God's LoveThis is a pivotal point that needs to be made about God and our lives. God loves us. God created this universe and not only does it follow God's design, but God follows His design for it. Now there are many bad things in this world, but the root cause of it is sin. Yet, instead of wiping it away, God is respecting His work, and is working with a fallen humanity to bring us back into a proper relationship with Him. We may wish that He would simply, "make things right," in an instant, but that would refute His work and is against His nature. God works. We like to think of Him as a magician, and certainly He has the power to do what we would consider magic, but we see in the Bible that He builds in a deliberate process. We are in a process. Jesus referred to the difficulties of this world as, "birth pains," indicating that this world is just a precursor, not an end.God was not surprised by how things went during Jesus' life; God always knew that Jesus would be crucified. Yet, knowing everything, God still sent Jesus, whom He loved, to Earth. Jesus then lived some 33 years as a man on Earth. Then in His final hours, Jesus Himself asked God if there was another way, but if not, God's will be done. There was no other way, even for God; God respects what He has done and what He is doing, and He will accomplish His goals by His effort. Jesus, likewise, did not attempt to escape on His own, but literally took up His cross. After Jesus was beaten by the Romans, God did not pull Jesus out of the situation and say from a thunderous cloud, "there is no need to continue, for I know Jesus' heart, and I know the hearts of the men beating Him, I know what would come to pass, and I now attribute to Jesus His success." No, Jesus then had to struggle with a wooden cross along winding streets while being tormented by Roman guards and an angry mob. When He reached the top of the hill, God still did not intervene. Jesus then had nails driven through His hands and feet, was hung on the cross, and suffered until He died, just as men have died. The magic of God did not appear until after Jesus died; the earthquakes, dead rising from their graves, and three days later, Jesus Himself rising from the grave. Jesus did a God sized work in a worldly fashion. We may question God's love in difficult times, but we need to remember that even God goes through difficult times; the worst times even. Whatever it may be, that is beyond our comprehension, that God has designed, we have to consider that it is not a trifle if He is doing such work for it. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. |