God

Why does God allow suffering like we’ve seen in Haiti?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Through out history theologians and pastors have tried to answer such questions.  Evil and suffering are very hard to synthesize with belief in a loving God.  I don’t pretend to have the answers, but let me share some key thoughts.

First, God is a loving, powerful God but not just a loving, powerful God.  He is also wise, all-knowing, holy, righteous, just and wrathful.  Any adequate answer about suffering must deal with all of God’s attributes, not just one.  For example, while preventing all suffering from happening might seem loving, it might also violate other aspects of God’s character.

Second, because God is all-knowing, He sees not just the immediate suffering, but how that suffering connects to every other event—past and future.  Jonathan Edwards’ perspective is quite helpful in this regard.  He suggests that God sees through a microscope and a macroscope.  In the microscope God sees each event individually.  In this regard He rightly hates suffering.  In the macroscope God sees each event as it connects to all other events.  In this way, He may be inclined to allow that which He hates, because of outcomes we can never fathom.

Ultimately our response to tragedies like Haiti’s comes down to trust.  Can we trust God enough to say, “While I may never understand, I trust God’s reasoning in allowing this tragedy.”  Having trusted His reasoning, we are then free to respond with His love.

Understanding Suffering

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

From Newsweek:

I just got to a point where I couldn’t explain how something like this could happen, if there’s a powerful and loving God in charge of the world. It’s a very old problem, and there are a lot of answers, but I don’t think any of them work.

The suffering in Haiti has reminded us of an age-old question:  If God is loving and all-powerful, why does He allow tragedy and suffering?  Like the article points out, there are myriad ways we answer this question.  I, like Job, don’t have a complete answer, but I do have some questions about how we view God.

In the article quoted above we find a typical description of God–loving and powerful.  That’s all.  But, is that all God is?  Is He only a heavenly Santa supposed to use His power to prevent any form of suffering and pain?  And, if so, then shouldn’t we all be living in some form of Eden, right now?

Perhaps, while God is love, He is also much more.  Perhaps He is also just, righteous, holy, pure, jealous and wrathful.  Perhaps He is also all-knowing, able to see each event as it connects to all other events.  Perhaps, in His perfect knowledge and wisdom, He is able to see good, righteous reasons to allow calamity to occur.  Thus, while He might hate suffering and calamity, He might be inclined to allow it because of the bigger, eternal picture.

Let me give you an example.  Earlier I wrote:

The second is a young girl, dying from cancer.  This little girl didn’t just want prayer she also wanted answers.  I tried my best to answer her questions, and we prayed for her and her family.  Now, this little girl was not healed.  However, something even more amazing happened.  Before cancer claimed her, Christ claimed her.  This little girl accepted Christ, and even asked to be buried with one of the letters I wrote—so she could show it to God!  The peace with which she died, and this request led her parents—non-Christians—to ask their own questions.  Even though they lived two states away (they were in our area for her treatment) we prayed for them and put them in touch with a good church.

A few months later I received a letter from that little girl’s mom.  In it was a picture, which still sits on my desk, and a note.  That note shared how she and her husband came to know Christ, and how they could see God’s mercy.  She understood that her little girl died so that the girl, the mom and the dad could find eternal life.  She believed that it was a part of God’s plan, and though painful, worth it.

While God never promises to tell us what good end He achieved through allowing suffering, we can know He does not allow anything without a good, perfect and pleasing purpose.  The story of that dear little girl is evidence that God does not bring calamity where God does not send grace.

Perhaps God is not 2D after all.

Bad Economic News

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

WORLD Magazine | Todays News, Christian Views.

You probably have heard the discouraging December jobs report:  85,000 jobs lost and 661,000 not even looking for jobs.  The ongoing economic malaise is of concern to me for a few reasons.

Of course there is giving.  Ministry relies upon donors, we don’t sell a product or a service.  With fewer folks working, that means less to donate–which impacts what a ministry can or can’t do.  So, we must be wise and faithful.  Wisdom dictates we focus our limited resources on our core mission–making disciples.  Extras can, and should be shed.  Faith dictates that we trust God to provide for that core mission.  In other words, we don’t stop teaching Sunday School because we’re afraid we can’t heat the building.  We teach and trust God to provide.

The declining economy, while stealing donations from non-profits, also means more people in real need.  Our food pantry and benevolence fund has seen much more use over the past year than in the 6 that preceded it.  Already we’ve spent our budgeted benevolence, and will begin taking benevolence offerings to continue meeting needs.  It’s kind of a catch-22, more people need help but there is less to help them with.  Again, loving people is core mission stuff–so we continue to do so, trusting God to provide.

Additionally, there is the spiritual concern for the flock.  Some don’t know how to handle money problems in a Christian manner.  Some will ask, ‘Why me?’ Others might decide to blame God.  One of a Pastor’s great challenges is to help folks see these times are a purifying opportunity.  As businesses and ministries must shed extras and refocus on core mission–so, too, must Christians.  What an opportunity to realize how much time and money we invest in that which is ultimately fleeting.  What a chance to refocus my whole life upon that which is eternal.

Overall my hope is to set an example of wise faith:  not wasting resources, but also not doubting God’s continued provision.

In the mean time, I’d love for our government to do one thing:  make the US the most attractive place to do business.  Doing so, I believe, will do more to invigorate the economy than any number of stimuli or bailouts.

Prayer & Miracles

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Last night was our weekly prayer meeting.  It’s usually a small group of prayers who come to praise and pray for many needs.  We pray for our congregation and community, but we also pray for requests we receive from many others.  Folks in hospitals, a church in Mexico—folks from all over who share a request with one of our prayer team.  Those requests are prayed for and, whenever possible, followed up on.

Recently we’d been praying for a woman from our town with cancer.  She’d been having a very, very hard struggle.  Last night we received word her cancer was gone.  We’d also been praying for another woman with cancer—while its not gone, it is shrinking.  These updates reminded me of two amazing stories that come out of our Sunday night prayer meeting.

The first is an older woman with breathing problems.  When I first met her she was on oxygen.  She wore an oxygen tank to church, keeping a spare in the building just in case.  She needed the oxygen to survive.  We prayed for her for quite awhile, not just looking for a miracle, but for the grace to endure.  One Sunday she comes to church with no oxygen.  When I asked what was going on, I found out her most recent tests showed no need—her lungs were inexplicably working fine, again.  When pressed about it her Doctor confessed it must be a miracle.

The second is a young girl, dying from cancer.  This little girl didn’t just want prayer she also wanted answers.  I tried my best to answer her questions, and we prayed for her and her family.  Now, this little girl was not healed.  However, something even more amazing happened.  Before cancer claimed her, Christ claimed her.  This little girl accepted Christ, and even asked to be buried with one of the letters I wrote—so she could show it to God!  The peace with which she died, and this request led her parents—non-Christians—to ask their own questions.  Even though they lived two states away (they were in our area for her treatment) we prayed for them and put them in touch with a good church.

A few months later I received a letter from that little girl’s mom.  In it was a picture, which still sits on my desk, and a note.  That note shared how she and her husband came to know Christ, and how they could see God’s mercy.  She understood that her little girl died so that the girl, the mom and the dad could find eternal life.  She believed that it was a part of God’s plan, and though painful, worth it.

Those stories are why I pray.  I don’t claim to be a miracle worker; in fact I’d point to a couple of the other prayers whom I believe are the ones God is listening to.  However, I know that not only does He hear us, but also He acts.  I hope God allows you to see the impact your prayers have on others, so that you, too, might be encouraged to pray.

Waiting for Jesus to Show Up | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

We shouldn’t scold ourselves for this. There’s no point in shaming ourselves because we don’t love God. To begin with, you can’t make yourself love someone or some activity. You either love or you don’t.

via Waiting for Jesus to Show Up | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

A great article on loving God.  Especially at Christmas we need to remember that love is not forced, it is a gift.  At the same time, we need to call our lovelessness what it is:  sin.

God commands us to love Him (Deuteronomy 6:5).  Though I cannot make myself love Him, yet I must repent of not loving Him.  This, I believe, is the first step to learning to love God:  recognizing my lack of love as sin.  Having done this, I can turn to Him who is Love, find forgiveness and His love begins growing within.

Providence

~ brandon ~ 1 Comment

Our congregation has been trying to build a new building for 10 years.  Through various fits and starts we came to possess 10 acres of land (which moved 3 times), we designed a functional building, found a builder who could build it, raised almost 50% of the cash necessary, grew a budget to pay the mortgage and started construction.  The beginning of construction meant we had to decide what to do with our present building.  We decided to sell.

Selling it, of course, seemed much harder than it sounds.  The building is 105 years old, brick and about 3600 square feet.  It has only four rooms, a sanctuary (about ½ of the overall space), a small office, a large kitchen and a fellowship area.  And the building is landlocked—streets on two sides, homes on two sides—with no room for adding on.  Our bank would not venture a guess as to what it was worth, realtors told us they had no idea what to list it for, who would buy it or how long it would take.  Oh, an all of this while the local housing market is in the tank.  So, we put up a couple of signs and agreed on an asking price.

Within a week we received a call.  Another congregation in our area had been looking for a building for years.  They tried to build, but couldn’t afford it.  They tried to buy and ran into roadblocks.  Now they wanted to come and look at our building.  So, we welcomed them to have a look around.  Then I went on vacation.

While I was away this other congregation made an offer, below our asking price but still above what most of us thought the building was worth.  A meeting was met, and in the end we received exactly what we wanted for the building and they received exactly what they wanted—a building.  This whole event is what we call ‘Providence.’

God provided for us more cash as we complete our building.  This comes during a time when most churches are seeing declining offerings.  God provided this congregation with a new home.  After years of searching they’ve finally found a place to call their own.

What amazes me most is how big the providence of God is.  It is not merely big enough to guide our building process.  It is so big that our building process is God’s way of providing for the needs of two churches:  larger space for us and new space for them.  In one stroke God met the needs of two separate congregations.

God is good, all the time.