Someone a lot older and wiser than I once pondered the dash (-) between two numbers chiseled into a headstone at the cemetery. The thought was that there was a whole lot of life captured by one small, insignificant grammatical symbol that is used to connect one thing to another.
In this post I'd like to steal that dash and insert it into the passage referenced above and then look at what really lead from "this" - (to) "that".
"This is the complete family tree for all Israel, recorded in the Royal Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah at the time they were exiled to Babylon" (-).
What we know right now is that the nation of Judah (after Israel split into the Norther tribes (Israel) and the Southern tribe of Judah) has been exiled to Babylon. Which seems weird because these were God's people! God's chosen Nation! How could... how would God let them be destroyed and taken captive?! This was the tribe from which Jesus would later come and they are nearly destroyed and the city and Temple left in ruins. We might consider all the reasons for such devastating trouble... in fact, this is what I thought of (from experience with trouble of various kinds).
Reasons God would allow the people of Judah to be destroyed and exiled:
- He didn't love them anymore.
- He was just no match for the Babylonians and their gods.
- He was busy taking care of some other pressing matters and just didn't have the time.
- He was vengefully getting back at them for their sin ("I'll show them!").
- He was tired of listening to them and thought they deserved a little butt-whooping.
- He was angry for the way they treated Him, they hadn't called much and were too busy for Him.
Maybe this is not how you handle trouble. But when it comes into my life but I'm pretty sure I've considered each of the above as viable reasons why God was letting me go through some painful experience. And I usually combine several of these into one massive, "I told you so!"
Maybe He just doesn't love me anymore because I looked at that picture on my computer too long?
Perhaps He's angry because I haven't talked with Him in a while?
Satan is really after me, maybe God's having a hard time defeating him in this area of my life?
I'm sure I deserve this God - after all, I am the worst of all sinners.
But let's look at what we're told about who God is and why He does what He does.
God NEVER stops loving us, not matter what - 1 John 4:16, John 3:16, Psalm 136:1-26
God is not weak or powerless - Deu 3:24
God does not get back at us for some sin we've committed - Psalm 78:38-39
God is never too busy or tired or sleepy - Psalm 121:3-5
God does not grow tired of us - Isaiah 40:28
That was the dash, here's the rest of the 1 Chronicles passage, "this happened, "because of THEIR unbelieving and disobedient lives" (emphasis and capitalization mine!)
Our problems come from two sources.
- Our own desire for selfishness and sin.
- The very real presence of Satan working in the world and in our lives.
Satan we will always have as long as the world turns he'll be working to steal, kill and destroy - that is what he does. So deal with it. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to take your stand against him.
But Romans 6 tells us that we are not longer slaves to our own desire for sin!
So we need to stop blaming God for every bad thing that happens in our lives. Truth is, God didn't do it, He doesn't want you to have trouble or pain or struggle (had sin not entered the world through man's selfishness we'd all be living in perfection just as God placed the first humans). So, it's NOT God's fault that you and struggling it's Satan's and sins. Now, if you are in Christ you must believe that the Holy Spirit working in you will lead you out of sin and into righteousness so that should be improving. But Satan will always be there trying to work evil in your life. But God even uses the naturally occurring consequences of sin (which Satan knows but doesn't understand, he thinks it's gonna work out every time) as DISCIPLINE so that we might be "taught not to sin" again. This discipline helps us put to death the desire to sin and grow the desire to please God.
I need to stop blaming God for my problems and recognize that God is my rescue and my strength and Satan is my pusher. Get behind me Satan so that I might be wholly and holy Gods.
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