Why God?

"My daughter was severely beaten because of her looks." "My son was murdered by a robber." "My wife was raped." "My child died from cancer." "Terrorists blew up our city." "A hurricane destroyed our town." "WHY GOD?!?!?!?!"

Every day in this world we see it; on the T.V., in the papers, at our children's schools, and at the work place. Terrible things that happen to seemingly good people. And the question rolls off our tongues as easily as ever, how could a God of love allow such things to happen? It seems to be a paradoxical question. If you ask any Christian they'll tell you that God loves you and wants nothing bad to ever happen in your life. But, God ALLOWS things to happen because of.......(sin, brokenness, bad choices, etc). While this is easy to understand for the Christian; try explaining it to a not-yet-believer. That's what we do in church though. We teach that God is love and that He has a plan for everything in your life, but that it's your sin that brought this hurt into your life. It's your wrong doings that has caused you this pain. It's your disbelief that hasn't healed you yet! While I believe that some of this is true; our sin and sinful nature does bring hurt and heartache into our lives, is that the only reason?

I just watched a story on the news this morning about a young teenage girl who was beaten nearly to death by her peers because of some "texting" that was going on. I don't know what the texts were about, but does it matter? If she said something horrible in those messages did she deserve to be beaten to a brain damaged vegetable state? Of course not. Was God punishing her for that sin and that's why she is now laid up in a hospital? Absolutely not. How do I know this? Jesus paid the price on the Cross for ALL sins for ALL time. We live in the age of GRACE. God's judgment is currently being held back until all who are willing will receive His forgiveness and grace. There are churches out there that would have you believe otherwise though. They'd have you believe that God is judging you daily on your actions and that whatever evil or bad comes into your life is a direct result of your misdeeds. This flat out isn't true.

Back to the story....This girl in the hospital doesn't have a clue that right now people in her community have rallied together, established a trust fund in her name to help with medical and rehab bills, they're doing a walk to raise even more money later this month. This is where God is in the midst of this disaster. Just like when the WTC came down in New York, we heard of stories of Americans banding together and giving all they had, offering it freely and without prompt in order to see that others would survive or be taken care of. And as a country who did we give the credit to, OURSELVES. In every one of these situations, we give ourselves the glory for doing good, and lay the blame on God for something bad happening. We ask Him, Where were You? And then we turn around and say Jimbo was here in the rubble helping while You were on Your throng! Every time we hear a story like this we hear of the "Good in people's hearts". Phooey, it's the GRACE OF GOD that brought those people out. It's the heart of Jesus that compelled them (believer or not) to do extraordinary things in times of need. We need to give the credit to God for all things!!

2000 years ago Jesus came to earth and walked as a man among His people. A terrible thing happened to Jesus, He was crucified and died. He was betrayed by His friends and sent to a shameful death on a cross between two thieves. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it through Him." John 3:16-17

If you think that God isn't with you in your pain; if you think that He is allowing bad things to happen to you because He is punishing you, look at the Word! What did God do to deserve a death on the Cross? What sin did Jesus commit that God decided to "allow" this horrible event to happen in His life, as some retribution for a slip? Do you think that God doesn't understand your pain when bad things happen? His Son, His only Son was murdered and it must have torn at His heart to see it happen; to witness His death, to see Him become our sin, but the word says, "Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes [a] His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand." Isaiah 53:10 Why did God "cause" His Son to suffer. He was setting an example for us. He was showing us that through His Son's suffering the GREATEST GOOD of all would happen; the Redemption of Man.

Out of suffering is born good and great things. We as sinners in a world of sin show this without even realizing it. Without even being a "believer" we put ourselves out and show the grace of God and the good of His work in banding together and "saving" one another.