So I was reading through Isaiah 45 today… it’s a good chapter, but it seems to show a side of God that we don’t like to see. God does whatever the heck God wants to. We cant stand in judgement over what he does. We must simply trust in his goodness. It says that he ‘forms the light and creates darkness. He brings prosperity and creates disaster.’ We love to hear that God brings prosperity, but we never want to hear about him creating disaster. To say that God would have caused hurricane Katrina would make most people turn because ‘he would never do that.’ But it seems that scripture says that he does not just allow bad things to happen but that he creates them sometimes also.
So what are we to do with this? I think we need to see the bigger picture. First, life is not all about us and our happiness. God’s highest concern is not our comfort. It is His glory. And if something brings him more glory, then isn’t that what we are to strive for. If losing my wife brings God more glory, who am I to argue with that? Didn’t he save me? Don’t I owe him my life? Who am I to question him, one infinitely more wise than me, on his decisions?
Now, I think there is one caveat that should be inserted, one bit of information that makes what I just said OK. God is good. Let me repeat that. God is good. He is loving and kind. He wishes that none should parish. If I know that, I am ok with the bad stuff. If I really trust him, I know that that ‘bad’ stuff is for a reason. I don’t believe that God would send someone to hell without them having a chance at salvation. That means that even thought many died in Hurricane Katrina, every one of them had a chance to go to heaven. Some accepted. Some didn’t. However, through that time, many people were displaced. Many people had a chance to hear the gospel who may not have otherwise. Many people were given better lives by relocating. In the end, more people will be worshiping in the throne room of God because of that situation. Not that I understand that, but I must trust that.
God is not safe, but he is good!
1 comment:
Amen and amen. That's my favorite quote from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Also take this one from Helen's signature:
"For, were it not good that evil things should also exist, the omnipotent God would almost certainly not allow evil to be, since beyond doubt it is just as easy for Him not to allow what He does not will, as for Him to do what He will."
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