Back
to Table of Contents/homepage
What a mess the world is in! The more I read or hear the more
I know how true this is. It is not just on certain days, but everyday
that I read in the paper of people suffering and dying. Earthquakes,
hurricanes, fires, bombings, plane crashes, explosions, murders;
wars-big, little and in between are occurring continually. In
my family and in my personal contacts I am constantly hearing
of people losing their jobs, getting sick, being in accidents,
dying. Everywhere around me I "see" pain and suffering
of one kind or another--in the world, in the nation, in the community,
in my family. It has touched our own bodies to one degree or another.
What a world... What a picture I see! And Christians are just
as exposed to, and affected by, these occurrences as is everybody
else.
How can it be that there is so much pain, suffering and death
in the world if God is good and has the power to do whatever
he wants? Is something wrong? Is the world too much for God? How
do such declarations of God as "in all things God works for
the good of those who love him, who have been called according
to his purpose" (Romans
8:28) fit in with what I experience and
observe all around me? How can it be...?
Does the fact that pain and death--filled events are constantly
occurring in this world contradict or render meaningless any of
God's statements? Are my observations (or experiences) of pain
and suffering causing me to doubt God's character and power? (To
believe that God's declarations are not true and not factual is
just what Satan wants everyone to believe. At the beginning of
human history it was just this idea that Satan insinuated to Eve
before Eve and Adam took actions based on that belief; Genesis
3:1-4)
But unless I do reject the factuality of God statements a little
voice in me persistently raises that nasty question: "How
do the statements of a good God, an all-powerful God fit into
a world where 'bad' things seem to be constantly occurring?"
Everybody knows that smaller things fit into bigger things.
But do I always know which is the smaller thing? Are the ideas
which God's statements set forth the smaller things? Is it the
world--what I see during my brief moment on earth--that is the
reality that God's word must be fit into? Or is it the
other way around? Is it what I see in myself and around me that
must fit into a larger reality that some of God's words explicitly
state the existence of (and which other statements
of his imply the existence of)? The answer to the question about
God's statement ("in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose")is that it doesn't fit in with what
I experience and observe happening all around me. Many of God's
statements don't make sense in terms of this world. BR>
There is a more specific answer to the question, How can God's
statements (such as the above) be true?--when we see a world that
is so full of pain, suffering and death. The answer is that the
present world is not in a "normal" condition. The world
that we see, the world which scientists investigate and report
on, is no more the norm for God's reality than a delirious man
with a fever of 106 is the norm for human beings. What we see
as "reality" today is not the way God created it--or
the way it will be in the future. The reason that the world is
not the norm for all of reality is that this world is
under a curse. God imposed this curse as a judge would pronounce
a sentence. Back at the beginning of human history after Adam
first "broke" God's law by eating the "apple"
that Eve had taken, God pronounced sentence to Adam, saying,"Cursed
is the ground because of you; through painful toil you
will eat of it all the days of your life"
(Genesis 3:17) Sin entered the
world. God tells us that "sin entered
the world through one man, and death though sin, and
in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).
And it was not just the human race that was put under the curse;
all of creation was affected by it. "For
the creation was subjected to frustration not of its own choice,
but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay
and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God"
(Romans 8:21) Death is "natural"
in this world but it was not that way in the beginning. One student
of God's word summed it up this way: "The curse of God is
the expression and operation of God's wrath against sin, manifested
in thorn and thistle, in toil and sweat, in the vanity of all
things, in all kinds of suffering and sorrow and pain and death."
The world is in an "abnormal" condition because of a
curse. That being so the question comes up, 'how then can anyone
(including God) say "in all things God works for
the good" of anyone?' The answer to this is
where the "big picture" comes in. This is where the
gospel comes in. If it were not for the planned death of Jesus
the Christ on the cross Adam's sin would have resulted in death
and permanent condemnation for everyone.
God purposed to call believers out of this world and to make
us citizens of heaven and heirs to eternal life "For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
(John 3:16) "[Christ] gave
himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according
to the will of our God and Father" (Galatians
1:4) And again, "He [Christ] has
rescued us from dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom
of the Son he loves" (Colossians
1:13)
Because of what God has done in Christ believers have a unique
status: "our citizenship is in heaven"
(Philippians 3:20); because of what Jesus
Christ accomplished at the cross believers are heirs to "an
inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-- kept in heaven
for you." (1 Peter 1:4) Jesus
said, "No one who has left [family and property]
for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as
much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children
and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life." (Mark 10:30)
"All these people [Old Testament saints
described in the preceding verses] were still living by
faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;
they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they
admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth....they
were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city
for them." (Hebrews 11:13,16)
That is the gospel.
But as long as believers are physically in this world our bodies
are subject to the same terrible conditions which were the results
of the curse--toil, sweat, sickness and physical death. This is
just what God purposed. The Bible indicates that it is not God's
purpose that this world would be restored to perfection at this
time: "By the same word the present heavens and earth
are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment
and destruction of ungodly men.... That day will bring
about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements
will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his
promise we [believers] are looking forward to
a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness"
(2 Peter 3:7,12-13) The world has not be
recreated yet. Nor have the bodies of believers been changed--yet:
"We [believers]..., who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly
for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:23) And again, "Our
citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from
there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him
to bring everything under his control, will transform our
lowly bodies so that they will be like his [Jesus']
glorious body." (Philippians
3:20-21)
There will come a "time" when "creation
itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Romans 8:21) But that "time" when
there will be no more curse has not yet come. Revelation
22:3; 21:4; Acts 3:21.
But now is now. Many believers are going through periods of intense
suffering, or dying now. Does it make a difference in the present
that "our citizenship is in heaven"?
Yes. Yes. In the same way that a person living in a foreign land
who becomes an American citizen comes under the protection of
the United States so it is that those who become believers come
under the protection of God the Creator. The difference is that
God is not a momentary ripple on the face of one planet but is
all powerful. While our current bodies are affected by
everything than can affect unbelievers God has said it will not
harm us. Jesus said, "My sheep
listen to my voice...I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish" (John
10:27-28) The apostle Paul expressed this truth this way:
"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
The Bible tells believers that we "are shielded
by God's power until the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the last time."
(1 Peter 1:4-5) It makes a difference to
be under God's protection. The gospel makes all the difference.
That there is a big picture makes all the difference.
(Part II of this meditation consists of word pictures from the
Bible that show how great it is to be under God's protection.)
Does God's promise to believers--"in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose" fit into the
reality that this abnormal world displays. Of course not. But--because
of the work that Christ accomplished on the cross God's statement
is an accurate statement of God's power and care for his people.
Even the word 'good' in the phrase 'God works for the good of
those who...' derives its meaning from God's character and sovereign
power, not from our flickering egos and finite abilities. I must
remember that what God means by "good" is not the same
as what the happiness seekers of this world believe to be "good"--pleasure,
visible means of security, ego boosting, etc. The Bible says,
"Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as
they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,that
we may share in his holiness." (Hebrews
12:10) And again, "His divine power has given
useverything we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises,
so that through them you may participate in the divine nature
and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
(2 Peter 1:3-4)
If my thinking begins with the biblical premise that the currently
visible world or universe is not the whole story, that it is not
God's norm but is a temporary deviation from what the eternal
God created in the beginning and plans to create in the future,
then the question which I began with, 'How can God's statements
about working for the good of certain people be true' becomes
an entirely different question: 'how do my experiences of pain
and suffering, (and those happenings that I see around me that
involve pain, suffering and death) fit into the total
reality that the good, all-powerful God says he created--and plans
to create? When I see things in the perspective of the big picture
even the questions that bother me change!
While I cannot now (and never will) see the total reality,
while I will never have the perspective that God has, I do know
how much seeing things in perspective can change my assessment
of things that have happened to me. When I have had the benefit
of hindsight sometimes my vision improves slightly and
I can see how events or experiences did fit into a larger pattern.
My assessment of events in my life has changed a great deal when
I have seen those experiences as part of connected series of events--when
I have seen the larger picture in which those specific events
or experiences were only parts.
Getting layed off from a job was a "bad" experience
at the time but in the long run that event resulted in my getting
a much better job. The very real pain in my side was not a totally
"bad" thing because it did more than give me pain; it
also warned me of a more serious problem for which I needed an
operation. Because I enjoy living the extreme suffering caused
by a bad case of pneumonia did not turn out to be an undesirable
event since it prevented me from getting on a plane that crashed.
The death of some soldiers or some policemen is not seen as a
totally "bad" thing by the residents of a community,
state or nation when those deaths served a "worthy"
cause, when those deaths helped preserve other values such as
the continued enjoyment of our liberties. When the picture that
I see is enlarged to show other values that were furthered by
suffering or death my attitude toward that suffering and even
death sometimes changes--radically.
But the fact of the matter is, I don't see the "enlarged
picture." I never see the whole picture--how every event
from the beginning of history has some affect on everything that
follows. I don't see how what is going on now in my life or in
the world around me is connected to particular consequences in
10 years, a hundred years or in the eternal dimension--but God
does. Only he can reveal the "spiritual" connections
between the present goings on and the eternal outcome. Only he
can reveal the whole story that shows how every individual
event in my life and in the "abnormal" world fits into
God's total drama. Only the creator of the entire drama knows
the beginning, the end, and everything in between. He not only
knows the "enlarged" picture, he planned and created
the whole picture.
When I look at the various word pictures that God sets forth in
his book I am reminded of the magnitude of God; I am reminded
of how willing and able he is to preserve me (and all his people)
through every trial and finally to bring me blameless into the
inheritance that he created for his people.
(Part II of this meditation consists of interrelated word pictures
which reveal how great is our God and his works.)
To see Part II
Back To Table of Contents/homepage