Morning Thoughts

Some morning thoughts...I know a lot of people struggle with the beliefs of Christianity. People struggle to understand why one would give their whole life and heart to a God who allows hurt and suffering in the world. Many believe there is a God but, to them, He is unknowable or even, perhaps, too unloving to get close to. I've often struggled with knowing how to answer these perplexing questions. With knowing how to make the pieces click in another's mind. I realize today that I simply can't. It is not my job. It is the Holy Spirit's and His alone. (Huge load off my shoulders😅)

BUT...the Bible does say that I should be ready to make a defense to all who ask about the hope that is in me. (1 Peter 3:15) I understand many struggle to believe or want to serve a God who allows so many of the things in the world today. And you know what? I've struggled too. I have been in deep, dark places where it felt like God was a million miles away and simply forgot about me. I've yelled at Him, blamed Him, walked away from Him (and His people, the church). But I've known the hard truth all along. The truth that keeps so many away from the precious treasure that is faith.

You see, we live in a world completely and totally broken by sin. My sin, your sin, that guy at the grocery store's sin. And many times, God allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin. As children, we touch a hot stove and we get burned. As we get older, the sins (and their consequences) become more complex and long-lasting. We allow our minds to wander onto the dangerous path of looking at someone other than our spouse in an intimate way. This path will inevitably lead to broken relationships and shattered trust. Or we search for something to help us "get through the day". You know what I mean. That pill. That drink. Just one, we say. But this path also leads to more brokenness and bitterness. Sometimes even jail or, worse, death. And just as we love our children by sometimes allowing them to learn the hard way, so God allows us to suffer our own consequences sometimes.

This truth is, I believe, relatively easy for most to accept. The hard part, the unexpected blow to our gut, is when we suffer the consequences of others' sins. I believe this is where many get tripped up. And I completely get it. Without knowing the Lord and having a relationship with Him, it can be easy to wonder, "Why would a loving God allow me to suffer this?" But the truth (the hard truth) is that we are all connected. No, I don't mean we are somehow all one with each other in some new age, mystic, occult-like way. What I mean is that we all share the same planet. And our sin will NEVER just affect ourselves. It affects those we love and share our lives with. It can (and often does) even affect people we don't even know! See, God never promises a life where everything is fair and just. (John 16:33) Oh, that was the original plan. Until humans came along and decided they knew better than their Creator what was good for them. (Ahem....Adam and Eve??😏)

But even after they went their own way and threw off the one restraint God had given them, He still took care of them. You see, God doesn't promise a problem-free life. But He DOES promise to never leave us or forsake us. (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5) And His promise is TRUTH. Good, comforting, hope-giving, life-saving TRUTH.

Listen, life is hard with God or without Him. (Believe me, I've tried it both ways.) But not because God is unloving or untrue. It's because we live in a fallen world. We dwell among a race that is infected with the worst kind of plague imaginable...sin. There is a war, both spiritual and physical, that rages consistently. Sometimes, we cause the pain and sometimes, we simply get caught in the crossfire.

Personally, if I have to go through suffering anyway, I'm going to do it holding the hand of the One who created me and loves me. I'd rather walk - and sometimes be carried - through it with the hope that "does not disappoint". (Romans 5:5) I'd rather believe God when He says there is a better life, a better home, waiting for us after this one.