Today’s blog is part two of last week’s publication, “Where Is God In My Time Of Crisis?” I would encourage you to peruse the first blog if you have not already done so. It lays the foundation for my focus today. However, to recap a bit…I believe God is a sovereign God who has a divine plan that is designed to stretch throughout eternity. The letter to the Ephesians tells us it started “even before the world was created” and Revelation tells us this plan will extend even after this world ends into the “New Jerusalem”. (Revelation 22:3-5) Therefore, when we are born we become part of an existing “morality play”, the premise of which has been – is – and will continue to be, “good” vs “evil” in this fallen world. Our role is to contribute our unique addition to that play.
Let me quote from last week’s blog: “The author of all goodness is God. The author of all evil is satan”. Ephesians 2; 2 confirms Satan’s role, “He is the spirit at work in the hearts and minds of those who refuse to obey God.” (ie. Pharoah, Nero, Hitler, Osama bin Laden, Isis). “Jesus tells us in John 10:10, “Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.” Unfortunately everyone in this fallen world will witness the result of sin’s residue, which includes such ugliness as poverty, famine, wars, hatred, diseases, sickness, suffering and death. Now add to that abysmal picture the evil that exists in the minds, hearts and actions of fallen people, and it becomes obvious that all inhabitants will be adversely affected by the curse of sin...even those of us who are in Christ. But what we have as Christ-followers is the promise of eternal hope and glory that is so beautifully stated in Revelation 22:3-4: “…Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever.”
Because God is a sovereign God, his perspective of events and time spans eternity. But as humans, our perspective is contained in this speck of existence called “our lifetime”. Therefore it is humanly impossible for us to grasp the big picture that is being orchestrated by God. But because the essence of God is love, mercy and grace, he can only beget goodness. (The Bible and science both tell us that likeness begets likeness.) 1John 1:5 confirms that. “God is Light and in him there is no darkness at all”.
Remember too that God gave us free-will, and he always remains faithful to that decision. No doubt many of our choices grieve Him, but He never trumps our free-will by imposing his will. Therefore our life is a compilation of the choices WE make, and many times the end result turns out to be disastrous.
We are told in Galatians 5: 17: “…the forces of good and evil are constantly at war with each other, and our choices are never free of that conflict.” When we make bad choices and experience their consequence, it is easy to default to our humanness because our circumstances look bigger than our God. I’m sure we have all at one time or another given into that lie, but Satan is the master of deception and the “father of lies”. (John 8:24) But while he is a formidable foe, he cannot stand up to the truth of God’s word, as portrayed in the “Armor of God”. (Ephesians 6:10)
God’s divine plan will play out. Those who are in Christ will spend eternity with God, Jesus and all Christ-followers. This truth is how we maintain our faith in times of trials and tribulations. We made a decision, most likely in a time of brokenness, to turn our will and life over to the care of God. Some of us came to that truth in a moment of “epiphany” (enlightenment), but most of us turned to God in our moment of despair, pain or suffering. The Scriptures tell us that when we cry out “God help me!”, if it is motivated by a humble heart that is ready to repent (change our ways), He will hear that plea! But truth be told, it is possible to go from the cradle to the grave and totally miss what Apostle Paul refers to as God’s “good and perfect plan” (Romans 12:2) if we never seek to discover it.
Let’s look now at two examples of God’s sovereign plan resulting in goodness…even though at times it was hard to see any goodness in the circumstances. Joseph found favor with his father, which infuriated his brothers. They became jealous of him, so when they had an opportunity to betray Joseph, they threw him into a dry well to die. But when they saw a caravan coming their direction on its way to Egypt, the brothers decided rather than let him die in the well and experience the inevitable guilt that would follow, they decided to sell Joseph to the merchants. Once in Egypt, he would be sold into slavery and they would be rid of him forever. At this point, things looked bleak for Joseph. First, betrayal by his brothers; then he was sold into slavery. No goodness here.
But as the story continues, we learn that he is purchased by Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s palace guard. Joseph finds favor with him and is promoted to be in charge of everything he owns. But as things were starting to look up for Joseph, there was betrayal once again. Potiphar’s wife, after being shunned in her attempts to seduce Joseph, became angry, so she lied about an attempt on his part to rape her. Undoubtedly her husband was furious, so Joseph was thrown into prison. Again…things looked bleak.
Later Joseph was later summoned from prison to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams. Pharaoh was so impressed by his ability and insight that he promoted Joseph to the second highest position in all of Egypt. Circumstances improved; now there’s hope.
Seven years later when the famine takes Egypt and the rest of the world in its grip, Jacob, Joseph’s father, sends his sons (Joseph’s brothers) to Egypt to buy food. Joseph supervised the food distribution, so the brothers, unbeknownst to them, were dealing with the one they sold into slavery ten years earlier. Joseph recognizes them and devised a plan that would eventually get his whole family to join him in Egypt. When Joseph finally divulged his true identity, he said, “Don’t be afraid of me. As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. He brought me to this high position so I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50: 19-20) (my underline for emphasis)
The point I want to make through this story is that Joseph’s life was a series of ups and downs, but he never lost his faith in God. I’m sure his faith was stretched at times (just like ours is sometimes stretched), but Joseph never gave up. Even though there was betrayal and insidious behavior on the part of his brothers and Potiphar’s wife because of the evil in their hearts, Joseph always knew that his strength came from God, his shield and protector. No doubt Joseph had cause to doubt and shake his fist at God during those low points, but he remained faithful. Satan’s plan for evil was thwarted and the ultimate goodness of God’s plan is revealed in Genesis 50:19-29 above. But like so many wonderful stories, this story unfolded in God’s good and perfect timing. It took more than a decade to unfold.
Let’s look at another example of God’s good and perfect plan. Jesus came to be the sacrificial lamb for our atonement. Even though he was faultless, he was willing to pay the ransom for the sins of all mankind. This is a gift to all of us from a loving God. And if we accept His gift, we are in Christ and can boldly come before Him with no fear of condemnation. (Romans 8:1)
Now let’s look at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. How did he feel about God’s plan at that moment? The Bible tells us in Luke 22: 42, 44: Jesus fell face down on the ground and prayed: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will not mine…he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.” Even Jesus experienced a moment of humanness. And again the next day He cried out these last words from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) To everyone gathered at Golgotha that dark afternoon, it was over. Jesus was dead. The Jews and the Roman authorities were celebrating a victory. It appeared that the evil in the hearts and minds of men had prevailed. And to the Christ-followers left behind, they saw no love or goodness in the event they had just witnessed.
However, three days later Jesus was out of that tomb and had overcome the grip of death. On Friday he paid the penalty for the sins of mankind (past, present and future). On Sunday he made it possible for those of us in Him to rise to eternal life too. What first appeared to be the darkest day in the history of mankind turned out to be the beginning of a new era with a hope that had heretofore only been prophesied. The Old Covenant was fulfilled; the New Covenant had arrived. Again, what looked like defeat was actually part of God’s good and perfect plan.
As Christ-followers, we too have to deal with the pain, suffering and the injustice we see in this fallen world. In fact, Apostle Paul struggled with such an issue, the “thorn in his flesh”. Paul asked for the removal of this condition, but 2 Corinthians, 12:9-10 reveals: “Each time He said, ‘My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness’. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong”. That is the answer. When we turn to Him, like Apostle Paul, our weaknesses can become our strength.
What separates us from the worldly answer to these issues is we have the platform of God’s Word and his promises to stand on. This is how we remain strong and steadfast like Joseph, Jesus and Apostle Paul. While it may be hard to understand, or even see the love and goodness in our particular pathos, we can still handle the situation with dignity, grace and hope, because we have absolute certainty of our inheritance in Christ. We are part of God’s divine plan of goodness, and our efforts will be realized eternally when we are in Paradise with God, Jesus and all other Christ-followers. As proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” That is the rock on which we stand!
Next week I will continue this mini-series and discuss how as Christ-followers we are able to rise above this fallen world and live the life God calls us to live.
May God bless ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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