The Character of God

Originally posted as a facebook note 1/22/11 - We have had a lot of questioning "why" around this house the past five months.

Max wore his seatbelt faithfully.  WHY does it seem he wasn't wearing it that night?  I have heard it said that maybe God reached down and caused it to fail or unbuckled it.  People who have seen the accident report and the vehicle damage all say that Max would not have survived either way ... and he was spared any suffering this way, he was killed instantly.  The person who said that maybe God caused the accident wants proof that God "allows" bad things, not "causes" bad things. I don't profess to have the answers, that is for sure.  But I know that I can fall back safely on the Character of My God.  And at the very core, GOD IS GOOD.  How can a good God cause bad things?  I don't think He can.

Another one that is wrestled around here is prayer.  The other day a friend of a friend said that his mother wouldn't be alive if God hadn't heard the prayers of friends and healed her cancer.  That comment caused a family member to completely shut down and "check out" of the church conversation.  So what is the power of prayer?  Why is one healed and another one dies ... Again, I have no answers.  I just have to fall back on what I already know .... that God DOES hear all prayers ... and He tells us to pray.  I cannot profess to understand the why.

Searching the Bible won't bring me exact answers, but it will continue to help me see the face of God.  Human suffering is nothing new, there is plenty of it in the Bible.   A very wise Christian friend sent me this, I wanted to share it ... I am still mulling it over.

"First, I look at the author of death and what is his purpose.  I read the book of Job often simply because of the conversations that Satan has with God.  Satan kills children because he thinks it will destroy others faith in God  (Job 1:13-22)  I read it in the Message version.   It was not fair for Job to lose so much within a day. 

Next comes Job’s health in chapter 2.  The most important verse to let you know that God does not kill His children is in verse 8.  Everything that is done that harms or hurts us comes from the devil.  Yet God does allow death to take place and I believe that all Christ Followers have a time in which our purpose here is earth is complete.

God knows what lies ahead for our children and by being a child of His calls that child home so they will not have to endure what Satan has planned for them.  Our finite mind just cannot comprehend  what would have been ahead for someone, but God does have that knowledge.

Max had so much ahead from our viewpoint but we do not know what Satan had in store for him in future years.  But in continuing to follow the great things that have taken place in Max’s name is something to be proud of. 

I continue to pray for you and your family to have peace and understanding that only comes from God and pray that you can find simple conversations with the Lord.   His angels will comfort you as you yell at Satan to be gone from your lives.  Satan wants you to never go forward because YOU are a threat to him.  I yell at Satan to be gone more than you know.  James 4:7  helps with that topic.

I say all this to encourage you to go yell at Satan to get away and for the Lord to come close by you.  We still have a purpose in being here and the Lord wants us to share our love for each other and build on the memories to help others.  You know I care about your family and look forward to your fun laugh once again."

Thank you, friend.  I am clinging to the Lord and I do want him to be close to us all.  And I will continue to study what the Scriptures say.  I know some answers I will not have while I live on this earth.  It's just VERY HARD to accept that.