The oven of adversity - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/the-oven-of-adversity/
Pastor Greg Laurie answers post-tragedy 'Where was God?' question
When I was a boy, I lived with my grandparents for a number of years. They came from Arkansas, and they were very old-fashioned in every way. I called my grandmother Mama Stella, and my grandfather was Daddy Charles. My grandmother made every meal from scratch. She was the greatest cook on earth. When she served chicken, it wasn't the frozen variety. My grandfather would go out and kill a chicken, pluck it, and my grandmother would prepare it. Everything was made from scratch. And Mama Stella's greatest specialty was her biscuits. No other biscuits even came close to hers.
I would watch Mama Stella make them in the kitchen and try to unravel the mystery. How did she make them so good? After I got married, I took my wife, Cathe, over to meet Mama Stella. I told her, "Cathe, watch Mama Stella. You have to crack the code. We have to bring these biscuits to the next generation."
Mama Stella didn't follow a cookbook. She just got out the flour and the buttermilk and all of the rest of it. But it wasn't just the ingredients that were important. The biscuits had to be put into the oven at just the right temperature for just the right period of time. And when they were done, they were perfect.
Now, Mama Stella could have taken all of those ingredients, blended them together and served us the raw dough, but that would not have been appealing. And certainly the individual ingredients were not appealing in and of themselves. But when she took the right amount of each of those ingredients and baked them in the oven at the right temperature, we had incredible biscuits.
The difficulties of our lives are a lot like those ingredients for biscuits. In and of themselves, they are not tasteful to us. We shun them, and certainly we recoil from the heat of the oven. But when God, in His infinite skill, has blended them all together and baked them properly in the oven of adversity, we will one day say it is good. Not all that happens is good, but "in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (Romans 8:28 NIV).
God can take bad things and ultimately turn them into something good. That is not to say that the bad thing was good. But it is to say that God can bring good in spite of the bad thing. As the psalmist said, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise You" (Psalm 76:10). This means that God can take the most wicked designs of humanity and use them for His glory.
The classic example of this is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. His wicked brothers turned against him and sold him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. But through a series of events that were brought about by the providence of God, not only was Joseph spared, but he also became the second-most powerful man in the world. He was in a classic position to execute major payback on his brothers. Instead, he forgave them and said, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people" (Genesis 50:20 NLT). This means that God can take the most evil deed and work in spite of it.
When things are going well, we are good with the idea that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him." Everything is going our way. The birds are singing, and it is green lights and blue skies. Then tragedy hits. A crisis erupts. Something unexpected happens, and we wonder, Where was God in all of this? What is going on? Yet God can take even the bad things and blend them together with the good things and ultimately bring something good out of it.
When a tragedy happens, we don't have to necessarily determine that it is the judgment of God. In the gospel of Luke, for example, we find an interesting comment that Jesus made about a tower that fell on a group of Gentiles. He said, "Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too" (13:4-5 NLT). The common belief was that the tower fell on these people because they were Gentiles and didn't have a relationship with God. But Jesus was saying they had it all wrong. He was saying, "They weren't the worst sinners in Israel. Do you think they are worse than you? You'd better repent. It could have happened to you." The point is that we are all sinners.
Horrible things happen in this world that we are living in. And when you get down to it, every one of us deserves the judgment of God. In fact, the Scriptures say, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV). We need to realize that tragedies can happen to everyone, including Christians.
It doesn't mean that God isn't in control if a Christian gets cancer. It doesn't mean that God isn't in control if a Christian dies in a plane crash or an automobile accident. It doesn't mean that we are in sin or that God has failed us. It means that death is a result of the curse upon humanity. We all die. Every person's life will come to an end. The Bible says, "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27 NKJV). But if you are a Christian, you have hope. You will go immediately into the presence of God.
May God help us to trust him when he does not do things the way we think he ought to do them, when we are tempted to say, Why, Lord? We can only see the short term and what will benefit us in this moment. God is looking at the long term, the big picture. And he knows what he is doing.
It is during these times that we must trust him and cast ourselves at his feet and say, "Lord, I admit to you that I don't understand. I don't know why. But I thank you that you are in control."
There are a lot of questions I would like to ask Jesus when I get to heaven. There a lot of things that I don't understand: why he allowed certain things, why he did some things, and why he did not do others.
But there are a lot of things that I do understand. I understand that God loves me and that he is looking out for my best interests. I understand that he will work all things together for good and that he will make it clear in that final day.
Until that time, we all need to trust him.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY ALL NEW PROPHECY AND CREATION DESIGN WEBSITES. THERE IS A LOT TO SEE AND DO..........
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.