Wednesday word: Umbrella I know that I talk about this a lot, but it is because it is the one of the most common responses I get when I talk to people about God and Jesus. “If God is so great, why does he let bad things happen”. A friend killed in a drunk driving accident who was seemingly innocent, a person dying of a horrible disease, a soldier who was defending his country killed in the line of duty by an enemy combatant. Wars. Famine. Disease, and so on. I don’t have the answer, well, that isn’t entirely true-because I know there is a reason, but what I understand for certain is that we can never have every answer and at some point we have to accept God’s providence (divine guidance or care) if we are going to have a fruitful relationship with the Almighty. I know that can be easier said than done, but from a girl who was abandoned by her birth parents, in and out of foster homes for the first four years of her life, molested, beaten, had a parent commit suicide, been homeless and helpless and worse; I can tell you that it is not only possible, but it is absolutely freeing. Last week I said “living under the protection of His umbrella”. How can we live under the umbrella of His protection, and still have bad things happen? Am I contradicting myself? Absolutely not! Living under the umbrella of His protection doesn’t mean it isn’t going to rain and you won’t get wet, even under the best umbrella out there, your feet still hit the water. What it does mean is that your feet have to get wet for them to stay clean. I can tell you that every bad thing that has ever happened to me has made me a better person. Before Christ it made me strong. After Christ it has made me weak. If I am weak, I can have compassion and can take the hurts of this world and not only help someone else to move from strong to weak, but also, to honestly with knowledge and experience, introduce them to the One that saved my life. The point: I have heard so many good intending believers say “God didn’t let that happen, that was the devil”. I struggle so hard when I hear people say that. Because in that very statement, they are actually saying that the devil out ranks God.....think about it. The truth?? If you have any knowledge of your Bible, you know that God does let bad things happen, and dare I say, makes bad things happen.....think about King Saul, God hardened his heart.....to me, that’s the worst thing you could ever do to a person! I know there is a devil and yes he makes bad things happen too, but we know that the devil has nothing but bad intentions when he does stuff, right? But what about God, when he lets or makes bad stuff happen? Here is what He says: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [Jer. 29:11] We can’t have all the answers, as I said before, at some point we have to accept God’s providence. But I find freedom in living under the umbrella of His protection because I believe that there is a “plan” and it is for a future full of hope and not evil, if I choose to accept that He is the Almighty,....in other words, He is God and I am not. PS: To those who feel uncomfortable about me sharing this because it might paint God in a bad light....I’m sorry that you feel that way, but I believe we have been trying to keep God under OUR umbrella far too long, and the effects of not being honest about the whole Word of God has hurt God’s reputation way more than the truth ever will. Not telling a whole truth is still a lie....and God is not a liar. If He gave us the whole Word, then He wants us to know all of Him. We’ve got to tell it straight folks because when we don’t, people know it and the result will not only be that they won’t trust us, but worse, they won’t trust God. With all my love brothers and sisters~
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:40:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015