Transformation through God's Word

We had a great comment to the last post on whether God allows (or causes) bad things to happen to His people and why. I am really thankful for the comment as it has opened the door for a more definitive explanation on my part. I do appreciate the response and encourage more.

I think that God tells us in His Word that He does cause bad things to happen for good. Salvation is a purpose, but not the only purpose. I think the over arching purpose for God allowing or causing bad things to happen to His people is his glory. His being revealed as God to those who do not know Him and for growth for His people. We do not usually think of the ways that God disciplines or prunes us as joyful or pleasant.

God hardened Pharoah's heart in order that His glory and power might be shown in the exodus. Exodus 4:21 God says specifically (ESV) 'But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.' Now, I think this is a direct admission on God's part that He is causing (not just allowing) something bad to happen to His people in order for His purpose. And that purpose includes them turning back to Him but not only that.

Job 1-2 describes Satan coming to God for permission to kill his servants, his sheep, camels, and even his children. Now, not to be condescending but this is bad stuff not good stuff. Later God allows Satan to strike Job with sores on his body. And it is God alone who is responsible for this bad stuff happening to Job. Now, Job is already a believer it is not for his salvation that the bad is happeneing. In fact the story seems to imply that it is for God's glory, not for anyone's salvation that this was allowed. Not to say that someone might not have been saved out of this, but the story does not seem to give this as a reason. Job spends his time praising God through this tragedy, this would support the idea of God's glorification. If you still question God's involvement or cause in this story see Job 42:11. The ESV says 'And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.' There is no question here that God is the one who caused this, not just allowed it.

Amos 3:6 says 'does disaster come upon a city, unless the Lord has done it?' (ESV)

Several definitions on 'suffer' are available some of them are (1) to endure death, pain, or distress (2) to sustain loss or damage (3) to be subject to disability or handicap. So having cancer could be suffering. Now Paul says in Rom 5:3-4 that suffering produces other good things in us. But whatever is causing suffering is not considered good. Cancer is certainly not a good thing but can be used for God's glory.

Some people will say that because of God's love He cannot cause harm and it is the sinful man that brings about all pain and suffering. Here is why I disagree with that statement. Certainly man is sinful and we bring about alot of the pain and suffering that is caused. However, we as humans typically see jealousy as a bad thing. Webster.com defintes jealous as 'hostile toward a rival'. This is something we as humans do not thing of as good in other humans. We tend not to tolerate jealous siblings, we look down upon jealous relationships, etc. But God freely admits He is jealous (Exod 20:5; Zech 1:14). God cannot commit sin yet He does things that we could not do. Take this line of thinking and apply it to the idea that God can and does actually create bad things to happen to His people for their good.

As humans we want to comfort people who are experiencing tragedy. Often people will tell the one who is experiencing tragedy that God does everything for a purpose (true) and that God only does things for their good. Now, let’s review that second statement for a moment. That is true for some, but not for all. The verse spoken of is Romans 8:28. The NIV version says ‘In all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’ Well, hat is more specific than the statement that people often make. In fact it rules out those who do not love God.

Now, something that is interesting is that it says ‘in all things’. So, it is not only in spiritual things but in ALL things. The next part of this is the ‘God works for the good of those who love Him’. Now that rules out A LOT of people. If you are a Christ follower this applies to you. If you are working that out or you have no interest in God this may not apply to you yet. Bad stuff that happens may just be bad stuff that happens, or it could be God getting your attention.

My father passed away on friday afternoon, March 31, 2006. He'd had a heart attack just 3 weeks prior. The doctor said he was at high risk for another attack had a low chance of surviving another. The doctor gave a good report last week and I was hopeful/prayerful that he'd have surgery and be with us for many more years. But friday afternoon he had a heart attack at home and died.

Anyone who knows my father knows how much less the world will be without him. He was a wonderful man, who had a wonderful legacy. He taught many people about life. He loved many people and they loved him.

Many people haved asked me how we are handling this. How our family is making it through this difficult time. You see, my mother lost the 2nd of her 3 brothers in January this year. We had just found out that Stacie (my wife) had a brain tumor. That was removed successfully in Feb. Then dad had a heart attack on March 6th. It was just 3 weeks after when he had another and died.

There is only one thing that is getting us through, the knowledge that God really is in control. Matt 10:29 tells us (Mark's paraphrase) that a bird cannot fall from the sky, or die, apart from God saying 'it is your time'. And it reminds us that birds (sparrows) are very cheap, you can get two for a penny (when it was written). So, if something as invaluable as a sparrow cannot die apart from God's say so, neither can our loved ones. I know that God is in control of every detail and every day. When I say He is in control I don't mean that we are robots that cannot make our own decisions. I mean He takes care, He loves us and he is guiding each day. And I do mean though that it is up to Him what happens on a day to day basis.

So, if you have lost a loved one just know that God is in control. If you have not yet lost a loved one you will, it is part of life. I still want you to know that God is in control. If you have questions about this or comment please send them. I can point you in the direction of some other supporting passages if you need them.

Many times people who have recently committed themselves to Christ are somewhat disillusioned when life seems to come all apart. they wonder 'Why, why is this happening to me? I pledged my life to God and now He has left me. I was better off before I made this commitment.'

I want you to know whether you are just checking God out, or you have recently pledged your life to God, or even if you have been a believer for a long time that God has a reason that you are going through these things. There is a purpose in the sufferings. The reason for the sufferings is to make us better, to make us like Him, to get the red out (like the visine commercial). The bible compares God to a refiner of precious metals who seeks to get the impurities out of the metal, leaving a pure substance.

'He will sit as a refiner and purifer of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.' (Malachi 3:3)

First of all you might be wondering ‘who in the world is a Levite?’ Levites were one of twelve tribles of Israel. They were dedicated to God’s service. So, we in effect as Christ followers would be the Levites of today. But what does a refiner do?

What is this process of refinement?
The refiner puts the impure silver into the middle of the fire. Then he lets the heat drive out the impurities. The result is pure silver. The refiner must watch the silver and make sure he does not leave it in there too long. If the silver stays in the fire too long it will be destroyed. So the refiner pays close attention to how long the silver has been in there. The story goes that someone asked a refiner how long he leaves the silver in the fire. The answer was 'until I can see my image in it'. I don't know how long the refiner actually leaves the silver in there. What I do know is that like the refiner God puts us into the fire. What does that actually look like? He allows pain, suffering, trials and tragedies into our lives to get the impurities out. How does this happen? Well, it has been said that trial does not build character it reveals it.

Impurities Revealed
It is easy to act nice to people when we are not under pressure. It is easy to give others the benefit of the doubt, not fly off the handle, be gentle in our speech. It is not so easy when we are stressed out. What are some examples of stress? The big ones are when we lose a job, when someone finds out they have cancer, or when someone dies. What about the every day stressors of life? You come home from work after a long day just needing to unwind. You can picture yourself grabbing a glass of tea, or a beer and sitting down in front of the television. Then you get home and discover that your spouse has an appointment and you are responsible for watching the kids, right now. No chance to unwind. That will create stress. Stress comes when we make a mistake in the checkbook and are short on bills. Stress comes for those who are straight shooters but work for a boss who wants people to just agree. Ok, so now I know what my impurities look like, but what do I do with them?

Struggling with ourselves
When we are stressed we do things that are natural to us. If you like to gamble, what do you want to do when you are stressed? If you love to eat, what do you do when you are stressed. If you like to shop what you do want to do when you are stressed? You see, stress and trial they reveal our character they do not build it. So, when our impurities are revealed we have an opportunity to focus on them, and get rid of them. This 'struggle with ourselves' is called the sin nature. This describes how if left to ourselves we will always choose what is natural to us (and what we choose is rarely the right thing). We may have small victories here and there but we cannot kick this struggle with our sins on our own. We must discipline ourselves, we must work at doing the right thing. Paul talked about this when he spoke of training for a race or a boxing match (1 cor 9:24-27). We MUST have God's help to do this. God chooses to use this cycle of refining us. The cycle means that we will be in the fire for awhile, then He'll remove us, we'll be out for a while and then we are right back in there again. I bet some of you are thinking, 'ok, I understand where you are coming from, but I don't see the point in going through all this trouble. Why in the world would I chose an option that will guarantee me trials?'

Illustration in $Green$
Not too many of us work with precious metals. But most of us have jobs and have to deal with money. So, let us look at an illustration that might bring this home for you.

Let us say that you have a choice between $10k right now or enduring a year of hardship, a year of waiting and then you get $50M tax free. Now, there may be some of you financial folks who might talk about investments, interest rates, etc and you might go with the $10K. I am not a financial guru so I chose something that seems easy to me. Would I like $10K? Sure, but not if the other option is $50M 2 years from now I want the $50M. In this case you will definitely live to get the big money. You will not die before hand. So, which one do you choose? Most of us will choose the $50M right off the bat. Ok, we are willing to endure hardship for a year and waiting for another year (which in reality will seem like an eternity). But we like the idea of a $50M payoff.

We will all live forever, some where. The question is where? There are only 2 choices. Our lives here on earth, 100 years at best, though the average today is about 70 yrs. In comparison to forever, 100 years is nothing, nada. Though we would like to spend our time having fun, living for the weekends, vacations, or whatever it is that you want – that 100 years is nothing in comparison to forever. I think we would all agree with that. So, if I have to endure some pain and suffering along the way of the 100 years that is not so bad if the rest of forever I do not have worries, no crying, no sickness, no debt.

Summary
In summary we've answered the question 'Why do believers have to endure sufferings?' We know that it is part of the process God uses to make us perfect while we are on earth. It may not make you excited about your next trial but this should pose to encourage you that your sufferings are not for nothing. Now, on that note we are also encouraged to be joyful in the trials (james 1:2-4) and to remember that we have not suffered (as Christ did) to the point of shedding blood (heb 12:3-7). We are reminded that Christ suffered for us and that our sufferings are nothing compared to the sufferings that Jesus endured for us (1 peter 3:8-22)

Father, in Matt 17:12-21 Jesus not only heals a boy from demon posession but also teaches about the consequences of a lack of faith. The disciples would have been able to cast out this demon if they'd only had more faith.

Jesus talks about this 'mustard seed' sort of faith. He must be talking about an all consuming faith, regardless of the size of the person. If that person is consumed with faith, they will be able to do impossible things.

Father, help me to be encouraged about the all consuming faith. Help me to see where I can help people in Your name. If you want me to start a church I will. If you want me to start a small group I will. If there is something else You want for me to do I will. I am not asking for a sign, but for guidance. Your word says 'I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you' (ps 32:8). So, Father, teach me, guide me, show me the way I am to go.

My brother does not currently resemble the prodigal son but he could. If he becomes that Father, please help me to not be like the brother of the Prodigal who was upset about it. Please help me to be joyful. Please help me to just do what needs to be done and not try to direct my brother to pitch in.

James says to be joyful through the trials. Sometimes that is easier than others. In January we found out that Stacie (my wife) had a brain tumor. It was so shocking. We were thrust into this group of people I've known whose entire lives change. They spend time at the doctor, they call, or write, or email (and now blog) what is going on with their lives. The doctors were able to successfully remove it all. Our next step is to go back in April to see if there were any fragments they did not see. Now, we're just settling in to all that has changed in our lives and BAM! Now my dad just had a heart attack. He lost 1/3 of the functionality of his heart, is at high risk for another, and the doctor says if he has another his chances of survival are not good.

Wow, be joyful in the trials? How? Well, here's how. Stacie has been more of an encouragement to those who call to encourage her. They have stood in awe of her. Now, actually they are standing in awe of God but some of them don't know God yet, they only know her. She has been an inspiration. To see God use her cancer to bring people in, to draw people into conversation w/God who have not been in a long time, that is awesome. She has been joyful to have been used by God in her trial.