eventually came to the attention of the Pharaoh. Joseph told this leader famine was coming so the Pharaoh gave him enormous responsibilities. During a time of plenty, Joseph ordered the nation to store their excess crops so they would be ready for what would come later.
When the famine arrived, it also affected Joseph’s family back in Canaan. As their need increased, old Jacob sent his remaining sons to Egypt to buy grain. They did not recognize their brother but after testing them, Joseph revealed his identity to them. Of course they were terrified. They knew his power and were afraid he would retaliate for what they had done to him many years before. But Joseph had never abandoned his relationship with God nor did he blame his brothers.
He responded with this incredible reasoning, “For two years now there has been famine in the land , and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here but God.” His family was given a home in Egypt and he took care of them.
Later their father died. The brothers thought that now Joseph would surely take revenge, but he said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Joseph looked beyond what people had done to him and the circumstances of his life to see the purposes of God. Instead of becoming bitter, he became a hero.
Kathy may not be educated in the field of psychology but she does know one thing: those who look for God in their difficulties are far better off than those who look for someone or something to blame. Life can be tough but in trials, we can discover the One who is able to show us purpose and meaning. He can even use those tough situations for good.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Defeating stress .......... Parables 624
January 5, 1999
One brave Canadian couple allowed a television crew to follow their home renovation project. Like most renovations, theirs evolved into a bigger mess than they expected.
First, they thought they could live in it while the work was being done. They quickly realized this was impossible and rented a town house. As work progressed, so did unexpected extras and with them, difficult decisions. Some days, their contractors or sub-trades failed to show. Everything took longer than anyone planned. Deadlines moved back. The weather interfered. What else could go wrong?
Well, with December arriving, they realized their rented town house had no room for a Christmas tree. The family felt isolated. Then their landlord served notice. He had sold the place. In two weeks, they would have to move, but their house would not be finished for two months. Finally, the husband lost his job. On national television, the couple admitted that stress was putting a strain on their lives.
According to statistics, 60 per cent of Canadians experience a high level of stress at least once a week. Two out of ten are at their stress limit. This means if they needed to detangle several strings of tree lights, they would crack under the strain.
A certain amount of stress is important. Without it, we would not stand up straight and most people would never get out of bed in the morning. However, unwanted circumstances and difficult relationships produce an inner resistance that is unwanted and unhealthy.
How can we manage stress? We could avoid stressful situations. Consider the couple with the renovation project. As they fear losing their home, they admit that instead of letting this renovation project take over their lives, leaving it the way it was would have been easier.
We could also reduce stress in some way. If the man could find a new job or the contractors could work overtime, perhaps that would reduce their stress. Others reduce stress by taking a holiday, enjoying a hobby, even turning to drugs (prescribed or otherwise) and alcohol.
How did Jesus manage stress? There is no doubt He experienced situations that were stressful. Imagine being on a small fishing boat in a terrible storm with twelve terrified men. Imagine being pressured all day long, day after day, by people wanting you to do something for them. Imagine being rejected by the very people you came to help and eventually being tried and convicted for something that was not a crime.
Jesus had two things going for Him. He knew that His Father in heaven was sovereign over everything. That is, God did not necessarily instigate any of these situations against His Son but He could stop them if He wanted to. Jesus knew who was in control.
He also knew that people would be cruel and mean. While rejection and harsh treatment do not feel good, this never surprised Him. I know that much of my stress comes from thoughtless or unkind actions that I did not expect.
The Bible says that Lord took a different attitude than we do toward stressful situations and harsh treatment. A passage in 1 Peter talks about how we should react to unfair treatment and says of Jesus, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
Jesus did not welcome the stress curves thrown at Him. However, instead of meeting them with inner resistance or any form of retaliation, He trusted God. By yielding to the things that threatened Him and knowing God would use them into good, He defeated their power over Him.
One brave Canadian couple allowed a television crew to follow their home renovation project. Like most renovations, theirs evolved into a bigger mess than they expected.
First, they thought they could live in it while the work was being done. They quickly realized this was impossible and rented a town house. As work progressed, so did unexpected extras and with them, difficult decisions. Some days, their contractors or sub-trades failed to show. Everything took longer than anyone planned. Deadlines moved back. The weather interfered. What else could go wrong?
Well, with December arriving, they realized their rented town house had no room for a Christmas tree. The family felt isolated. Then their landlord served notice. He had sold the place. In two weeks, they would have to move, but their house would not be finished for two months. Finally, the husband lost his job. On national television, the couple admitted that stress was putting a strain on their lives.
According to statistics, 60 per cent of Canadians experience a high level of stress at least once a week. Two out of ten are at their stress limit. This means if they needed to detangle several strings of tree lights, they would crack under the strain.
A certain amount of stress is important. Without it, we would not stand up straight and most people would never get out of bed in the morning. However, unwanted circumstances and difficult relationships produce an inner resistance that is unwanted and unhealthy.
How can we manage stress? We could avoid stressful situations. Consider the couple with the renovation project. As they fear losing their home, they admit that instead of letting this renovation project take over their lives, leaving it the way it was would have been easier.
We could also reduce stress in some way. If the man could find a new job or the contractors could work overtime, perhaps that would reduce their stress. Others reduce stress by taking a holiday, enjoying a hobby, even turning to drugs (prescribed or otherwise) and alcohol.
How did Jesus manage stress? There is no doubt He experienced situations that were stressful. Imagine being on a small fishing boat in a terrible storm with twelve terrified men. Imagine being pressured all day long, day after day, by people wanting you to do something for them. Imagine being rejected by the very people you came to help and eventually being tried and convicted for something that was not a crime.
Jesus had two things going for Him. He knew that His Father in heaven was sovereign over everything. That is, God did not necessarily instigate any of these situations against His Son but He could stop them if He wanted to. Jesus knew who was in control.
He also knew that people would be cruel and mean. While rejection and harsh treatment do not feel good, this never surprised Him. I know that much of my stress comes from thoughtless or unkind actions that I did not expect.
The Bible says that Lord took a different attitude than we do toward stressful situations and harsh treatment. A passage in 1 Peter talks about how we should react to unfair treatment and says of Jesus, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”
Jesus did not welcome the stress curves thrown at Him. However, instead of meeting them with inner resistance or any form of retaliation, He trusted God. By yielding to the things that threatened Him and knowing God would use them into good, He defeated their power over Him.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Sticks and Stones .......... Parables 612
September 15, 1998
Bruised by the latest insult, Jonathan lingered in the locker room shower until the other boys went home. He tried to say “sticks and stones . . .” but knew that name-calling felt just as painful as rocks.
People can be unkind. When someone hurts us, we feel like fighting back even though retaliation usually makes matters worse. The Bible says “turn the other cheek” and that is tough enough, but God also wants us to deal with our attitude towards rock-tossers. We can be bitter and angry but hateful emotions are as harmful to us as is their name-calling or sticks and stones.
When predicaments perplex me, I think of Romans 8:28, “In all things, we know that God works for the good of those who love Him . . . .” If God can use everything for my good, what about people who seem set to harm me? How can He turn that around and make it profitable for me?
I remember an Alaskan potter, a tall woman with burlap cape to her ankles. She ran a potter’s wheel at the Kenai Craft Show. Dissatisfied with the plain pot on her wheel, she stood up and frowned at it. She took a few pieces of unformed clay in her hand and leaving the motorized wheel still turning, she stepped back about ten feet and started firing those bits at the pot.
As she battered it, an amazing thing happened. At first the clay on the wheel wobbled and reeled under the blows, but gradually it changed shape. Slowly under the potter’s hand, the plain pot became a beautiful and useful vessel.
In a similar incident, God told the prophet Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house. There he saw a potter working, “but the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”
Then God told Jeremiah, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” He went on to explain that He planned disaster that they might be shaped and turn from their evil ways. However, each one would continue “in the stubbornness of his evil heart.” In response, God said, “I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed. . . .”
God uses many methods to discipline His people. If we can compare unshaped clay with people who do not know or follow God, then God can use them in our lives, for our good. He used the Babylonians just like the Alaskan potter used the blobs to shape His people, the Jews. After their captivity in Babylon, they never again worshiped pagan idols.
When Nathan the prophet chastened David for his sin with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband, David felt the sting of his rebuke yet God used that pain to shape him into a beloved leader of Israel.
God even used “unshaped clay” against His own Son. Cruel men fully intended to destroy Jesus but God used their cross and nails for good. His death led to His victory over sin and death. The blobs of clay were God’s instruments to bring Jesus to His rightful place as Lord over all.
What about the things people toss at you and I? Certainly it is possible that God is purposely tossing some blobs of clay because He sees a need for reshaping in our lives. We need to consider that even in pain, God is working to make something useful and even beautiful out of rather plain jars.
Bruised by the latest insult, Jonathan lingered in the locker room shower until the other boys went home. He tried to say “sticks and stones . . .” but knew that name-calling felt just as painful as rocks.
People can be unkind. When someone hurts us, we feel like fighting back even though retaliation usually makes matters worse. The Bible says “turn the other cheek” and that is tough enough, but God also wants us to deal with our attitude towards rock-tossers. We can be bitter and angry but hateful emotions are as harmful to us as is their name-calling or sticks and stones.
When predicaments perplex me, I think of Romans 8:28, “In all things, we know that God works for the good of those who love Him . . . .” If God can use everything for my good, what about people who seem set to harm me? How can He turn that around and make it profitable for me?
I remember an Alaskan potter, a tall woman with burlap cape to her ankles. She ran a potter’s wheel at the Kenai Craft Show. Dissatisfied with the plain pot on her wheel, she stood up and frowned at it. She took a few pieces of unformed clay in her hand and leaving the motorized wheel still turning, she stepped back about ten feet and started firing those bits at the pot.
As she battered it, an amazing thing happened. At first the clay on the wheel wobbled and reeled under the blows, but gradually it changed shape. Slowly under the potter’s hand, the plain pot became a beautiful and useful vessel.
In a similar incident, God told the prophet Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house. There he saw a potter working, “but the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”
Then God told Jeremiah, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” He went on to explain that He planned disaster that they might be shaped and turn from their evil ways. However, each one would continue “in the stubbornness of his evil heart.” In response, God said, “I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed. . . .”
God uses many methods to discipline His people. If we can compare unshaped clay with people who do not know or follow God, then God can use them in our lives, for our good. He used the Babylonians just like the Alaskan potter used the blobs to shape His people, the Jews. After their captivity in Babylon, they never again worshiped pagan idols.
When Nathan the prophet chastened David for his sin with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband, David felt the sting of his rebuke yet God used that pain to shape him into a beloved leader of Israel.
God even used “unshaped clay” against His own Son. Cruel men fully intended to destroy Jesus but God used their cross and nails for good. His death led to His victory over sin and death. The blobs of clay were God’s instruments to bring Jesus to His rightful place as Lord over all.
What about the things people toss at you and I? Certainly it is possible that God is purposely tossing some blobs of clay because He sees a need for reshaping in our lives. We need to consider that even in pain, God is working to make something useful and even beautiful out of rather plain jars.
Monday, July 3, 2017
How can good come out of bad? .......... Parables 609
August 25, 1998
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines. Sorry, Ford fans, we all have to adjust to a reality at some time or another. Occasionally the opposition becomes an ally and sometimes our allies oppose us. Consider how it happens in sports. Wayne Gretsky, the ally, moved to Los Angeles and then New York. He became the opposition. We lost other stars and it seems unfair that our winners now defeat us.
In the spiritual realm, those who appear to oppose us sometimes wind up on our team. It happened to a man named Saul, who persecuted Christians. After God confronted him, Saul became Paul and one of the greatest Christian leaders in history.
Remember the Galloping Gourmet? A friend of mine tells me her father forbid her from watching his television show because he was a drunk and a bad influence. She says, “So I decided to pray that he become a Christian.” And he did! What was once a bad influence for her is now a good influence for everyone.
God is full of surprises. My oldest son once worked as an usher in a theater in California. A young television star came in and was creating a disturbance. My son said to him, “You are just as mouthy in real life as you are on your TV show.” A few weeks ago, I found a newspaper article about this same fellow. He is now a Christian preacher, serving the Lord with his mouth.
People are not the only opposition that can become an ally. I often write about how God “works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” Joseph is an Old Testament example. His brothers hated him, threw him into a pit then sold him as a slave.
Joseph wound up in Egypt, spent some time in jail for something he did not do, but eventually became a leader in that country. When a severe famine hit, he was instrumental in saving thousands of lives, including that of his entire family, even the brothers who tried to ruin him. He said to them, “You intended it for evil, but God used it for good.”
Only God can effectively turn evil around and use it for good. If we do something wrong and think we can make it okay, we only compound the problem. President Clinton is an example of that. He sinned against his wife, his family, other people, even a nation that trusted him, then tried to make it okay by “misleading” people. What good came out of that?
Old Testament king David did the same thing. He sinned with another woman, had her husband murdered, and tried to cover up the entire debacle. When God’s prophet Nathan confronted him (a biblical version of prosecuting attorney Starr?), David confessed that he had done wrong but his confession had a different ring to it than the one we heard from the U.S. president. It is found in Psalm 51 and includes these words: “Against you (God), you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. . . . Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. . . . Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. . . . Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. . . .”
God did restore David. He even brought good from that sinful relationship. David married this woman and a child was born. From this child, another and another until eventually two people in the line of David became the parents of Jesus Christ.
Never underestimate the power of God. He may choose to take opposition or even evil and use it for good. We simply need to cooperate, confessing our sins and hopeless inadequacy – and trust Him.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines. Sorry, Ford fans, we all have to adjust to a reality at some time or another. Occasionally the opposition becomes an ally and sometimes our allies oppose us. Consider how it happens in sports. Wayne Gretsky, the ally, moved to Los Angeles and then New York. He became the opposition. We lost other stars and it seems unfair that our winners now defeat us.
In the spiritual realm, those who appear to oppose us sometimes wind up on our team. It happened to a man named Saul, who persecuted Christians. After God confronted him, Saul became Paul and one of the greatest Christian leaders in history.
Remember the Galloping Gourmet? A friend of mine tells me her father forbid her from watching his television show because he was a drunk and a bad influence. She says, “So I decided to pray that he become a Christian.” And he did! What was once a bad influence for her is now a good influence for everyone.
God is full of surprises. My oldest son once worked as an usher in a theater in California. A young television star came in and was creating a disturbance. My son said to him, “You are just as mouthy in real life as you are on your TV show.” A few weeks ago, I found a newspaper article about this same fellow. He is now a Christian preacher, serving the Lord with his mouth.
People are not the only opposition that can become an ally. I often write about how God “works all things together for the good of those who love Him.” Joseph is an Old Testament example. His brothers hated him, threw him into a pit then sold him as a slave.
Joseph wound up in Egypt, spent some time in jail for something he did not do, but eventually became a leader in that country. When a severe famine hit, he was instrumental in saving thousands of lives, including that of his entire family, even the brothers who tried to ruin him. He said to them, “You intended it for evil, but God used it for good.”
Only God can effectively turn evil around and use it for good. If we do something wrong and think we can make it okay, we only compound the problem. President Clinton is an example of that. He sinned against his wife, his family, other people, even a nation that trusted him, then tried to make it okay by “misleading” people. What good came out of that?
Old Testament king David did the same thing. He sinned with another woman, had her husband murdered, and tried to cover up the entire debacle. When God’s prophet Nathan confronted him (a biblical version of prosecuting attorney Starr?), David confessed that he had done wrong but his confession had a different ring to it than the one we heard from the U.S. president. It is found in Psalm 51 and includes these words: “Against you (God), you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. . . . Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. . . . Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. . . . Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. . . .”
God did restore David. He even brought good from that sinful relationship. David married this woman and a child was born. From this child, another and another until eventually two people in the line of David became the parents of Jesus Christ.
Never underestimate the power of God. He may choose to take opposition or even evil and use it for good. We simply need to cooperate, confessing our sins and hopeless inadequacy – and trust Him.
Monday, February 1, 2016
The Greatest Good ............. Parables 387
September 14, 1993
Many a child has heard the proverb, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” particularly after getting caught in a lie meant to deliver themselves from the consequences of some other wrong they did.
Like all proverbs, this one is generally true. The closest exception I know of was when our house contractor put an outlet and switches where a cupboard addition would cover them up (making their location illegal) and misjudged the size of a closet in the front hall.
They thought they would have to rip out a huge area of ceramic tile to correct the first wrong but when they opened up the wall on the opposite side to fix the closet, they exposed the electrical wiring for the kitchen problem. They easily fixed both at the same time, but since both errors were costly to the builder and a nuisance to us, we still have to conclude two wrongs are still two wrongs.
Wrong is also wrong when disaster strikes in other, more extreme, ways. The optimists around us may say, “It will work out okay,” and sometimes it does, but unexpected financial reverses, natural disasters, traffic accidents, sudden deaths, personal failures and moral downfalls can never be called right. Adding two of them together doesn’t help at all towards making them anything but wrong.
However, that does not mean good is left totally out of the equation. A favorite passage of Scripture, Romans 8:28, affirms that God can do something about the wrongs. It says, “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.”
Since “all things” includes tragic losses, illnesses, or other dark times in our lives, well-meaning people sometimes use this verse to try to comfort us. If we feel they are saying the wrong is good, or good for us in some way, their words hurt, and so they should; that is not what God is saying in Romans 8:28.
Pain and suffering are not His idea. Wrong things came into the world with sin as part of the package. God hates sin and He does not take pleasure in affliction or death. He would never say, “this wrong thing is good for you.” He is not cruel or sadistic.
What Romans 8:28 does say is that God can use all things, good or bad, right or wrong, for our good. In other words, wrong is never right but by the grace of God, it does not have to have the final word.
The promise of verse 28 makes more sense when we compare the last phrase “according to His purpose” with the next verse which says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son....”
In plainer English, this says God knew ahead of time about all those who would become Christians, and with that knowledge it is His plan to change them to be like Jesus Christ. His power is so great that He is able to use anything that happens to us to do it.
We need to remember God draws a line between right and wrong and never changes one into the other. Nor is it His goal that all the dirty deals of life and the wrongs that slap us down cause us to be defeated or bitter. Instead, He longs for our good. What better goal could He have, or what higher good could happen to us than becoming more like Jesus?
Many a child has heard the proverb, “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” particularly after getting caught in a lie meant to deliver themselves from the consequences of some other wrong they did.
Like all proverbs, this one is generally true. The closest exception I know of was when our house contractor put an outlet and switches where a cupboard addition would cover them up (making their location illegal) and misjudged the size of a closet in the front hall.
They thought they would have to rip out a huge area of ceramic tile to correct the first wrong but when they opened up the wall on the opposite side to fix the closet, they exposed the electrical wiring for the kitchen problem. They easily fixed both at the same time, but since both errors were costly to the builder and a nuisance to us, we still have to conclude two wrongs are still two wrongs.
Wrong is also wrong when disaster strikes in other, more extreme, ways. The optimists around us may say, “It will work out okay,” and sometimes it does, but unexpected financial reverses, natural disasters, traffic accidents, sudden deaths, personal failures and moral downfalls can never be called right. Adding two of them together doesn’t help at all towards making them anything but wrong.
However, that does not mean good is left totally out of the equation. A favorite passage of Scripture, Romans 8:28, affirms that God can do something about the wrongs. It says, “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.”
Since “all things” includes tragic losses, illnesses, or other dark times in our lives, well-meaning people sometimes use this verse to try to comfort us. If we feel they are saying the wrong is good, or good for us in some way, their words hurt, and so they should; that is not what God is saying in Romans 8:28.
Pain and suffering are not His idea. Wrong things came into the world with sin as part of the package. God hates sin and He does not take pleasure in affliction or death. He would never say, “this wrong thing is good for you.” He is not cruel or sadistic.
What Romans 8:28 does say is that God can use all things, good or bad, right or wrong, for our good. In other words, wrong is never right but by the grace of God, it does not have to have the final word.
The promise of verse 28 makes more sense when we compare the last phrase “according to His purpose” with the next verse which says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son....”
In plainer English, this says God knew ahead of time about all those who would become Christians, and with that knowledge it is His plan to change them to be like Jesus Christ. His power is so great that He is able to use anything that happens to us to do it.
We need to remember God draws a line between right and wrong and never changes one into the other. Nor is it His goal that all the dirty deals of life and the wrongs that slap us down cause us to be defeated or bitter. Instead, He longs for our good. What better goal could He have, or what higher good could happen to us than becoming more like Jesus?
Monday, July 20, 2015
God’s amazing healing power ................ Parables 302
January 28, 1992
A year or more ago, I wrote about a bomb being dropped in my life and about God whispering in my ear assurance that in this I would be a winner.
For those who know me and the nature of that bomb, your prayers have gone heavenward and been answered more abundantly than imaginable. For those who do not know anything about it but may have wondered, I just want to affirm how God can not only overthrow evil but even make it work for His purposes.
What seemed in the beginning the worst that could happen has resulted in indescribable blessing. Several lives have been radically altered. Relationships have been given a vitality that none could have expected. Family members have been drastically affected: two of them so much so that I can only feel awe about my God who has done such great things.
He has worked in my own heart too, revealing needs and then meeting them, bringing to my consciousness wrong attitudes I was not aware of and (as I confessed them as sin) transforming my thinking.
As a result, I have an understanding of the saving and healing power of God that is beyond anything previously imagined and have been able to share more deeply in the lives of others, ministering to their hurts with far greater compassion.
Romans 8:28, my life-stay for many years, promises, “God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Again, God proves Himself faithful beyond any doubt. He uses even evil for good, that is, the good of transforming His children into the image of His Son.
We live in a sin-sick world full of selfish people whose only desire is to get what they want, regardless of who they hurt. However, sin and selfishness result in twisted, broken lives, ruined relationships, demolished and impoverished spirits. The schemes of foolish people do not produce the peace, security and true joy they seek. Only God’s way can result in such enjoyment; selfish, sinful living will never do it.
The desire of God is to bless His people but it takes us a long time to learn that His way is the way of the Cross. That is, it is by dying to our selfish desires that He gives beyond our wildest dreams.
You see, even Jesus Himself went through a “bomb” experience. Who would have thought that God could work good out of a frame-up and a crucifixion — but it was by these very evils that the Lord worked the very highest good. With death’s violent explosion, He secured eternal life for all who believe.
Along with the Apostle Paul, I too say, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32). For me, the “all things” have included a blasting away of the power of evil — replaced with His life, His renewal, His peace, and His incredible healing.
Romans 8 also says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword... not even bombs! In fact, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
The love of God makes bombs into balms — healing right on the heels of hurt, and restoration right in the midst of destruction. So my thanks to the Lord for you who prayed. Our God is an awesome God.
A year or more ago, I wrote about a bomb being dropped in my life and about God whispering in my ear assurance that in this I would be a winner.
For those who know me and the nature of that bomb, your prayers have gone heavenward and been answered more abundantly than imaginable. For those who do not know anything about it but may have wondered, I just want to affirm how God can not only overthrow evil but even make it work for His purposes.
What seemed in the beginning the worst that could happen has resulted in indescribable blessing. Several lives have been radically altered. Relationships have been given a vitality that none could have expected. Family members have been drastically affected: two of them so much so that I can only feel awe about my God who has done such great things.
He has worked in my own heart too, revealing needs and then meeting them, bringing to my consciousness wrong attitudes I was not aware of and (as I confessed them as sin) transforming my thinking.
As a result, I have an understanding of the saving and healing power of God that is beyond anything previously imagined and have been able to share more deeply in the lives of others, ministering to their hurts with far greater compassion.
Romans 8:28, my life-stay for many years, promises, “God works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Again, God proves Himself faithful beyond any doubt. He uses even evil for good, that is, the good of transforming His children into the image of His Son.
We live in a sin-sick world full of selfish people whose only desire is to get what they want, regardless of who they hurt. However, sin and selfishness result in twisted, broken lives, ruined relationships, demolished and impoverished spirits. The schemes of foolish people do not produce the peace, security and true joy they seek. Only God’s way can result in such enjoyment; selfish, sinful living will never do it.
The desire of God is to bless His people but it takes us a long time to learn that His way is the way of the Cross. That is, it is by dying to our selfish desires that He gives beyond our wildest dreams.
You see, even Jesus Himself went through a “bomb” experience. Who would have thought that God could work good out of a frame-up and a crucifixion — but it was by these very evils that the Lord worked the very highest good. With death’s violent explosion, He secured eternal life for all who believe.
Along with the Apostle Paul, I too say, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32). For me, the “all things” have included a blasting away of the power of evil — replaced with His life, His renewal, His peace, and His incredible healing.
Romans 8 also says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword... not even bombs! In fact, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
The love of God makes bombs into balms — healing right on the heels of hurt, and restoration right in the midst of destruction. So my thanks to the Lord for you who prayed. Our God is an awesome God.
Monday, April 27, 2015
In a Crisis? .............. Parables 266
May 8, 1991
Not too long ago, the world experienced a “Middle-East crisis.” A college student friend of mine joked she was trying to make decisions regarding her future and going through “mid-life” crisis... Car accidents, illness, house fires, unexpected bills, marriage problems, upset plans - all tumble into the same category - crisis!
One of my college professors drew the Chinese symbol for crisis on the chalk board just before final exams. He challenged our attitude towards difficult circumstances by explaining the symbol is really a combination of two symbols; one stands for danger, the other for opportunity!
That little bit of oriental wisdom encouraged us. Although most of us believe there is something good in everything or at least God has a good reason for it, we so seldom live that way. Rare is the person who genuinely finds purpose in losing all their possessions in a fire or in losing a child through an accident. We seldom think during the height of the crisis that this tough trial will not last forever, this cancer can be removed, this destruction can be rebuilt, this thorny marriage problem will be solved, or these horribly upset plans can be reworked. All we can think about is the discomfort of the thing and the mountain of obstacles that face us.
In spite of our humanness in connecting a crisis with the danger symbol only, and our tendency to forget to look for any opportunity the crisis might present, God offers many reminders. Some of them include:
James 1:2-4: Christians are told to “consider it pure joy” when various trials come. We can do this “because we know the testing of our faith produces perseverance.” The Bible says perseverance is a mark of maturity in our faith. In other words, without the crisis, we will not grow.
Matthew 5:11,12: Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven...”
In this crisis, God wants us to realize human response to godliness may be unpleasant at times, but His response will be a great reward. Without this kind of crisis, not only are the greater rewards forfeited, but being without the crisis of persecution may indicate we are not living for Him the way we should.
2 Corinthians 12:9: The Apostle Paul had a problem that he called “a thorn in the flesh.” While we don’t know what it was (perhaps a physical infirmity), we do know he asked God three times to take it away. God told him: “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
From that, Paul realized if He wanted to experience the strength of God in his life and his ministry, he had to accept the crisis of his thorn in the flesh and the helplessness and weakness that went along with it.
He understood and accepted the oriental idea of danger/opportunity by responding: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” No crisis, no grace.
The past six months of my life have been marked by one crisis after another. At times, danger has loomed large and frightening, yet the grace of God has taken each crisis and turned it into marvelous opportunity for personal growth, deeper relationships with those I love and increasing awareness of the power of God to change lives. While I may not have jumped up and down with glee at each new trial, He is teaching me I don’t have to react in fear or fall apart during a crisis. He pulls the mask off disguised danger and reveals tremendous hidden opportunities.
Not too long ago, the world experienced a “Middle-East crisis.” A college student friend of mine joked she was trying to make decisions regarding her future and going through “mid-life” crisis... Car accidents, illness, house fires, unexpected bills, marriage problems, upset plans - all tumble into the same category - crisis!
One of my college professors drew the Chinese symbol for crisis on the chalk board just before final exams. He challenged our attitude towards difficult circumstances by explaining the symbol is really a combination of two symbols; one stands for danger, the other for opportunity!
That little bit of oriental wisdom encouraged us. Although most of us believe there is something good in everything or at least God has a good reason for it, we so seldom live that way. Rare is the person who genuinely finds purpose in losing all their possessions in a fire or in losing a child through an accident. We seldom think during the height of the crisis that this tough trial will not last forever, this cancer can be removed, this destruction can be rebuilt, this thorny marriage problem will be solved, or these horribly upset plans can be reworked. All we can think about is the discomfort of the thing and the mountain of obstacles that face us.
In spite of our humanness in connecting a crisis with the danger symbol only, and our tendency to forget to look for any opportunity the crisis might present, God offers many reminders. Some of them include:
James 1:2-4: Christians are told to “consider it pure joy” when various trials come. We can do this “because we know the testing of our faith produces perseverance.” The Bible says perseverance is a mark of maturity in our faith. In other words, without the crisis, we will not grow.
Matthew 5:11,12: Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven...”
In this crisis, God wants us to realize human response to godliness may be unpleasant at times, but His response will be a great reward. Without this kind of crisis, not only are the greater rewards forfeited, but being without the crisis of persecution may indicate we are not living for Him the way we should.
2 Corinthians 12:9: The Apostle Paul had a problem that he called “a thorn in the flesh.” While we don’t know what it was (perhaps a physical infirmity), we do know he asked God three times to take it away. God told him: “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
From that, Paul realized if He wanted to experience the strength of God in his life and his ministry, he had to accept the crisis of his thorn in the flesh and the helplessness and weakness that went along with it.
He understood and accepted the oriental idea of danger/opportunity by responding: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” No crisis, no grace.
The past six months of my life have been marked by one crisis after another. At times, danger has loomed large and frightening, yet the grace of God has taken each crisis and turned it into marvelous opportunity for personal growth, deeper relationships with those I love and increasing awareness of the power of God to change lives. While I may not have jumped up and down with glee at each new trial, He is teaching me I don’t have to react in fear or fall apart during a crisis. He pulls the mask off disguised danger and reveals tremendous hidden opportunities.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Good from evil .............. Parables 260
(March 27, 1991)
A few years ago the brothers of a young man felt extremely threatened by his leadership abilities so they plotted to kill him. Somehow their plan was bungled but they didn’t realize it; he didn’t die, but did leave the country. In his new location, the ambitious young man soon had a job. He worked hard and achieved a position of responsibility. Then hard luck hit him again. This time his boss’s wife tried to seduce him. Since he was upright and moral, her efforts didn’t succeed, however the scorned seductress was upset and retaliated. She accused him before her husband of attempted rape. Her husband was furious and the young man went to prison.
Confinement didn’t turn our hero sour though. Soon his unique skills were appreciated by a couple of prison mates. Later, one of them was released and was working for a man of prominence who had a special problem. He remembered this young fellow back in prison and told his boss he knew someone who could solve the problem. So our hero was released from prison and given a job offer of considerable significance. He began planning and making investments intended to profit both his new employer and his new country.
In the meantime, severe famine conditions developed in both this country and in his homeland. His family lost everything. Destitute and starving, his brothers decided they needed to relocate if they were going to survive. Oddly enough, they traveled to the same country in which their brother now lived. To make a long story short, he was the person with means and authority who could feed them and meet their financial difficulties.
Of course they were terrified when they realized this benefactor was their brother whom they had betrayed. They were certain he would retaliate. He had every right to -- but he didn’t. In fact, when he told them he would take care of them, he gave them this reason for his actions: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he spoke kindly to them.
In case you have not guessed, the young man was Joseph, the biblical lad who was given a coat of many colors. He was left for dead by his jealous brothers and became a leader in Egypt, prudently storing grain before a famine. As a result, there was enough, not only for Egypt but to feed the huge family of his father, Jacob, who later came searching for food.
As I considered an action someone took against me (that was intended for evil), this story of Joseph came to mind. My situation did not involve a plot to murder me (at least I don’t think it did), but it was like Joseph’s in that the consequences seemed unbearable for me. What about the one who sinned?
The Bible says the results of evil are hardly ever what anyone could call good, especially for those who commit the deeds. If the guilty persons are Christians, there will be chastening (Hebrews 12). If they are not, “the wages of sin is death,” meaning separation from God for eternity. Evil doesn’t pay.
So how does it work for the one sinned against? Do we have to bear the bitter consequences too? Not all the time. Joseph’s story shows that God is bigger than sin and can work behind the scenes to reverse the sinner’s intended results. His brothers wanted Joseph’s destruction, but God worked it for good, both for Joseph and for them!
The supreme example is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He was an innocent victim whose enemies determined to destroy Him — this had to be the greatest sin. Yet out of it, God worked the greatest good... the crime committed became His means of redemption for sinners. Surely such a God can be trusted, even with whatever our enemies might try to do against us.
A few years ago the brothers of a young man felt extremely threatened by his leadership abilities so they plotted to kill him. Somehow their plan was bungled but they didn’t realize it; he didn’t die, but did leave the country. In his new location, the ambitious young man soon had a job. He worked hard and achieved a position of responsibility. Then hard luck hit him again. This time his boss’s wife tried to seduce him. Since he was upright and moral, her efforts didn’t succeed, however the scorned seductress was upset and retaliated. She accused him before her husband of attempted rape. Her husband was furious and the young man went to prison.
Confinement didn’t turn our hero sour though. Soon his unique skills were appreciated by a couple of prison mates. Later, one of them was released and was working for a man of prominence who had a special problem. He remembered this young fellow back in prison and told his boss he knew someone who could solve the problem. So our hero was released from prison and given a job offer of considerable significance. He began planning and making investments intended to profit both his new employer and his new country.
In the meantime, severe famine conditions developed in both this country and in his homeland. His family lost everything. Destitute and starving, his brothers decided they needed to relocate if they were going to survive. Oddly enough, they traveled to the same country in which their brother now lived. To make a long story short, he was the person with means and authority who could feed them and meet their financial difficulties.
Of course they were terrified when they realized this benefactor was their brother whom they had betrayed. They were certain he would retaliate. He had every right to -- but he didn’t. In fact, when he told them he would take care of them, he gave them this reason for his actions: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he spoke kindly to them.
In case you have not guessed, the young man was Joseph, the biblical lad who was given a coat of many colors. He was left for dead by his jealous brothers and became a leader in Egypt, prudently storing grain before a famine. As a result, there was enough, not only for Egypt but to feed the huge family of his father, Jacob, who later came searching for food.
As I considered an action someone took against me (that was intended for evil), this story of Joseph came to mind. My situation did not involve a plot to murder me (at least I don’t think it did), but it was like Joseph’s in that the consequences seemed unbearable for me. What about the one who sinned?
The Bible says the results of evil are hardly ever what anyone could call good, especially for those who commit the deeds. If the guilty persons are Christians, there will be chastening (Hebrews 12). If they are not, “the wages of sin is death,” meaning separation from God for eternity. Evil doesn’t pay.
So how does it work for the one sinned against? Do we have to bear the bitter consequences too? Not all the time. Joseph’s story shows that God is bigger than sin and can work behind the scenes to reverse the sinner’s intended results. His brothers wanted Joseph’s destruction, but God worked it for good, both for Joseph and for them!
The supreme example is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He was an innocent victim whose enemies determined to destroy Him — this had to be the greatest sin. Yet out of it, God worked the greatest good... the crime committed became His means of redemption for sinners. Surely such a God can be trusted, even with whatever our enemies might try to do against us.
Friday, March 6, 2015
God blesses and comforts ................. Parables 244
(November 28, 1990)
After some coaxing to get her to talk at all, one of the residents at a local senior citizen’s home pointed at the ceiling and told me she wanted to go home. She nodded that she knew Christ, she nodded that she had known Him for a long time. She also nodded that life was just too hard for her.
No, she didn’t want any Scripture read, but she didn’t seem angry because she was still here and not able to cope, just desperate. She did let me hug her, only briefly. Then she began quietly asking over and over, “God, take me home.” I felt sorry for her, and I didn’t really understand.
Three short days later, I felt the same hopeless despair.
A bomb dropped into my life so totally unexpected that I didn’t even see it coming. Pieces went flying everywhere. The first day, in His marvelous grace, God just picked me up and carried me, a type of shock perhaps, but no question it was supernatural. I felt absolutely no pain, even a strange kind of joy. But the next day, the pieces started to land and sorrow set in like I have never known. Like that little lady in the home, all I could say to God is that I wanted to go home.
Along with feeling such despair, God’s Spirit in my conscience, and in hers, wouldn’t let us do the wrong thing to speed up the process. Suicide is not an option for God’s child, even though it was considered. Nor could I do anything else to remove the pain; in fact, every option I could think of was sinful. The bomb couldn’t be thrown back to where it came, nor could I run away. All I could do was allow the Lord to cradle me, helpless, in His love.
But it wasn’t long before He gave me hope. The Spirit of almighty God, who loves me and gave His Son to die for me, cupped His gentle hand around my ear, and whispered: “Hang in there, dear child, WE are going to win, WE are going to win!” His comfort rang true, I just couldn’t see how.
I remembered the book of Job, where another child of God experienced great despair. He lost everything he had, much more than I. Not only that, his friends accused him that he must have sinned a great sin to deserve such chastening. Poor Job insisted he was not being chastening yet knew no reason for his suffering. He didn’t know about the contest in heaven. Satan had challenged God: Would the faith that God gives keep a man trusting God... even if all blessings were removed?
Yes, it could. Job passed the test. He hung on to his faith in God. He even said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job continued to throw himself on the mercy of God and was even able to pray that God forgive his critical friends. In the end, all was restored to him.
God wasn’t obligated to restore Job’s losses. Hebrews 11 tells of many times the saints are tested and die rather than fail the test, yet the Bible gives at least one spiritual certainty: God promises to use EVERYTHING that happens to those who love Him for our good... to make us more like His Son (see Romans 8:28,29). That means I can be a winner, no matter how much damage the bombs inflict, no matter what the reason they are dropped.
On that note, the pieces began to come together. You see God didn’t allow that bomb so I would be destroyed. That was Satan’s idea. Bombs do not get dropped on God’s children without purpose. In fact, the bomb actually didn’t blow me apart... it is serving to put my life together... in the shape God wants, with cement that will hold it firm, making me far stronger.
God is teaching me a wonderful reality; no matter the size of the weapons of my enemies, I am more than a conqueror because He loves me, and because He has the power to make blessings out of bombs.
After some coaxing to get her to talk at all, one of the residents at a local senior citizen’s home pointed at the ceiling and told me she wanted to go home. She nodded that she knew Christ, she nodded that she had known Him for a long time. She also nodded that life was just too hard for her.
No, she didn’t want any Scripture read, but she didn’t seem angry because she was still here and not able to cope, just desperate. She did let me hug her, only briefly. Then she began quietly asking over and over, “God, take me home.” I felt sorry for her, and I didn’t really understand.
Three short days later, I felt the same hopeless despair.
A bomb dropped into my life so totally unexpected that I didn’t even see it coming. Pieces went flying everywhere. The first day, in His marvelous grace, God just picked me up and carried me, a type of shock perhaps, but no question it was supernatural. I felt absolutely no pain, even a strange kind of joy. But the next day, the pieces started to land and sorrow set in like I have never known. Like that little lady in the home, all I could say to God is that I wanted to go home.
Along with feeling such despair, God’s Spirit in my conscience, and in hers, wouldn’t let us do the wrong thing to speed up the process. Suicide is not an option for God’s child, even though it was considered. Nor could I do anything else to remove the pain; in fact, every option I could think of was sinful. The bomb couldn’t be thrown back to where it came, nor could I run away. All I could do was allow the Lord to cradle me, helpless, in His love.
But it wasn’t long before He gave me hope. The Spirit of almighty God, who loves me and gave His Son to die for me, cupped His gentle hand around my ear, and whispered: “Hang in there, dear child, WE are going to win, WE are going to win!” His comfort rang true, I just couldn’t see how.
I remembered the book of Job, where another child of God experienced great despair. He lost everything he had, much more than I. Not only that, his friends accused him that he must have sinned a great sin to deserve such chastening. Poor Job insisted he was not being chastening yet knew no reason for his suffering. He didn’t know about the contest in heaven. Satan had challenged God: Would the faith that God gives keep a man trusting God... even if all blessings were removed?
Yes, it could. Job passed the test. He hung on to his faith in God. He even said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Job continued to throw himself on the mercy of God and was even able to pray that God forgive his critical friends. In the end, all was restored to him.
God wasn’t obligated to restore Job’s losses. Hebrews 11 tells of many times the saints are tested and die rather than fail the test, yet the Bible gives at least one spiritual certainty: God promises to use EVERYTHING that happens to those who love Him for our good... to make us more like His Son (see Romans 8:28,29). That means I can be a winner, no matter how much damage the bombs inflict, no matter what the reason they are dropped.
On that note, the pieces began to come together. You see God didn’t allow that bomb so I would be destroyed. That was Satan’s idea. Bombs do not get dropped on God’s children without purpose. In fact, the bomb actually didn’t blow me apart... it is serving to put my life together... in the shape God wants, with cement that will hold it firm, making me far stronger.
God is teaching me a wonderful reality; no matter the size of the weapons of my enemies, I am more than a conqueror because He loves me, and because He has the power to make blessings out of bombs.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Thankful in trials .............. Parables 185
October 4, 1989
Last week I heard a blind woman say that God is teaching her to be thankful for her struggle with blindness. After that shocking statement, she pointed out that most people can thank God for the good things but few really understand His wise purpose for their trials.
And we all have them. There are trials with raising children, trials with the ups and downs of making a living, trials of learning new skills. We have ordinary trials and extraordinary trials. And although they may be part of life, do I really have to thank God for them?
James, a writer of one small book in the New Testament, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this even more shocking statement: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of various kinds...”
So, not only does God want us to be thankful for trials, as my friend said, He wants us to be joyful! But is it the struggle with a trial that gives joy? Or something the trial will produce?
In the realm of nature, trials and struggles play a vital role in survival. For instance, if someone takes pity with the struggles of a hatching chick and helps it break through the eggshell, the chick will die. It works the same way for an emerging butterfly. Apparently, the struggle is important. Without it, there is not sufficient strength developed to go on with living.
However, which of us enjoy struggles? When trouble comes, most of us first think of ways we can get rid of the problem. We pray that God will fix it so we have no struggle. When fixing seems out of the question, then and only then will we ask for help to get through it. Could it be that we have missed the point of struggling?
James goes on to tell us we can rejoice when trials come because we “know the testing of our faith develops perseverance... so we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1). By that, He means struggles provide opportunity to gain strength for whatever trials and problems lie ahead. In other words, like the butterfly or the little chick, our struggles strengthen us for the rest of life.
For example, our family has moved over 20 times. After all that, do changes devastate us? Not as they once did. I’ve had severe illnesses and surgery a few times. Does a cold or the flu now throw me into reverse? Not like as it used to. My husband has worked on construction projects permeated by violence. Handguns even came to work in lunch pails. Does an angry employee now send him running for cover? Not likely.
Each of us can look back over our lives and see trials that, at the time, were horrible but they actually prepared us for facing the next trial without horror. We gained wisdom and insight that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. That is part of what James means.
But faith is really the issue. And faith cannot grow as a result of trials if we blame God for our problems or ignore His out-stretched hand. But if in our troubles, we reach out to Him, through faith in Christ, it will result in the happy discovery that God bigger than our problems.
Not only that, He can use any trial as a plus for our life, not a minus. Romans 8:28 promises, “... He is able to work all things together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Verse 29 describes that “good” as being conformed to the image of His Son. God is so set on that shaping process that He even uses negatives as positives.
It’s not that the Lord couldn’t cut through the confines of our tough situations so we have no struggling. Sometimes He does. But there are occasions when He seems to turn a blind eye to our problems. He just doesn’t fix them. When that happens, beware of thinking He doesn’t care, that He is heartlessly refusing to help us. Instead, remember the little chicks and the butterflies.
Last week I heard a blind woman say that God is teaching her to be thankful for her struggle with blindness. After that shocking statement, she pointed out that most people can thank God for the good things but few really understand His wise purpose for their trials.
And we all have them. There are trials with raising children, trials with the ups and downs of making a living, trials of learning new skills. We have ordinary trials and extraordinary trials. And although they may be part of life, do I really have to thank God for them?
James, a writer of one small book in the New Testament, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote this even more shocking statement: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of various kinds...”
So, not only does God want us to be thankful for trials, as my friend said, He wants us to be joyful! But is it the struggle with a trial that gives joy? Or something the trial will produce?
In the realm of nature, trials and struggles play a vital role in survival. For instance, if someone takes pity with the struggles of a hatching chick and helps it break through the eggshell, the chick will die. It works the same way for an emerging butterfly. Apparently, the struggle is important. Without it, there is not sufficient strength developed to go on with living.
However, which of us enjoy struggles? When trouble comes, most of us first think of ways we can get rid of the problem. We pray that God will fix it so we have no struggle. When fixing seems out of the question, then and only then will we ask for help to get through it. Could it be that we have missed the point of struggling?
James goes on to tell us we can rejoice when trials come because we “know the testing of our faith develops perseverance... so we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1). By that, He means struggles provide opportunity to gain strength for whatever trials and problems lie ahead. In other words, like the butterfly or the little chick, our struggles strengthen us for the rest of life.
For example, our family has moved over 20 times. After all that, do changes devastate us? Not as they once did. I’ve had severe illnesses and surgery a few times. Does a cold or the flu now throw me into reverse? Not like as it used to. My husband has worked on construction projects permeated by violence. Handguns even came to work in lunch pails. Does an angry employee now send him running for cover? Not likely.
Each of us can look back over our lives and see trials that, at the time, were horrible but they actually prepared us for facing the next trial without horror. We gained wisdom and insight that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. That is part of what James means.
But faith is really the issue. And faith cannot grow as a result of trials if we blame God for our problems or ignore His out-stretched hand. But if in our troubles, we reach out to Him, through faith in Christ, it will result in the happy discovery that God bigger than our problems.
Not only that, He can use any trial as a plus for our life, not a minus. Romans 8:28 promises, “... He is able to work all things together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Verse 29 describes that “good” as being conformed to the image of His Son. God is so set on that shaping process that He even uses negatives as positives.
It’s not that the Lord couldn’t cut through the confines of our tough situations so we have no struggling. Sometimes He does. But there are occasions when He seems to turn a blind eye to our problems. He just doesn’t fix them. When that happens, beware of thinking He doesn’t care, that He is heartlessly refusing to help us. Instead, remember the little chicks and the butterflies.
Monday, March 31, 2014
My plan or God's? .................... Parables 099
“This week is going to be different. I am going to set some goals and get something done...”
And from that point on, the whole world seems to go haywire: interruptions, unexpected circumstances, pressures, choices; together they carve out a big chunk from well-laid plans and nothing happens according to what was hoped. What was your week like. Plodding along or never a dull moment? If it was like mine, you might wonder if planning has any value at all!
But the unexpected is not unusual -- it is part of life. We try to get a handle on management of it and sometimes do, but most of the time the unexpected is to be expected. Some thrive on it but many people do not like changes because, unless we can comfortably keep our heads stuck in the sand, change forces us to change.
One favorite verse concerning circumstances is Romans 8:28: “God works all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose...”
Those who know this promise cling to it when life turns upside-down yet the thoughtful reader should go on to the next verse which states just exactly what God has in mind when He says that He “works all things for good” in a Christian’s life. Verse 29 says “... for those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son...”
“All things” are purposed by God for change... change from what we are like to what He is like -- and that is very good! That makes change not merely vital to our Christian experience but it is our destiny. (See I John 3:1-3).
Once a great sculptor began work on a huge piece of marble, intending to carve a magnificent horse. When asked how he knew what to carve from the piece and what to leave, he said, “That’s easy. I just take off everything that doesn’t look like a horse.”
And that is just what God is doing in the lives of those who love Him -- carving away everything that is not like Jesus Christ... using, along with His Word, all events of life like a chisel to carve and conform us. he intends to remove chucks of selfishness, pride, and rebellion, breaking them away and leaving the pure beauty of the living Christ for all to see.
Why does it work? Simply because each trial, each pressure-situation, calls from us a response. Will it be the typical human one of resistance to change, resentment and bitterness? Or will it be in obedience to the One who lives within us and desires to make Himself visible in all we say and do? When I make plans and they are changed by circumstances outside of my control, it is not always easy to remember the purposes God has in “all things.” But when I think about this promise and cooperate with the Master sculptor, the pain of change changes to the excitement of a transformed life. His promise concerning what He will do if I yield to His sculpting tool becomes a far better plan than those of my own making.
It is not that prayerful planning and time-management are a waste; neither is taking time to attend to interruptions. What is wasteful is failing to yield to the hand of God, the Sovereign Sculptor of my destiny.
And from that point on, the whole world seems to go haywire: interruptions, unexpected circumstances, pressures, choices; together they carve out a big chunk from well-laid plans and nothing happens according to what was hoped. What was your week like. Plodding along or never a dull moment? If it was like mine, you might wonder if planning has any value at all!
But the unexpected is not unusual -- it is part of life. We try to get a handle on management of it and sometimes do, but most of the time the unexpected is to be expected. Some thrive on it but many people do not like changes because, unless we can comfortably keep our heads stuck in the sand, change forces us to change.
One favorite verse concerning circumstances is Romans 8:28: “God works all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose...”
Those who know this promise cling to it when life turns upside-down yet the thoughtful reader should go on to the next verse which states just exactly what God has in mind when He says that He “works all things for good” in a Christian’s life. Verse 29 says “... for those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son...”
“All things” are purposed by God for change... change from what we are like to what He is like -- and that is very good! That makes change not merely vital to our Christian experience but it is our destiny. (See I John 3:1-3).
Once a great sculptor began work on a huge piece of marble, intending to carve a magnificent horse. When asked how he knew what to carve from the piece and what to leave, he said, “That’s easy. I just take off everything that doesn’t look like a horse.”
And that is just what God is doing in the lives of those who love Him -- carving away everything that is not like Jesus Christ... using, along with His Word, all events of life like a chisel to carve and conform us. he intends to remove chucks of selfishness, pride, and rebellion, breaking them away and leaving the pure beauty of the living Christ for all to see.
Why does it work? Simply because each trial, each pressure-situation, calls from us a response. Will it be the typical human one of resistance to change, resentment and bitterness? Or will it be in obedience to the One who lives within us and desires to make Himself visible in all we say and do? When I make plans and they are changed by circumstances outside of my control, it is not always easy to remember the purposes God has in “all things.” But when I think about this promise and cooperate with the Master sculptor, the pain of change changes to the excitement of a transformed life. His promise concerning what He will do if I yield to His sculpting tool becomes a far better plan than those of my own making.
It is not that prayerful planning and time-management are a waste; neither is taking time to attend to interruptions. What is wasteful is failing to yield to the hand of God, the Sovereign Sculptor of my destiny.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Coping with copy editing ...................... Parables 076
These articles are written and revised in my basement, edited at the Fort Record in downtown Fort Saskatchewan, and sent by an ingenious machine to Camrose where they are set in the proper print style, shaped to fit the available space, and published as part of the newspaper.
So, when someone told me last week I was getting “rather abrupt” with my writing, I checked the copies of what I had submitted, compared them to the final outcome and was surprised to discover that the last sentence, and sometimes even the last paragraph, of three or four recent articles had been chopped off somewhere along the production process.
Now there is something most people don’t know about journalism. Most news stories are written in an inverted-triangle style. That means that all the essential information is given up front. The details or “padding” is added after it. If the copy people cannot fit a story into a page, they will cut the bottom off it to make it fit. The story, because it has the basics near the beginning, will still make sense.
But I don’t write news stories, nor do I write in a typical inverted- triangle journalism style. So when my endings were cut off, I was tempted to react like anyone would if they had been interrupted and not allowed to finish what they were saying or doing. After all, this was a circumstance beyond my control. Somebody else “did it”, not me. I could respond by getting angry and bitter, or even just throwing my hands in the air and quitting...
But God encourages His people to think differently, to see even little adversities as opportunities to grow. He does promise that “all things work together for good to them that love Him, to them that are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Since I don’t have enough energy to stay angry or bitter, and I’m too ornery to quit, I decided to see how I could grow from this, and use it for my good, even though I did wonder how important those endings were. I felt they pulled the articles together and were necessary. Would someone fail to be comforted, encouraged, challenged, or edified because they fell to the cutting room floor?
Those are things I can never know, but God does, so I had to acknowledge that God is sovereign. Since He knows far more than I, I accepted His decision to allow my work to be cut. He could have prevented it, but He choose not. He also is Lord. He has the right to edit even the most brilliant piece of writing (never mind my attempts) if it has no part in His plan. With thinking like that, I actually found myself thanking Him that it happened, even though I may never know all the reasons.
Secondly, It would have been easy to be angry at the editor, or whoever was responsible. Instead I found out that a new copy-editor did it innocently, to make the piece fit, as good copy editors are supposed to do - and it probably will not happen again. Because I determined that even should someone be “out to get me” (no one was) or have any kind of personal reasons to thwart my written words (no one did), my responsibility was not to react in anger or fear, but to be polite and sincere. In other words, keep my own conscience clear and not offend or burden anyone. It is so easy to toss retaliation around, but this time no one was hurt or upset.
Thirdly, I decided the words were not a waste. They encouraged me when I wrote them, and maybe they were more suited to my needs that day than the people who might read them the following week.
Fourth, it occurred to me that it wouldn’t hurt to continue to learn to communicate with clarity and brevity. We don’t always get an opportunity to “sum up” or deliver a “punch line”.
So often, knowing the sovereignty of God and the goodness behind His intentions rescues me from anger and frustration, making these ordinary issues in life opportunities to remember and worship Him.
So, when someone told me last week I was getting “rather abrupt” with my writing, I checked the copies of what I had submitted, compared them to the final outcome and was surprised to discover that the last sentence, and sometimes even the last paragraph, of three or four recent articles had been chopped off somewhere along the production process.
Now there is something most people don’t know about journalism. Most news stories are written in an inverted-triangle style. That means that all the essential information is given up front. The details or “padding” is added after it. If the copy people cannot fit a story into a page, they will cut the bottom off it to make it fit. The story, because it has the basics near the beginning, will still make sense.
But I don’t write news stories, nor do I write in a typical inverted- triangle journalism style. So when my endings were cut off, I was tempted to react like anyone would if they had been interrupted and not allowed to finish what they were saying or doing. After all, this was a circumstance beyond my control. Somebody else “did it”, not me. I could respond by getting angry and bitter, or even just throwing my hands in the air and quitting...
But God encourages His people to think differently, to see even little adversities as opportunities to grow. He does promise that “all things work together for good to them that love Him, to them that are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Since I don’t have enough energy to stay angry or bitter, and I’m too ornery to quit, I decided to see how I could grow from this, and use it for my good, even though I did wonder how important those endings were. I felt they pulled the articles together and were necessary. Would someone fail to be comforted, encouraged, challenged, or edified because they fell to the cutting room floor?
Those are things I can never know, but God does, so I had to acknowledge that God is sovereign. Since He knows far more than I, I accepted His decision to allow my work to be cut. He could have prevented it, but He choose not. He also is Lord. He has the right to edit even the most brilliant piece of writing (never mind my attempts) if it has no part in His plan. With thinking like that, I actually found myself thanking Him that it happened, even though I may never know all the reasons.
Secondly, It would have been easy to be angry at the editor, or whoever was responsible. Instead I found out that a new copy-editor did it innocently, to make the piece fit, as good copy editors are supposed to do - and it probably will not happen again. Because I determined that even should someone be “out to get me” (no one was) or have any kind of personal reasons to thwart my written words (no one did), my responsibility was not to react in anger or fear, but to be polite and sincere. In other words, keep my own conscience clear and not offend or burden anyone. It is so easy to toss retaliation around, but this time no one was hurt or upset.
Thirdly, I decided the words were not a waste. They encouraged me when I wrote them, and maybe they were more suited to my needs that day than the people who might read them the following week.
Fourth, it occurred to me that it wouldn’t hurt to continue to learn to communicate with clarity and brevity. We don’t always get an opportunity to “sum up” or deliver a “punch line”.
So often, knowing the sovereignty of God and the goodness behind His intentions rescues me from anger and frustration, making these ordinary issues in life opportunities to remember and worship Him.
Monday, August 5, 2013
No Need to "What if?" .................. Parables 007
Another school was closed this afternoon due to a bomb threat.
News headlines tell of schools attacked by snipers, burned down by pranksters, bullet-sprayed by crazies, taught by sexually perverted people, marched on by mad minorities, and crashed into by airplanes.
Who said, “Enjoy school -- it is the best time of your life”?
Moms and dads reading these things are beginning to “what-if?” Some have pulled their children out of school and retreated underground, to spend the rest of their lives “protected” from society in a bomb shelter. Others worry themselves gray. Still others try to shut it out, knowing they have little control.
One of these unusual events touched my life this week. As my son told me about it, this thought ran through my mind, “But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose.”
I wondered, for a brief moment, why that verse from Romans 8 should fit this situation. But later on I realized how practical it was. The “news of the day” had not flustered me in the slightest. That truth protected me from the “what-if’s.”
I send my son to school about 200 days out of a year, and run the risk of a multitude of things that could happen to him. Yet over and over again, this promise from God sets my mind at rest. I know that it applies to me, for I love God and have been called by Him according to His purpose. But it also applies to my son. He loves God also, and has responded to His call. And, according to the Word of God, nothing is going to happen to him that God cannot use in his life, for God’s own good purpose. The very next verse (verse 29) reveals that His purpose is to transform those He calls into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Frankly, I haven’t a clue how God controls the events of life, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, and uses them to mold a person into a different person’s image. I do know that he starts from within, and gives the gift of his Son to each of us who have responded to His call. His Son lives within. Then somehow, He takes the outside and reworks it to match the inside. That makes all of life a school -- a school where every situation is a lesson or an exam, and the only way to fail is to refuse to be molded.
We will send our son back to school, confident of Who is in charge of his life, and joyfully see both kinds of school shaping him to mental and spiritual maturity. And we don’t have to “what-if.”
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