Ever wondered why certain tragedies happen in the world today.. terrorism, war, natural disasters, accidents just to name a few.. and sometimes we tend to ask ourselves, "Why me?" In our angst and frustration, we demanded an answer from God. But will you actually be able to handle the situation if you eventually come to know (as in God personally tells you) why the hardship / tragedy happened?
Knowledge is passive, suffering is an active process. There is no truly intellectual answer which explains why these things happen. To fellow Christians, you probably tend to remind them that, "It is a test of faith, it's God's way of getting people to draw close and look to Him in times of need etc" but what about pre-believers who ask you "If your God is supposedly so good, loving and fair, why does He allow so much of these pain and suffering to occur?" What do you tell them?
I remembered asking a question about the tsunami / earthquake in Indonesia, as in not all the people who died actually deserved their fate, and these people haven't actually heard the gospel yet, why not give people doing missions more time to reach out to them.. The answer given was 'redemptive purpose'.. God judges everyone fairly, and He would have done something in their lives to minister and test their conscience.. if they respond to Him then they will be saved.. same principle applies if someone asks the question, "What about the indigenous / aborigines who are far away from civilisation access and have never heard of the bible?"
Redemptive purpose. Everything happens for a reason. I was pointing out to a friend the motto on the US logo (whatever you call it) which says "In God we trust." He dismissed it as nonsense since the US has caused so much suffering (both directly and indirectly) by going to war. True, I dislike wars. I don't like to see people suffer. (by the way, I'm not for or against the US) But think about it; if the war hadn't been allowed to happen to get rid of the dictatorship rule, churches wouldn't start mushrooming in the Middle East.. In Exodus, if God had not hardened Pharoah's heart, the Israelites wouldn't have been able to see God's miracles and power through the plagues and parting of the Red Sea..
Even in John13:33 Jesus mentioned that "In this world you will have trouble." It is not what happens to you, but what happens in you that matters. God has promised to give us life to the fullest (John 10:10), hence rather than focussing on the situation, focus on your response to the situation.. There was this book, 'Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy' by Barbara Johnson where the author describes all the miserable things she went through (2 sons died, 3rd son who turned out to be a gay disowned her, husband got involved in a car accident and went into a vegetative state).. kind of resembles Job who suffered terribly and lost everything. She contemplated suicide initially since she could not bear the pain anymore, but if these had not happened, she would not have been able to eventually talk and reach out to people who lost their children in accidents, whose children turn out to be gay or whose husbands are in coma etc. (ref. Hebrews 6:9-11)
The best thing to use is your own testimony, which people cannot dispute..
1 Samuel 40:8 - The flowers wither, but the word of God stands firm.
A kind of faith is required to prevail.
2 types of faith:
1. Child-like faith - knows God loves you and has a plan for you
2. Fidelity - perseverance and hang-in-there-at-any-cost type of faith, involves learning how to trust God even when He seems to be absent..
Why is it so hard to have these kinds of faith?
Don't know God well enough - when you truly understand God, you will find the joy, peace and assurance
Conclusion: We all have our own difficulties. Allow God to take away you questions and focus instead on how are you going to respond to such circumstance.
Additional brief lesson on the domino effect of one bad situation..
Story: A man wakes up in the morning and found out that the wife has not cooked any breakfast for him. He yelled at his wife and so she quickly fixed up something for him to eat. Then, his daughter spilled coffee on his pants. He got angry and scolded her. As the daughter cried, the man runs up to his room to get changed. When he came back downstairs, he found out that the daughter missed the bus because she has not stopped crying. His wife told him to send her to school. He obliged, but the daughter, still angry over the scolding she got slammed the car door after she got off at school. He then realises he is late for work, and got fined for speeding. When he arrives at the office, he got scolded by his boss for being late and got fired.
Lesson: 10% of things in the world today you can't control, but the remaining 90% you can.. It all depends on how you respond to the situation.
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