Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Trials, Tribulations and Lists”. I so like the thought brought out in this week’s lesson. That the genealogies show us that “the Biblical Lord is the God of details. He notices the particulars, and this assures us that we are never forgotten by Him” (quarterly for Sabbath, November 23). So true.
We Christians, so close to the end of time, can sometimes fall into the same thinking as many of our Old Testament brethren. In the Old Testament, God must often talk to the Children of Israel as a Disciplinarian. Talk to them as to an unruly child. He sets before them blessing’s and cursing’s. Which can be interpreted that He loves us when we are good (blessing) and hates us when we are bad (curse). Our quarterly somewhat states this in Sunday’s lesson; “When we lose the sense of God’s holiness and His presence in life, we tread a path accompanied with complications, problems, tragedies, which ultimately ends in death”. Implying that the “complications, problems, tragedies” are because we have lost “the sense of God’s holiness and His presence in life”. This, I’m afraid to say, is usually untrue. The quarterly makes an off-hand correction of this in Tuesday’s lesson; “’We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22 NKJV). What does this tell us about the reality of trials and hardships for those who want to serve the Lord faithfully?” The Bible tells us that the wicked usually prosper and the righteous usually suffer (see Habakkuk). This misunderstood concept (that God loves us when we are good and hates us when we are bad) led the Children of Israel to interpret God and His motives based on our performance. As if our performance has the ability to change God from a God of Love to a God of Hate. Some Adventist writers over the years have so stated this. The reasoning goes like this:
• If you have health and wealth it is because God has blessed you.
• If God blesses you it’s because you are good and obey Him.
• Therefore, if you are healthy, rich, and trouble-free it’s because you are good in God’s eyes. And if you are poor, and have trouble it’s because you are bad in God’s eyes.
It is this reasoning that led Job’s friends to misinterpret Job’s troubles… and to misrepresent God in the process.
But the truth of it all is different. The truth is that God’s blessing’s and cursing’s are both from a heart of love. “Complications, problems, tragedies” are evidence of His love for you as much as the smooth and easy times. As our loving, attentive Father, He knows how best to produce “fruit” in our lives. We need the sunshine… and the rain. We need the careful cultivation… and the “slashing of the bark” in order to be what we are created to be. Both the hard times and the smooth times… and all times in-between… are evidences of love from our God of love. All His initiations and allowing’s are from a heart of Divine love. Our God is not two-faced. He does not change from love to hate. He is always love and forgiveness. And those who ultimately perish in the end do not perish because God hates them or have gone beyond His grace or beyond His forgiveness. They perish because they want none of His love, none of His grace, and none of His selfless ways. And the only forgiveness that they want is a very legal forgiveness so they can still have their self-centered ways… and heaven, too. So they cast God away from themselves as something to be despised. Their death at the very end is not because God has forsaken them but because they have forsaken Him… purposely, persistently and want none of Him. And our God of love will be constrained to let them have their way. To sadly let them go. And they will die the second death.
We Christians must be in the forefront of every misunderstanding about our Father. To say, “He is not like that… He is like this…” To have lives that proclaim that what we say about Him is true, for it has changed us. To have our inward motivation match our outward action. To be His children indeed. “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). This is what God is waiting for. May we allow Him to be revealed in us is my prayer for us all.
With brotherly love,
Jim