One of the first things we learn about this world is that it
is broken. People do things wrong, things don’t end up the way we want them to
and many times, we don’t have control over it. Life isn’t perfect and it’s not
always fair. I am pretty sure you are reading this thinking ‘you’re preaching
to the choir!’ with a million examples running through your head. Isn’t it sad
how we can think of a million examples of how things have gone “wrong” but
struggle to come up with examples of how things went the way they should….?
But think about this…
God has infinite examples of how things turned out as
planned and zero examples of how things went “wrong”.
It is crazy and unfathomable to think that there is nothing
to God that has gone wrong…ZERO, ZILCH, NADA. According to God, everything has
gone perfectly. To our human minds (what we know of this world) that just isn’t
possible! Look at all the bad things in this world! There are people who kill,
steal, cheat, destroy things and other people. There is cancer and sickness.
There are people on the streets, without a home or food. How could God possibly
think this is perfect??
Let me start off first by saying: God isn’t ignorant! He is
omniscient- all knowing. He is fully aware of the pain and suffering in this
world. If he didn’t know about the sin that has infected us, then he wouldn’t
have sacrificed his son for our sake. He would have let him stay in Heaven and
not bothered. Jesus is proof that God knows, cares, and wants to make it
“right.”
Now you may be thinking…. ‘Woah, wait, I thought God had a
perfect track record. If everything is perfect to him…then what is there to
make ‘right’?’
Very valid question! And to avoid us getting into a circular
argument, I will say this: Jesus wasn’t plan B! Things didn’t go wrong and God
needed to come up with a way to fix it. Jesus was the plan ALL ALONG. This
world was God’s plan since forever.
The question that follows after that is…. Ok, well then why
would God plan this?? I mean…If I was creating the world, I would not have
planned this!!
Again, valid question! I am here to tell you… I don’t know.
I don’t know the mind of God…none of us know. But my best guess is that God
didn’t want people who were robots, programmed to love and follow him. He
wanted people who chose to do so. In order for that to happen, there had to be
another option for us. God created us with minds and the ability to make
decisions. He gave us free will so we will be able to exercise and use what he
gave us.
When I think about this- what comes to mind is the movie
When in Rome. In the movie, Beth (Kristen Bell) goes to Rome for her little
sister’s wedding. While there she takes coins out of the fount de amore
(fountain of love). When she does this, the men who threw the coins in the
fountain were put under a spell and were instantly in love with her. They
started following and harassing her. Beth ends up falling for a guy whom she
believes is under the spell. Her sister tells her the way to break the spell is
to personally put the coins back in the fountain or give the coins back to the
owners. “Return the coins, return the love.” Upon hearing this, Beth’s
assistant and friend Stacy takes the coins and hides them from her. Desperate
to break the insanity and the spell, Beth begs Stacy for the coins. She knows
returning the coins means she will lose the man she has fallen for. Stacy
stays, “But Beth look at what’s happened…” Beth replies, “But if I take his
love against his will, then it’s not really love.” (I may be butchering it, but
you get the point).
I think this is how God sees us. If we loved him because we
didn’t have a choice….then it’s not really love. You wouldn’t want your
significant other to love you because they were forced to, or had no choice.
No, you would rather them choose to love you.
So God didn’t have to come up with a plan B. It was all
designed intentionally and with purpose. Although we may not understand exactly
why it is the way it is, we do know we have a God who is in control and doesn’t
make mistakes. To us, we see mistake after mistake in our lives; but God sees
his plan unfolding how he intended. Whenever we make a “mistake” God’s there
with his hand in it, using the “mistake” for his glory and our good.
I am sure you have heard the saying: You plan, God laughs.
It is absolutely true! To be perfectly honest, God doesn’t
care about your plan. We may think we have our best interest at heart but
really we don’t, God does! We are incredibly flawed humans and any plan we make
or idea we have about our lives…God has something better in mind. I know many
of you are sitting there thinking, “I know that is true but I just don’t see
it” or “I really wish I could believe that, but it is really hard to trust God
when my life has gone as it has.”
Let me be the first to say, I am right there with you! I
accepted Christ into my life when I was 4 years old and although my life hasn’t
been perfect, it is definitely better than the majority of this world and I am
exceedingly blessed. But as I said, my life isn’t perfect. Things haven’t gone
“the right way” and I have been angry at God many times. In the low points I
have cried to God asking him why He has done this! Why is He letting this
happen to His child! Why isn’t He snapping His fingers and fixing this!
In those moments I think of the story of Job. Many of you
may know the story but in essence Job was a God fearing man who lost
everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!!! Job had 7 sons and 3
daughters. He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, 500 donkeys, and a large
number of servants. One day a messenger came to Job and told him the oxen and
donkeys had been taken and the servants who were watching them had been killed.
While the messenger was talking, another arrived to tell Job the sheep and
servants watching them had been burned from fire that fell from the sky. While
this messenger was speaking, another arrived to tell Job the camels had been
taken and the servants who watched them were killed. And again, as that
messenger was speaking, another arrived to tell Job a strong wind collapsed the
walls of his eldest son’s house and all his children were dead. According to
the Bible, Job was a righteous man and did not deserve what happened to him. All
of this happened in ONE day! And not spaced out within the day but within
minutes he finds out everything he had was gone! Talk about the worst day ever!
Amazingly this was Job’s response:
At this, Job got up and tore his
robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked
I came from my mother’s womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the
Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did
not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Are you kidding me?! That is astounding! That response is NOT
NORMAL! In chapter 2 of Job, Job’s health was taken from him too. He was
inflicted with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
His wife advised him to curse God and die. Luckily, he did not listen to her. He
replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God,
and not trouble?” In all of this, Job did not sin! Despite the literal hell Job
was facing in his life, he knew the goodness of God. Now, he wasn’t perfect;
Job did curse the day he was born and complain to God. He asked many questions
to God about why this was happening. He claimed injustice that God lets wicked
people prosper and innocent people suffer (sounds very familiar to
conversations today). God then asks a series of rhetorical questions to show
Job how little he knows about how much power God has. In the end, God gave Job
everything back plus some! So whenever you think you are having a bad day….just
remember, it can’t be as bad as the day Job had.
In every one of those low moment God has told me 2 things:
- My grace is sufficient
- I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. To give you hope and a future. ~ Jeremiah 29:11
Every single time, I have been annoyed with His answer. But
I know it is true. I know my God is perfect! He is faithful. He is able. He is
in control. If He could create the universe and everything in it….how can I
doubt He has everything under control? I know sometimes it looks like things
have gotten out of hand and God has lost control. But that just isn’t possible.
God loves this world more than we will ever know. If He didn’t love, Jesus
never would have come.
For God
so LOVED the world that He gave his only son…. ~John 3:16
The horrific problems in this world isn’t God’s fault, it’s
ours. We are the ones who rebelled. We wanted to be our own gods. We thought we
knew better. So God has just given us what we wanted. So let’s take the blame
off of God. He has a plan and He will restore the world back to its untarnished
glory. The tarnish we inflicted! There will be no pain, suffering or evil.
So let’s recap
- The world isn’t perfect.
- God is perfect
- We make mistakes
- God has never made a mistake
Some of us look in the mirror and see imperfections (again,
this world isn’t perfect and we aren’t either, so there will be imperfect
things about us) but when we see those imperfections, we blame God. We don’t
see those things as a result of our rebellion; we think God made a mistake.
Again, God has NEVER made a mistake!! And how egotistical is it to think you
are just so special that IF God were to make a mistake….He would make it on
you! In the history of mankind you got the golden ticket to God’s first
mistake. Really? It is not true!
So next time you see an imperfection- blame sin
Next time you think God has lost control- know he is
sovereign
Next time everything is crashing down and it’s all going to
hell- know that the creator of the universe knows you by name, created YOU and
has an amazing plan for your life! He will use whatever is going on in your
life for HIS glory and YOUR best!
When those doubts creep in your mind- remind yourself of the
truth!
All in all: RELAX! Everything is fine. God is working for
your good.
One of my favorite songs is All Things Possible by Mark
Shultz. My favorite line in the song is:
“So my heart will believe, if I
wait I will see, my God doing what only He can do”
Take some time to marinate on that!
