Trials, Tests, and Troubles? #3
When God doesn't make sense
by Keith Hunt WHEN GOD DOESN'T MAKE SENSE A little saying I came across some time ago goes like this: Just when you thought you were winning the rat race, along come faster rats. Have you experienced times in your life, situations in your life, happenings in your life or in the life of your family, when you seemed to be winning the race, you had really got the handle on the use of wisdom, there was no big sin in your life that you were hiding from people, no skeleton in the closet, you were honestly trying to live by every word of God, and all seemed to be going on a win win playing field. Then out of the blue, like a thunderbolt from a clear cloudless sky, you were hit it would seem "below the belt" to have the wind knocked right out of you. I had entered the Church of God during the very early 60's, when we had our first local minister about 1965 I was soon being used for various duties within the church. As I had some music ability it was my responsibility to keep in touch with others in the group who had musical talents. A family came into the church with such gifts, it was not long and I was a good friend of theirs. They had 3 or 4 children(my memory escapes me now on the exact number). I soon got to know all of them. They were a quiet serene type family, very humble and deeply dedicated to serving the Lord. I was very spiritually impressed with their eldest daughter, she was about 14 or 15. A pretty young teenager with all of her life ahead of her. When visiting her parents I had often spoken to her about the way of the Lord. She was very mature for her age and sincerely wanted to know and serve God. I knew it was only a matter of time before she would be baptized. One week I received a phone call from the minister telling me this young lady was sick, he had anointed her, but would I go and visit the family and keep close in touch with them letting him know how things were going (the sickness was one of those very rare and odd "house polluted" viruses, you hardly ever hear of it in the Western world). Some of the others in the family were only partly sick. Of course I was off to visit those parents and their lovely sick daughter. We talked about the Lord, and how we were all in His hands. We all, including this young lady, looked to God for healing. Because things did not get any better after a few days, the minister advised the parents to call in the medical doctors. So done, they also seemed lost as to what to do, but they finally said she should be admitted to the hospital, and she was. I can not remember now what the doctors diagnosed this teenager with, but it was serious. I do remember that back in the middle 1960s the medical doctors had nothing to fight this decease with, they were hopeless to know how to treat or kill this strange virus infection she had. One evening I decided to visit this sick young lady in the hospital. What a great visit, again we talked about the Lord, His healing power,there was no doubt on her part or mine, that God of course can heal any sickness, if He chooses to so do. I had no problem talking to her about the seriousness of her sickness, it was life threatening, she knew it, I knew it, the minister knew it, her mother and father knew it, the doctors knew it. I had already visited with her parents, they knew her life was in God's hands. The doctors in the 60's could not help, it was beyond their medicines at that time. What a spiritually mature young lady she was. I talked openly to her about life and about death, and about all of us being in God's hands. She believed all that, she told me she was ready for whatever was the will of God. The next day I was told she had died. I must admit to you I was somewhat shocked to hear that news. I was confident God would heal her. A beautiful, clean living, spiritually maturing girl, one that was obedient to her parents, loved to attend church and read God's word. Here was a young lady that one day would have made a lovely Christian wife and mother for some man, and the Lord allowed her to DIE! I could not understand WHY! It just did not make any sense to me. I still have no answer to this day as to the reason why the Lord did not heal her. He could have that is for sure. He has and still does heal people from what otherwise would be sure death. Yet this young lady died at the beginning of her prime. At times it would seem to us moral flesh that God just doesn't make sense. A number of years back I heard about a family (did not know them personally) who were on their way to observe a Christian festival. Travelling to this fall festival they had done faithfully year after year. This was nothing new to them, it was a regular custom. Here they are minding their own business, doing nothing wrong or illegal as they were driving along, when out of the blue, through no fault of their own, along comes some truck and SMASH BAG! I believe 5 or 6, all of them from one family - wiped out, KILLED!! And this happened on their way to attend a feast of the Lord. Why you ask? I asked the same question, but it did happen. There are times when to us mortals God just does not seem to make sense. Why didn't He send His angel to protect them from that disaster, He has and does give protection through His angelic beings. Why did He not do it for them on that day? I have no answer for YOU. I will quote for you what I consider are some very pertinent passages on this topic, from the book "When God Doesn't Make Sense" by Dr.James Dobson. "Unfortunately, many young believers - and some older ones too - do not know that there will be times in every person's life when circumstances don't add up - when God doesn't appear to make sense....My chief concern at this point, and the reason I have chosen to write this book, is for my fellow believers who are struggling with circumstances that don't make sense. In my work with families who are going through various hardships, from sickness and death to marital conflict and adolescent rebellion, I have found it common for those in crisis to feel great frustration with God. This is particularly true when things happen that seem illogical and inconsistent with what had been taught or understood. Then if the Lord does not rescue them from the circumstances in which they are embroiled, their frustration quickly deteriorates into anger and a sense of abandonment. Finally disillusionment sets in and the spirit begins to wither." (pages 9,12). You may be asking the question concerning my first true example above: How did the parents of the young teenager who died take it all? Like spiritually seasoned veterans, a real inspiration to all of us. They did not doubt God, they did not blame Him, did not get angry at Him, or loose their faith in Him or His word. Back to Dr.Dobson's book: "......those who live long enough will eventually be confronted by happenings they will not understand. That is the human condition. Let me say it again: It is an incorrect view of Scripture to say that we will always comprehend what God is doing and how our suffering and disappointment fit into His plan. Sooner or later, most of us will come to a point where it appears that God has lost control - or interest in the affairs of people. It is only an illusion, but one with dangerous implications for spiritual and mental health. Interestingly enough, pain and suffering do not cause the greatest damage. Confusion is the factor that shreds one's faith....The God whom he has loved, worshipped, and served turns out to appear silent, distant, and uncaring in the moment of greatest need. Do such times come even to the faithful? Yes, they do, although we are seldom willing to admit it within the Christian community. " (pages 13,15). Confusion along with the whispers of Satan the devil at such times of pain, sorrow, trial and trouble, can cause some to reject God, throw in the towel, give up the battle, declare defeat and turn back to wallow in the muck of the unconverted world. Sadly, I have seen that happen among ones who knew and lived the truth at one time. A very good friend of mine at one time in the Church of God, an older man than myself, but we were very close because he, his wife, and I, were three of the six founding members of the church in our city. This man had one of his two sons killed one night by a hit and run driver. He was hitch-hiking from one part of the county to another when someone hit him into the ditch with their car. They may not even have known they hit him, but if they did they never stopped to help, and he died shortly after. In their grief, both his father and mother left the church and turned away from following the true God and His way of life. As Dobson has written in his aforementioned book: "When the heat is on and confusion mounts, some believers go through a horrendous spiritual crisis. They 'lose God.' Doubts rise up to obscure His presence and disillusionment settles into despair. The greatest frustration is knowing that He created the entire universe by simply speaking it into existence, and He has all power and all understanding. He could rescue. He could heal. He could save. But why won't He do it? This sense of abandonment is a terrible experience for someone whose entire being is rooted in the Christian ethic. Satan then drops by for a little visit and whispers, 'He is not here! You are alone!'" Then as James Dobson goes on to say: "What does such a person do when God makes no sense? To whom does he confess his troubling - even heretical - thoughts? From whom does he seek counsel? What does he tell his family when his faith is severely shaken? Where does he go to find a new set of values and beliefs? While searching for something more reliable in which to believe, he discovers that there is no other name - no other God - to whom he can turn....Christians who lose God during a period of spiritual confusion are like the vine that has been cut off from its source. They are deprived of nurture and strength. They seem to cope at first, but the concealed wound is mortal. They begin to wither in the heat of the sun....Indeed, some of the most bitter, unhappy people on the earth are those who have become estranged from the God they no longer understand or trust....If you are among those people who have been separated from the Vine because of disillusionment or confusion, I have written with you in mind." (pages 18-20). Yes, and if there is anyone reading this article who is in a state of confusion over this subject, then I recommend you go out and buy or borrow Dr.Dobson's book "When God Doesn't Make Sense" and read it in its entirety. We must realize that it is God who made the universe, made all there is, established the laws of nature. It is He who made mankind and not we who made Him, although some like to make God into their own image. We are finite, He is infinite. We are lacking in and growing in knowledge, He is all knowing and perfect in knowledge. We can not see what lies beyond in the next hour, He can see far into the future. Although He does give us a portion of searching a thing out, there are many things He conceals from us in this physical life - Proverbs 25:2. Sometimes and in some ways God does hide Himself from us - Isaiah 45:15. There are things that the Lord has chosen to keep to Himself, for now at least - Deuteronomy 29:29. We need at times to remember Ecclesiastes 11:5 which says, "As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in the mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things." Isaiah 55:8-9 teaches,,"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."' As Dr.Dobson has written: " Clearly, the Scriptures tell us we lack the capacity to grasp God's infinite mind or the way He intervenes in our lives. How arrogant of us to think otherwise! Trying to analyze His omnipotence is like an amoeba attempting to comprehend the behavior of man. Romans 11:33 (KJV) indicates that God's judgments are un-searchable and His ways 'past finding out.' Similar language is found in 1 Corinthians 2:16: 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?' Clearly, unless the Lord chooses to explain Himself to us, which often He does not, His motivation and purposes are beyond the reach of mortal man. What this means in practical terms is that many of our questions especially those that begin with the word 'why' - will have to remain unanswered for the time being. "The Apostle Paul referred to the problem of unanswered questions when he wrote, 'Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known' (1 Corinthians 13:12). Paul was explaining that we will not have the total picture until we meet in eternity. By implication we must learn to accept partial understanding" (When God Doesn't Make Sense, pages 8,9). It can be very easy when in a time of severe testing, trial, or trouble (if not with all the amour of God - Ephesians 6), to say things with our mouth that we ought not say. Some have said such things as: "It has been an error to become a Christian" or "It is a waste of time to serve God - I have all these troubles - I should quit." Take note what is taught us in Ecclesiastes 5 and verse 6. Such thoughts and words are from the mind of the Adversary - Satan! He is able to tempt us to sin by these very thoughts. He can even put such thoughts into our mind. If that should happen we need to be able and ready to say "get behind me Satan, for you say not the things that be of God." It may seem hard at times to understand God. There will probably be times when it may seem God does not make sense. But the word of this God says "the just shall live by faith and not by sight." No matter how hard it may be for our fleshly finite mind to handle certain situations that may arise in our lives, the true Christian must believe with all faith and trust the verse of Romans 8:28, "And we know that all work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose." GOD IS WITH TO HELP YOU - HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU! I know it may be of little comfort to quote to you Romans 8:28 when your daughter has just been raped by some beast of a man, or your neighbor has sexually molested your son or daughter. It is hard to understand that verse when you have just lost your wife or husband in a car crash due to a drunk driver, or when a gang of thugs has beaten up your son on his way home from school. Yes, a hard to comprehend verse in the light of all the things that this life may dish out to us. During the time Job was going through all his pain, suffering and troubles, he couldn't at the time comprehend the why of it either. Yet Job knew that tests, trials, and troubles, are not given to us with the view in mind to turn us away from God and His way of life. We need to pray and ask the Lord to help us ingrain in our minds the attitude that Job exhibited when he was under pressure from his troubles, pain, and sorrow - his words were: "Shall we receive GOOD AT THE HANDS of the Lord, and shall we not receive EVIL. The Lord GAVE and the Lord hath TAKEN AWAY, blessed be the name of the Lord." Consider the account of Elijah in 1 Kings 17. Verses 3 and 4 say, "Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." That was very good news for Elijah because of the drought in the land at the time. At least he was not going to die of thirst. But now look at verse 7, "And it came to pass after a while, that the brook DRIED UP...." Elijah was human, I suspect he may have questioned if God was making any sense. He sends him to a brook to sustain him AND THE BROOK RUNS DRY! He may even have wondered if God had left him, forgotten about him. But no, the next verse tells us God was still with him. He had other plans for him in the overall scheme of things. There may be times when everything looks like it is unravelling in our lives and the Lord is busy doing something else more important than watching over us. But for the Christian nothing could be further from the truth. I personally have experienced times like this. I just could not understand the Lord and what was going on in my life. I was trying to serve Him with all my heart, soul and mind, I wanted to do His will. I had prayed and prayed. And things were just not working out the way I wanted or thought they should. I could have easily got myself into the attitude that God had turned His back on me. Satan wants us to do just that during such troublesome times. The Lord had not left me at all. He was working His work in my life, although I could not understand it at the time. Now as I look back on it all years later, I see that without those experiences I would not be the man I am today. Those sore trials and troubles of yesterday are able to help me be a more considerate, patient, sympathetic and understanding minister of the gospel today. Remember the disciples at the time of Jesus' death and the days shortly after. They had been with Christ for three and one half years. They had heard Him preach the wonderful truths of God, they had seen the many great miracles He had performed. They were convinced that He was indeed the very Son of the Most High God. Then they had seen how mortal man was able to beat and tear Him apart, then nail Him to a stake and there they heard Him cry out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" It seemed to them that God had left them. Peter said, "I'm goin' fishin'." They had a severe problem of perception. All they saw was what the facts seemed to say and they could not harmonize them with all the facts of the previous three years. They thought God had left them, that He was no longer with them. It was only later that they could see where the Lord had never left them, but was working out His purpose in His time and at His will. David knew God was intimately interested in human beings ALL THE TIME: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4 NIV). And again in Psalm 139: "O Lord, you have searched me and you KNOW ME. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with ALL MY WAYS. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, 0 Lord" (verses 1-4, NIV, emphasis mine). The word teaches us that God loves His children infinitely more than we, "being evil," (as Jesus once put it) can express to our own flesh and blood. Jesus said that the heavenly Father knew each sparrow that falls, He provides food for them, so how much more is He concerned about us humans who are made in His image and after His likeness. God knows the very number of hairs on our head. He never leaves those who are truly His children, begotten with His Holy Spirit, heirs of His Kingdom, co-heirs with Christ Jesus (Romans 8:14-17). Jesus promised His disciples of all ages that He would never leave them. He said that those who loved Him would be loved of the Father. That those who would keep His words both He and the Father would come and live within them (John 14:21,23). God the Father is not some whimsical fellow who uses us, plays with us, and then casts us aside to forget about us for a while. NO NOT AT ALL! Once we have been converted and are filled with His Spirit, He is always there with us even in our darkest and roughest trials and storms of life. The story in Matthew 8:23-26 is a fine example. Jesus, during His ministry while on earth, could hardly be accused of "making it easy" or "soft touching" the men whom He chose for His inner circle. You are familiar with the story I believe. Picture them in a small boat late one evening. Jesus had had a busy day, so He grabs a cushion and goes off to a corner of the boat for a "cat nap." While He slept a "furious storm" came up. Remember some of the disciples were professional fishermen and they knew very well what a storm could do to a small craft and those in it. They became ever more frightened, possibly naturally so you may think, but Jesus, when they awoke Him, for fear they would all drown:, did not think they should have been so afraid. He said to them: "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" (NIV). Stop and think about it, there was Jesus the Christ, the very Son of God, indeed God in the flesh, WITH THEM in the boat, unconcerned, asleep, but yet with them. He had not said, "Oh, guys please excuse me, I'm staying on land for I know what is coming later out there on the sea." He did not leave them, even when the stormy billows blew, He was there while they struggled through it. They should have had faith that with God in the boat with them all would work out okay in the end, for God never leaves us especially when we need Him the most. Let me go back to Dr.James Dobson's book "When God Doesn't Make Sense" and quote some pertinent thoughts of his on this point. ".......a person who really believes that all trouble will be swept away for the followers of Christ, is left with no logical explanation when God fails to come through. Sooner or later an illness, a business collapse, an accident, or some other misfortune will leave him in dismay. What is he to believe when he discovers 'life as it is' turns out to be very different than 'life as it is supposed to be'? He stumbles toward one of several conclusions,, all of which are potentially damaging to his faith: (1) God is dead, irrelevant, bored, or uninvolved in the affairs of man; (2) God is angry at me or some sin I've committed ; (3) God is whimsical, untrustworthy, unfair or sinister; (4) God ignored me because I didn't pray enough or display enough faith. All four of these alternatives serve to isolate that individual from God at the precise moment when his spiritual need is the greatest. I believe it is a ploy of Satan to undermine the faith of the vulnerable....There are so many other sources of pain. I am mindful of those among my readers who are hurting for less catastrophic reasons, such as adult children of alcoholics, those who have been overweight from childhood, those who have been physically or sexually abused in the early years, and people who are blind, quadriplegic, chronically ill, etc. I'm also concerned for the single mothers who wonder how long they can carry the load that is upon their shoulders. A million different scenarios exist, but they all point to a similar kind of frustration. And most of them bear theological implications....No, I can't provide tidy little solutions to all of life's annoying inconsistencies. That will not occur until we see the Lord face to face. But his heart is especially tender toward the down-trodden and the defeated. HE KNOWS YOUR NAME AND HE HAS SEEN EVERY TEAR YOU HAVE SHED. He was there on each occasion when life took a wrong turn. And what
YOU WOULD NEVER FEEL ALONE AGAIN. David returned to that thought in Psalm 103:11: 'For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.'" (pages 110, 111, 235-236, emphasis mine). Then we have that wonderful section of inspired scripture in Romans the eighth chapter beginning with verse 26. When in times of such mental and emotional distress that it is practically impossible to put the words together in prayer to the Father in heaven, then the Spirit - Christ Jesus (verse 34) - makes INTERCESSION "for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." No matter what may be our trials, tests, and troubles. No matter how small or LARGE, God is ALWAYS there, He never LEAVES US! Remember the famous little poem called "Footprints." The person relating the story tells you about two sets of footprints in the sand. Their own and those of the Lord as He walked alongside them. Then in the most difficult and troublesome time of life there was only one set of prints. Our story-teller asks the Lord why He left them at the time they needed Him the most. The Lord answers them: "Oh, my child when you saw only one set of foot prints that was not when I left you, that was the time I CARRIED you." ................. TO BE CONTINUED Written August 1995 |
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