Posted on 05/19/2013 12:21:32 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
Edited on 05/25/2013 2:44:13 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
"Where were You, God?" The question arises daily as news of tragedies abound, and even from time to time as the tragedy involves ourselves. Servicemen die in a bungled military defense operation that should have been a cake walk, and no government official has credible answers. A son is shot dead in his prime by a wanton criminal. A wife dies decades too soon from a deadly disease. A busy mother dies unexpectedly from a sudden heart attack. Maybe you were emotionally abused when a child and have been saddled with a destructive habit that you acquired in an effort to escape from the torment by the only means you knew, and prayer -- once you realized you were in a trap -- seemed scant help or comfort. In these myriad situations the bitter questions often arise: "Oh Lord, where were You? Dear God, why did You roll over for this? Almighty Father, I've always heard that you are righteous and omnipotent, so why did You not act when it would have been so simple for You to stop it from happening? Oh, the heart-rending woe! Why did You lose, God?"
This is not a modern question, and it was not discovered by modern atheists, agnostics, or freethinkers. It arose many thousands of years ago to a man named Job (pronounced with a long "o") who kept a tender conscience towards God about what he did, and as a result displayed a very upright life, and was blessed with a large, loving family and many earthly riches. And yet without warning this man's world came crashing down upon him. It began with the destruction and theft of his great riches, and was topped by the loss of most of the lives of his dear family. Then, the trouble soon escalated with an inexplicable illness that covered him with sores. His wife, in an apparent hint that God was fickle and undeserving of love, in great disgust told him to curse God and die. His friends, who initially wisely comforted him in silence, then began to lecture him sarcastically about how he must have done something terribly wrong to provoke God's wrath, and his agony grew as a heated argument erupted and Job insisted he had done nothing to deserve the tragedy. Finally a wiser friend suggested that Job look to God's sovereignty, and then God answered Job from a whirlwind, challenging the limitations of Job's knowledge about what God can do. With a deeper appreciation of God's capabilities, Job stopped complaining, and soon God blessed Job twice as much as he had been blessed before.
There is a simple enough answer to the question, at least to the mind: by allowing the world and even our selves to fail so dramatically at times, God highlights His capacity to save, a faith in which we sometimes are sorely lacking, and even if we know it in our heads, our hearts are slower and lag behind that and need to be taught. For God is not merely solving complex intellectual problems. He is solving problems that encompass our entire beings that He has created and bestowed with capabilities that are an image of His own.
Absolutely! That's the coolest thing about the books I've been reading: the eye witness accounts of what that was like. I didn't understand what that meant, and didn't really believe it beyond saying the words I heard others saying about it.
Now, the "faith" part is much easier, once I got a feel for how things work and what things look like when they do. I'm in awe, quite frankly. And, I don't have the fear now that I started the obama years with.
There are rough edges here on earth. But through sufficient faith we can appreciate that they are part of the plan, part of the game, not things that God in ignorance forgot about. And we can hear Jesus telling us not to sweat it too much.
No answer comes because no one can hear you. Nothing is up there. You were sold a bill of goods, and I feel for you, I really do, but all you can do is work with your doctors and make the best of the time you have. I’m not trying to be harsh, but all this crying to the heavens will do nothing but add the bitterness of futility on top of all the burdens you are already bearing.
God isn not about circumstances.
He is about how you react to circumstance.
For best results glorify God in all circumstances.
God is not Santa claus
This is exactly what I did for a year. I asked God why me, why us, why and after a year he answered my question and I heard him and understood. God is good!
God is way better than any Santa Claus could be. Usually Santa Claus’s main presents are things we thought about and asked for. God often gifts us greatly with things we hardly even dreamed about. In the analogy of Santa Claus, it’s like we asked for a pony and got an enormous horse farm, and loved it.
I always told my children that they were not mine, but God’s, and I was merely a vessel to help them on their way in His service. Jesus said that you cannot love family before Him, and we all strive to live that way. Blessings have abounded.
lol
And Santa does not hang around you 24/7, not just concerned about whether or not you were good, but loving you enough to die a torture death to save you when you were bad!!
Post #63... wonderful post M.
I mean the rough edges of “Presbyterianism/Calvinism” Which I do not regard as an entirely complete view of Scripture or even the most divinely useful one on earth. So you are “ha ha”’ing quite past me.
What was the answer?
Quite a sane view; Jesus is the ultimate umpire in family affairs and all have authority to appeal to this. The result being blessing and peace. I did not have this in my first life. I have it in my second one. (Born again, not reincarnated of course.)
Once you get a hold on the fact that this is not about YOU, it will start to make some sense. Live for Him, and. Seek to do His will.
I’d love to be able to make something of the time I have. Do you know anybody with endocrine disease? I don’t mean to be rude, but if you don’t, then you don’t have a clue as to the hardships we go through every single day, straining just to be alert and forcing our brains to work as best they can, nevermind the near complete lack of energy we feel from the moment we wake up.
I remember when I was a kid, every time I said a bad word that nobody but myself could year, I used to profusely say “I’m sorry, sorry, sorry” because I thought that god could hear me, anyway, and would strike me dead if I didn’t immediately apologize. Nothing happened to me, and more profanity started to creep in during my teenage years. I’m in the latter half of my 20s, and I feel like god has forgotten me completely.
I imagine a world without god every single day, because I come on here and get my local, state, national and international news, and I see what’s happening in my area, state, country, and all around the world, and do you know what I see? A world that has no spiritual or otherworldy power watching over it. And those instances have little to no bearing on my own life.
I see myself still living with my parents, with no hope for a future. Logically, what is left to think except that there is nobody watching over me and trying to guide my life?
In one sense it isn’t about us; in another sense God has more attention upon us than we ever dreamed possible and wills our good, but won’t violate our free will to shove good down our throat. God wants us to share His joy. I know much more of that joy than I did early in my Christian faith, but know there is yet much more refinement to go.
I think God could well be saying: “Hey Wasted! You aren’t wasted at all! But let ME explain it to YOU!”
How can I know a will if it won’t make itself known to me?
Do you have any idea how endocrine disease destroys you physically and emotionally? You may, and I stress may, see things a little differently.
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