TRUSTING GOD IN ALL OF LIFE

A fundamental doctrinal truth for every believer in the true and living God is that He is absolutely sovereign. We believe that God is God.

·         Nebuchadnezzar came to understand this: Daniel 4:34,35.

·         Isaiah clearly taught this perspective of truth concerning God: Isaiah 46:9-11.

·         The Psalmist answered his critics very clearly in Ps 115:4, But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

·         James’ instruction to say if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that was deduced from his understanding of God’s sovereign rule in His universe.

Not only is God sovereign, He is the only wise God (1 Tim. 1:17), righteous in all his ways (Ps. 145:17), and intends only that which is to His own glory and the good of His people (Rom. 8:28).

It is this basic understanding of who God is that makes the exhortations of God to His people to trust in Him the most reasonable response to all of life. Because of who He is, and because we believe that He is, we can unreservedly trust Him in every situation and do exactly as He has commanded us with the confidence that His will is best.

Anxiety is all too often the believer’s response to difficulties in life:

·         Anxiety is the sinful response to life and life’s responsibilities. In anxiety we turn to self instead of turning to God. Anxiety is fear without faith. It is vigilance run amok. We scan the horizon constantly, fearfully, but without ever taking action or responsibility and without clinging to God. Bob Kellemen (http://www.rpmministries.org/2015/11/anxiety-stuck-vigilance/)

·         Anxiety is response to life without a sense of confidence in God.

§  The intensity of a situation, the overwhelming difficulty of a relationship, and the crippling fearfulness of the awareness of inadequacy all lead self-focused ones to anxiety.

§  Anxiety then leads to sinful choices: some kind of isolation, avoidance, withdrawal, inactivity; OR anger, manipulation, domination, incessant talk/evaluation, etc..  God is ignored – no soul-quietness.

Clarify:

·         Trusting God does not mean indifference or care-less spirit to life or life’s responsibilities.

·         Trusting God does not mean shirking responsibility and simply letting come what may.

·         Feelings of concern associated with personal pain, financial struggles, or relational strains are not necessarily sinful. Godly vigilance demands that we guard, care, give, love, respond, etc..

Trusting God must be the believer’s default response to life:

Trusting God is the heart/inner posture of one who takes God at His word and constantly sees in the cross of Jesus Christ God’s commitment to his salvation and care.  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

·         One trusting God is able to believe the promise of God even though the promise seems impossible or out of reach: Heb. 11:13.

·        One trusting God is able to keep believing and responding in obedience, even when there is darkness and confusion: Isaiah 50:10 (don’t need to understand everything to be submissive.)

·         One trusting is able to release from his spirit the burden of control (trying to make something happen) and simply focus upon fulfilling his responsibility in life by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

·         One trusting is able to entrust to God, with confidence and thanksgiving, every outcome of life and ministry as he seeks to do His will revealed to him through His Word.

We say to others by our attitudes, words and actions that God is either trustworthy, or He is not!

God is glorified as our lives manifest that we trust Him. What is your life saying to those who know you?

MAKING SENSE OF SENSELESS ACTS OF EVIL

Being human since the fall of Adam means two things, at least: limited knowledge and tainted reasoning. If we were morally perfect, we would still possess limited range of knowledge. Therefore, we do not have  ability to draw absolute conclusions that fully satisfy our questions. But since we are also affected by a nature that comes short of the glory of God, we struggle with making sense of all that life brings our way.

The senseless acts of a man terrorizing children, and adults, in a school setting are difficult for us to process. There is no one that has trouble calling the actions evil. Few would probably have trouble calling the perpetrator evil. Thankfully, we live in a culture that has not yet digressed to the point that we are desensitized to the horrible nature of such crimes.

But, it is interesting, as we begin to process the event and questions develop in our minds, our why questions often and quickly move from the perpetrator to God. It is because we believe that God is sovereign, and is certainly able to do whatever He pleases among the inhabitants of the earth, that we are challenged in our minds with His part in such tragedies. We know that He didn’t do it. We know He didn’t kill those children. But we also know that He is God, and therefore could have stopped it. Why didn’t He? Why did He permit it to occur?

Ultimately, I am sure there is no answer that will satisfy the unbelieving mind. But I am sure that whatever answer we give, it must not be an answer that humanizes God. Every act of evil in this world is an expression of man’s total depravity. God withdraws restraints at times to permit the ugliness of the human condition to be clearly seen. Such horrible acts of violence should humble our own hearts, as we remember that we are members of the human race, which collectively stands condemned under God due to our rebellion and violence against Him. Thank God’s restraining grace that expressions of evil are limited!

Can anything good come out of such tragedy? Is any good result really worth permitting such immense evil? Perhaps the best answer is found at the cross! There, wicked hands crucified and slew the very eternal Son of God. He was beaten and shamed! He didn’t deserve it! And for what? What good could have come from such monumental injustice? There is now good news for a world of sinners! It is possible for good to result from evil!

For those experiencing the grief and pain of this most recent tragedy, no good can be seen right now. We should not attempt to get them to see it. Can we see it? Probably not. But God is working by evil and good to bring about His purpose. It is best that we trust Him and wait upon Him to make things clear. And, as we wait and trust, be completely yielded to Him.       

DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR GOD

There are passages in Scripture that make most of us rather uncomfortable. For example, when God says, as part of His judgment against Judah, He would cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of this friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them (Jeremiah 19:9). We cringe when we read such statements. We hope that no one else, especially our unbelieving friends (or enemies), will find those passages and ask us about them.

It was reported that the infamous atheist Richard Dawkins offered to put up money to buy Bibles for children in the schools in England. He wanted them to read it from beginning to end. He wanted them to see what the God of the Bible was really like. He spoke with certainty that having read all the Bible they would certainly reject the God it proclaimed.

Christians, knowing that such thinking exists in the world, often set out to defend and debate the revelation God has given of Himself in Scripture. In an attempt to answer objections, they often dull the cutting edges of certain Scripture to the point that it may as well have not been written. Do you suppose that God wants us to know Him just as He has revealed Himself? Is it possible that we actually do not know what we are doing when we attempt to either conceal harsh sounding Scriptures, or explain them in such a way that the true nature of God is not revealed? Do we really want to hide the fact that God is holy and just, and that He will indeed punish the wicked?

If God did not want Himself known in the light that Scripture reveals Him, He would have had His prophets speak in another way. He is the one who said, I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons… It is true the cause would be by way of the siege and the siege was due to God lifting His hand of protection from Jerusalem. Yet, it is clear that God wants us to know He is behind the judgment. In the book of Jeremiah this point is made in an almost exhausting manner. It is as if God wants us to know that He will indeed punish sinners!

Hell (gehenna, or the lake of fire) is the eternal punishment that God has promised to all who are not saved, or rescued, by the Lord Jesus Christ. Interestingly, gehenna is connected to the valley of the son of Hinnom found in Jeremiah 19. This is the valley that Jeremiah prophesies would be turned into a valley of slaughter (vs. 6). It is the valley that became a perpetual smoldering pit for trash, dead criminals and animals. Gehenna, translated hell in the KJV, is the word Jesus used to refer to the place of eternal punishment.

But hell is future. No one has seen it. Could it be that the graphic terms of Old Testament punishment against sin are given to assure us that the graphic terms of future eternal punishment are for real. God told Israel in graphic details what would come of them if they continued in rebellion. For the most part they didn’t believe God. Surely, He wouldn’t do such a thing. God is not like that! Yet, He did do it!

As to the gory thought of cannibalism in a city under siege, prophesied through Jeremiah in 19:9 - it really happened! Lamentations 4:10, The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. (NKJV) God is letting the world know that hell is no more beyond Him than the awful judgments predicted and carried out in the OT time period.

You can’t believe in a God like this? Well, you can make up your own god. Or, you can deny there is a god. Many have followed their own imagination and feelings before you and come to various conclusions. God reveals Himself very clearly in Scripture. It is in your best interest to bow before Him and heed what He says. Those who do not will be punished with everlasting destruction from His presence (2 Thess. 1:9). He is a consuming fire. You need to know this!

Christians, don’t hide the truth concerning God. It may be uncomfortable. But it is necessary that the world know who the true and living God really is. If they conclude they cannot believe in a God like this, then they will have to deal with their conclusions. But if you misrepresent God, and someone believes in your misrepresentation; you will have God to answer to! God is not ashamed of His revelation. Should we be?