Tag Archives: Job

GOT QUESTIONS?

Bible Study, ,

Did you know that God Ioves to answer our questions? Don’t be shy to ask Him. However, don’t be surprised if He does not answer you in the way you think He will. He doesn’t always respond the way we anticipate.

Take Job, for example. Job’s many questions, after the catastrophic loss of everything except his life, centred on two dilemmas; “Where are you, God!” and “Why did you do this to me?”

His many arguments, protesting his innocence before men and God, got him nowhere. His friends insisted on his guilt and God said nothing until…finally…Job ran out of steam.

Job 31:35-40 NLT
[35] “If only someone would listen to me! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write out the charges against me. [36] I would face the accusation proudly. I would wear it like a crown. [37] For I would tell him exactly what I have done. I would come before him like a prince. [38] “If my land accuses me and all its furrows cry out together, [39] or if I have stolen its crops or murdered its owners, [40] then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” Job’s words are ended.

Then God spoke, finally, when Job had nothing more to say, violently, from out of a whirlwind, but He did not answer Job’s questions. His response was, in a nutshell, …”I’m not obliged to answer your questions or explain my ways, but you are obliged to trust me!”

Why did God not respond to Job’s desperate need to know what God was doing? Job knew nothing of the wager between God and Satan. Had God told him what lay behind his terrible suffering, He would have ruined Job’s greatest lesson in life…faith in God, no matter what!

What do we learn from Job? We may never know why bad things happen to us. However, our trust in God is based securely on who He is, regardless of whether He answers our questions or not.

Let’s turn to another, “Where are you, God? What are you doing?” situation in the life of one of God’s great Old Covenant prophets, Elijah!

Elijah prophesied during the reign of Ahab, one of Israel’s many apostate kings. In response to Israel’s idolatry, a drought ravaged the country for more than three years. God hid Elijah from Ahab’s wrath until He finally sent him to confront the king with his sin. Ahab refused to listen… so, to demonstrate who is really God, Baal or the God of Israel…

Elijah called the prophets of Baal to an impossible challenge on Mount Cartmel, make a sacrifice without fire. Baal’s prophets could not induce their god to send fire on their sacrifice… but God did, in the most spectacular way…on Elijah’s bull, burning sacrifice and altar, and the ground around it, drenched with water, to ashes!

This victory gave Elijah the go-ahead to order the extirmination of all Baal’s prophets, enraging Queen Jezebel, the real power behind the throne. She vowed to kill Elijah, sending him on a frantic, forty-day journey all the way to Mount Sinai in Arabia to escape her murderous intention.

Elijah was devastated and disillusioned by the outcome. He fell into deep depression. Why had God not orchestrated a great revival in Israel? Had He not shown His great power to His people?

Instead, Elijah felt abandoned, alone, helpless, a single prophet against the tide of the unbelief and apostasy of his people. Better he die in the desert than face an angry queen.

Did God respond to Elijah’s unspoken question…”Why, God?” Yes, He did! How did He answer? Unlike His violent response to Job, God first demonstrated to Elijah that His real power did not lie in catastrophic natural phenomena like earthquake, wind, and fire. It was not the supernatural fire that fell on the altar that would change His people. Something else would need to effect the change He repeatedly promised through the centuries.

1 Kings 19:11-12 NLT
[11] “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. [12] And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.”

God spoke gently to His disillusioned prophet. He whispered comfort and reassurance. “You are not alone, Elijah…”

1 Kings 19:18 NLT
[18] “Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!”

Elijah had to learn that he was a player in God’s unfolding plan of redemption. For Elijah, he was part of the “not yet”, but he still had a task to do for the Lord in this plan.

So, God reassured him that His purpose was on track. Elijah’s role was to do what God told him to do in the confidence that all would be accomplished in God’s time and in God’s way. Elijah’s obedience reveals his eventual trust in God’s purposes although he would not live to see the end result.

What do we learn from Elijah’s dilemma?

Once again God doesn’t always give straightforward answers. He does not owe us explanations or reveal the future, although we often discover reasons and meaning long after the event. Whatever His answer, or lack of response, He is painting on a bigger canvas, writing a bigger story than we can ever imagine. Our task is to do our bit faithfully, to carry out our calling, however big or small it may seem, because it is a vital part of what God is doing.

Our question should not be “Why?” but “What?” What do you want me to do…to be, to fulfill my part in your big story?

Our third question comes from the lips of another of God’s prophets. Habakkuk also questioned God, this time not “What are you doing?” but, “Why aren’t you doing anything?”

Habakkuk 1:2 NLT
[2] “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save.”

To Habakkuk, it seemed that God was indifferent to the terrible things happening in his country.

Habakkuk 1:3-4 NLT
[3] “Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. [4] The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”

God appeared unfazed by the wickedness of His people, unmoved by the injustice and cruelty happening in His land. Why did He not intervene with some sort of action?

God responded to Habakkuk’s question with an answer so horrifying that it shocked him.

Habakkuk 1:6-7, 11 NLT
[6] “I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. [7] They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like… “

God takes responsibility for calling this wicked nation into being. He gives Habakkuk a detailed description of their power to harm and destroy but…

He also holds them accountable for what they do!

[11] “They sweep past like the wind are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.”

Habukkuk protests at God’s strategy. This is not what He expected from a holy God.

“But, why, God? How can you do this, using such a vicious people to punish your own nation? What kind of justice is that!”

Habakkuk 1:12-17 NLT
[12] “O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal— surely you do not plan to wipe us out? O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins. [13] But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? [14] Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader? [15] Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate? [16] Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. “These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim. [17] Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?”

This prophet had to learn an important lesson.

Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT
[8] “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. [9] For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

God is not interested in superficial solutions to deep-seated problems. He cannot impose on people right living when their hearts are rotten. He must do a thorough work on the inside to effect change in behaviour and attitude. He must change the way they think before He can work grace in their hearts and lives.

What better way to change hearts than to plunge them into the kind of suffering that would teach them to re-evaluate their allegiance to the demons they worshipped by their idolatry! Let them taste life in a nation given to idol worship. His people treated one another by the dictates of their man-made idols. They were cruel and unfeeling in their wickedness. Now let it be done to them, living in a land without God.

Habakkuk 2:4 NLT
[4] “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Can you see where God is going? “Habakkuk, you must realise that God is concerned with the individual.” Yes, the nation of Israel is guilty, yes, the Babylonians are guilty, but every righteous person lives by faith in God and confirms that righteousness by faithfulness to God.”

This principle reappears in the New Covenant as God’s only acceptable way to live in fellowship with Him.

Only when God’s people realise that they can never attain true rigteousness by self-effort will they learn to trust in God for His mercy. Hard experience was to only way to change their thinking.

How Habakkuk celebrated his new-found understanding of God’s ways! Tremble he would at the severity of God’s solution, but beyond the suffering lay the hope of a people changed, with new hearts and new ways, eventually.

After their captivity in Babylon, God promised…

Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT
[25] “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. [26] And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

Habakkuk would wait in hope and faith for the fulfilment of God’s promise, even if he never saw it in his lifetime. He would be the one to trust in God regardless of his circumstances.

Habakkuk 3:16-19 NLT
[16] “I trembled inside when I heard this; my lips quivered with fear. My legs gave way beneath me, and I shook in terror. I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us. [17] Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, [18] yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! [19] The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”

What can we learn from God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question?

  1. God doesn’t answer the way we think. Although God’s answer shocked Habakkuk, He did answer the prophet with an extended explanation which clarified his understanding of God’s apparent inactivity.
  2. Once again, God is painting on a bigger canvas than we can see.
  3. God requires us to walk by faith in Him, even if bad stuff is happening. He knows what He is doing but we must trust Him without knowing.
  4. Despite our suffering, He provides grace to persevere because His outcome is good.
  5. No matter who is responsible for our suffering, God holds them accountable and He will judge them justly.

Got questions? Ask Him! He will answer you in His time, His way, exactly according to what you need.

Jist Get The Job Done

Bible Study, , ,

JUST GET THE JOB DONE 

“When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ He asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord”, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.'” John 3:12-17 NIV.

How did the disciples feel as they watched their Master go from one to the other, kneeling on the floor and washing the grime from their feet and wiping them dry with a towel? How they must have winced when He untied their sandals, one by one and lifted their dirty feet into the water, each one’s conscience stabbing him because he should have been doing what Jesus was doing!

This was much more than a verbal lesson. This was a mental picture that played like a movie clip in their minds, over and over again — royalty bowing before commoners! It was not only what He did that plagued their minds but the way He did it, without a fanfare or in an attitude of “Look what I’m doing!” He simply did it as a matter of course, as though it were His duty to do it.

Yes, He did have a motive for doing the work of a slave. He did it because He loved them and because their feet were dirty and needed washing. He also did it as a visual aid so that they would clearly remember what it meant to follow Him.

Following Him as loyal disciples meant much more than doing great things like preaching and healing the sick — the things that gathered the crowds and made them ooh and aah in wonder. There were also the little things; the behind-the-scenes things that no-one else saw; that drew no crowds; that received no accolades; that were humble ministries that a slave was obliged to do, like washing His disciples’ feet or cooking breakfast for them on the beach.

Jesus did both kinds, not to draw attention to Himself but because they needed to be done to see to the needs of others and make their lives more comfortable. Isn’t that what following Jesus is all about? It’s not about office or position or recognition or rewards. It’s about doing the job because it needs to be done and someone has to do it. The accolades and rewards will come later, and from God, not from men.

Jesus’ plea that they do for one another what He did for them had nothing to do with setting up another ceremony for them to add to their religious rituals. He certainly did not come to earth for that! He wanted them to look beyond the end of their own selfish noses and to be alert to the needs of others. Whatever form that need took, whether it was for money or food or shelter or for dirty feet to be washed was of no consequence. “Just get on and do it,” was His instruction.

Isn’t that what following Jesus is all about? We all have gifts, talents and skills we can use to ease the burden that others carry. “Carry each other’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2 NIV. No one can meet the needs of the whole world but each one can help someone else by carrying his load.

Jesus’ instruction was simple. It’s not our job literally to wash the feet of everyone we come across and certainly not to perform a ceremony in the church. What would be the purpose of that? The really meaningful thing to would be to cook a meal for a sick friend, to take an old lady shopping because she cannot go on her own, to take care of the children when a harassed mother needs time out or to take a house-bound family to the beach when their vehicle is out of order.

It does not take much imagination to “wash” someone else’s “feet”, just a little observation and a little time given unselfishly to ease the load someone else is called to carry. But the boomerang rewards are amazing. The burden of selfish living becomes lighter and one has tiny glimpses of the heart of Jesus as He whispers, “Well done, son, daughter.”

Why Are You A Believer?

Christian life, , , ,

WHY ARE YOU A BELIEVER?

INTRODUCTION

Start with 20 questions!

Which is the most misunderstood book in the Bible?

Have your read the book of Job?

What is “Job” about?

  1. 1.     BACKGROUND TO JOB

Job belongs to the genre – Wisdom Literature

Job not the author but the subject of the book. Written by an Israelite – he, not Job or his friends – uses the covenant name of God in the prologue and the epilogue.

When was the book written?

Two dates: When Job lived; some time during the time of the patriarchs –

  1. No mention of Israelite history
  2. Live for more than 100 years
  3. Wealth measured in livestock
  4. Acted as a priest in his family
  5. Sabean and Chaldean tribes fit into this period in history.

When the book was written about Job; probably at some time between the reigns of Solomon and Israel’s exile in Babylon.

What was the purpose of the author?

The author addressed the problem of suffering. Not intended to be a theological answer but a message to the godly who suffer and don’t know why.

The problem of suffering is an ongoing one typified by Job. He was a man who feared God and shunned evil (1:1) and yet he suffered terribly. If anyone had a reason to ask the question, “Why me?’ Job did.

The author’s purpose was not so much to contribute to the ongoing discussion but to speak to the godly sufferers who struggle with the crisis of faith their ongoing suffering produces. He is more of a pastor than a theologian.

  1. 2.     WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Throughout history people have asked the same questions: Why do good people suffer? If God is almighty and God is good, how can He allow this to happen?

The world offer three possibilities:

  1. God is not almighty, after all,
  2. God is not just
  3. Humans may be innocent,

These three assumptions contradicted Job’s belief and that of his friends.

God is almighty; God is perfectly just and no human being is pure in His sight.

The only logical conclusion was that the person who suffered was guilty of sin and that the measure of his suffering was the measure of his guilt.

In their pain, the “wisdom” of the theologians does not answer their dilemma. Their so-called “wisdom” only seems to rub salt in their wounds and creates a stumbling block to faith.

How current is this situation? Preachers and well-meaning Christians glibly give the same arguments as the ancient theologians – God punishes those who sin; you are suffering therefore you must have sinned.

In Psalm 73 Asaph raised the same question: Why do the wicked prosper and godly suffer? Instead of theology providing an answer, it only increases the mystery. The sufferer is doubly wounded, by his circumstances and by the well-meaning responses of people who only drive the knife in deeper and increase the suffering, And for the godly sufferer God remains the biggest puzzle of all. How can God love me when He allows this to happen to me?

Instead of merely contributing to the theology of the day and adding his logical arguments, the author tells a story.

 

 

  1. 3.     ENTER A THIRD PARTY

 

Without the prologue (chapters 1 and 2), the dialogue between Job and his three friends would be a rehash of the age-old argument between theologians and the godly sufferer who were attempting to solve the “God problem” (is God just?) in the face of the “human problem” (they must be getting what they deserve),

The author adds a third party to the mix. The relationship between God and humans is not a closed one. Among His creatures is the great adversary. Since he cannot contend with God directly, he turns his attention to God’s creation who carries His image.

He began his assault on human beings in the Garden of Eden. Through his subtle deception he lured the first woman into believing that God had short-changed them. Instead of focussing on everything God had given them, he drew Eve’s attention to one thing God held back from them, their right to make their own rules, symbolised by eating fruit God said not to eat. He lured them by what he offered without telling them the consequences. Satan’s modus operandi becomes quite clear.

  1. Lure them into disobedience to God’s way,
  2. Then load them with guilt through his accusation and condemnation because they did wrong!

Eve was convinced by the devil’s deception. Adam stepped into rank disobedience.

The outcome was that they lost their oneness with God, their God-awareness and became selfishly, self-centredly self-aware, introducing a fundamental flaw into the nature of all mankind.

Satan’s all-consuming purpose was to drive a wedge between God and His beloved humans to bring about an irreconcilable rift between them.

In his story, the author describes the accuser’s bold attack on God and godly people in the special and intimate relationship that is dearest to them both. When God draws Satan’s attention to the righteousness of His beloved creature in whom He delights, he attempts to attack Job’s righteousness and show God up for a fool for trusting him.

He charges Job’s godliness as evil, calling him mercenary and self-serving. The very righteousness in which God delights is Job’s way of getting what he wants from God. Job’s so-called righteousness is nothing but the worst kind of heinous sin!

  1. 4.     SATAN’S ACCUSATION

If God will allow Satan to test Job by cutting the link between righteousness and blessing, he will expose Job and all righteous people as the frauds they are.

This is Satan’s ultimate challenge. He believes he has found the wedge he is looking for to cement the rift between God and man. The fact that humans are dependent on God for their lives and well-being, is the occasion for humankind’s greatest temptation – to love the gifts rather than the Giver, to please God for the benefits and to be righteous because it pays.

If Satan is right, then the very “righteousness” in which God delights is evil and creates a chasm between God and man that cannot be bridged. Even God’s plan of redemption is flawed because the righteous person is guilty of the worst sin and God can only sweep everything away in judgment. All of creation becomes irredeemable.

  1. 5.     GOD’S RESPONSE

Satan’s challenge cannot be ignored or silenced, nor even by destroying the accuser because it exposes the heart of creation and man’s place in it. God has to let Satan have his way with Job within limits so that both He and righteous Job can be vindicated and the accuser silenced.

Out of this contest comes Job’s anguish. He is robbed of every sign of God’s favour and He is silent so that He becomes the great enigma. In addition to that, Job’s so-called friends attack his righteousness according to their orthodox logic until Job feels abandoned and alone.

  1. 6.     JOB’S VINDICATION

In spite of his suffering and the agony of his apparent alienation from God, Job refuses to curse God and die. He may curse the day of his birth, complain bitterly of his lot and chide God for his unjust suffering but he refuses to renounce God, no matter what.

Job does not mourn the loss of his possessions – he focuses on God. ‘I thought I knew you,” he says in effect, “but I realise now that I know nothing. I repent in dust and ashes.”

In spite of his heinous accusation, the devil is silenced and Job is vindicated.

Not only is Job’s righteousness put to the test but also the highest of human wisdom. The best that his friends could come up with fell short of the truth. Neither their wisdom nor Job’s can fathom the truth of his situation, not even the brash “wisdom”’ of the young Elihu who thought he knew better than all of them!

God steps in when every other argument is stilled and every voice is silenced and there is nothing more to be said. He shows His displeasure with puny human wisdom by the way He approaches Job, not in a gentle whisper but by His dramatic entrance out of a ferocious storm!

God has given man the ability to understand creaturely things but he cannot learn the ways of God through the world of nature. Job 11:7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”

“But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?” Job 28:12. Job answers his own question from the mouth of God: “And He said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” Job 28;28.

  1. 7.     THE OUTCOME OF JOB’S TEST

Job passed the severest test any human being can undergo. God’s confidence in him was vindicated and Job could be trusted with material things because he had proved that he was trustworthy and did not worship God for things!

CONCLUSION

What can we learn from the story of Job? How relevant is his story for us today?

Job’s story is the answer to some of the pernicious deception in the church today. There are too many “believers” who are in it for what they can get out of it. When God does not give them what they are “believing for”, they walk away disillusioned because He did not make good on the promises preachers made on His behalf.

Abraham faced the same test and passed. God required of him what he treasured most in life – Isaac, his son. When he showed that he was willing to offer him as a sacrifice on the altar, God gave him back with the promise of multiplied blessing.

Why are we believers? Is it because some preacher offered us eternal life if we “accept Jesus as our personal Saviour” and all the benefits that go with that? Is it because we will go to heaven when we die?

If so, then Satan’s accusation is accurate and we fall into the category of those whose righteousness is phoney because it is empty of the “fear of the Lord”.

Jesus gave us the gift of righteousness He won by perfect and absolute commitment to the “fear of the Lord.” It is a gift that is of no use to us if we allow our old selfish nature to rule. It is not our decision to follow Jesus that counts but the evidence of a transformed life lived out in obedience to Christ and under the authority and control of the Holy Spirit.

“For if you live according to the sinful nature you will die; but if, by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Romans 8:13,14.

Beware of preaching that is watered down to what God can do for you! What He does, He does for His glory and we happen to be the ones to whom and through whom His glory is revealed!

God has no qualms about putting us to the test to see whether our faith in Him is about us or about Him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

Bible Study, , ,

WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?

“Soon the whole city was in an uproar, people running from everywhere to the Temple to get in on the action. They grabbed Paul, dragged him outside, and locked the Temple gates so he couldn’t get back in and gain sanctuary.

“As they were trying to kill him, word came to the captain of the guard, ‘A riot! The whole city’s boiling over.’ He acted swiftly. His soldiers and centurions ran to the scene at once. As soon as the mob saw the captain and his soldiers, they quit beating Paul.” Acts 21:30-32 (The Message).

‘So where was God in all this?’ This is the first question we are likely to ask.

If Paul was God’s servant, carrying out all His instructions faithfully, why didn’t He protect him from this kind of trouble? Why did He allow Paul to go through all this, just to get him to Rome? Couldn’t he have just hopped on a ship and sailed there in peace?

Questions like these open up the age-old issue of suffering — why does God allow suffering? We all experience our own version of this universal problem, and there are probably as many solutions as there are experiences, but do they really give answers that satisfy?

The problem for believers is that the Bible itself does not give us an answer. It may address some peripheral issues like, for example, that we live in a fallen world; that Satan is the god of this world; that his intention is to kill, steal and destroy; that God has given human beings the freedom to choose and that people do bad things to each other and God does not interfere because we are not puppets.

But these do still do not answer the central issue: why does God allow these things to happen? Paul experienced God’s protection again and again during his travels in Europe and Asia Minor. When people rioted against him and tried to kill him, he escaped. God caused an earthquake to set him free from prison in Philippi. He raised him from the dead when he was stoned at Lystra. He survived hardships of many kinds, but now he was under arrest and in the hands of Roman soldiers. What next?

Apart from Jesus, Job probably suffered more than anyone whose story is recorded in Scripture. He went from being a fabulously wealthy man with a big family, a name and prestige in his community to a pathetic pauper sitting on an ash heap, ill and in pain, and not even a wife to comfort him because she had turned against him as well. It is quite natural that he would ask why.

His so-called friends didn’t help him either. They insisted that God had done this to him because he had secretly sinned, an accusation which Job vehemently denied. In all his ranting and railing, God said nothing. He allowed Job to get it all off his chest until he had nothing more to say. When He did finally answer him, God was angry. He didn’t speak gently to him; He came at him out of a storm!

What He had to say had nothing to do with Job’s demand to know why. He overwhelmed Job with the majesty of His power over nature. “‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.'” Job 38:4 (NIV). On and on He went until Job was struck dumb. What was the point of all this?

There is a sense in which God was telling Job that he was too puny to understand His ways. There is no answer to the question ‘Why?’ that we humans can grasp because God is painting His picture on a canvas as big as the universe itself. How can we possibly stand back far enough to see the whole scope of what He is doing?

The real issue is not ‘why are you doing this?’ but ‘what must I do in this situation?’ I can either become embittered, turn my back on God and never experience the grace He promised that sets me free from my emotional pain or I can trust Him because I know that He is a loving Father who is painting me into His big picture and will never do anything to harm or destroy me. It’s really my choice!