Sunday, April 18, 2010

the suffering elephant.


one of the greatest questions involving Christianity is about suffering. we are in the middle of a series called "8 pink elephants" where we are studying about the things the church does not always address front on.

today we talked about the suffering elephant. the question is this, how can there be so much evil in this world, if we have such a good God? the church has a hard time discussing the matter because people hurt. there is evil in our world. we see it daily. but we also have a good God. but how does that work?

God exists. God is all good. God is all powerful. and. there is evil in the world.

evil is the absence of good. the standard of good? look in the Bible. but we mere men cannot see why there is evil. how many times do we ask why?

read in psalms.

10:1- why oh Lord do you stand far away? why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

42:9- i say to my God : why have you forgotten me? why do i go mourning because of the oppression of my enemy?

can you feel the weight of david's plea? can you relate to his words? but here is the catch and THIS is what gets me...

if we do not want to hear the response, we will ask the questions forever.
we have to be open and ready to hear the ANSWER.

the Father tells us... "ask and it will be given to you". just read job, or habakkuk. there was struggle. there was pain. there were tears, and gnashing of teeth. things we will never face. God will answer why. we have to be ready to hear it.

there is a reason that God permits evil. and i hope you are ready for this because it is heavy.

for us to have value. worth. a purpose.
we have to have to choose love. we need to be able to choose Him on our own. taking away evil, takes away choice. we would only be able to have Him, and He wants us to CHOOSE HIM. just because God is all powerful, does not mean he uses all His power.

we come to God for emotional reasons. not a real explanation. we need a "hug" from God. Him to pull us into His lap and stroke our hair, kiss our cheek. not lay out every single step of why and how we are hurting. we just want to know I T W I L L B E O K A Y . what can we do though to help ease the pain and suffering?

GOD ALREADY DID IT.

J E S U S.


HE endured the problem with us.
the creatOR became the CREATION. unheard of.
why? because he wanted us. the met us where we were {romans 8:28}.
everything will be dealt with. everything is dealt with. i quote my savior when i say "it is finished". suffering is. pain is.

this song now radiates through my soul.

you are STRONGER. you are STRONGER. sin is BROKEN. you have SAVED me. it is written. CHRIST IS RISEN. Jesus you, are LORD OF ALL!!!

1 comment:

Julie Blake said...

love this post and love style-for-style. thanks for recommending it!! hope you're having a great week! tell sara i said hi : )