The original Biblical texts didn't have chapters and verses. In reading our Bibles with those included we sometimes miss the connecting points. Hebrews makes that very apparent. The beginning of Hebrews 2, which I mentioned yesterday, is a clear continuation of Chapter 1. The remainder of Chapter 2 is filled with amazing content as well.
What is man that you are mindful of him? Really! What have we ever done to deserve God's favor?
We were born into a sinful world - for by one man sin came into the world - and that is the world we are born into. God hates sin - hates the violation, and hates the separation from Him that sin creates.
We rail at God about what is fair, and what we deserve - but what we deserve is eternal death because of Sin.
We are captive in bodies that decay. We have a sense of 'what is fair' in terms of protection from accidents, defects and illnesses - but all of those things came into the world because of Sin. They were not God's will. Not then. Not now.
When things go well we find it easy to praise Him - but when things do not go according to the script as we would like it written, our default can too easily be to blame God, or if not to blame Him, to wonder what we've done to deserve such treatment (which is actually the same thing!)
God never promised us a cushy life just for believing in Him. But - He promised to be with us through all of it, and He redeems the bad in the lives of those who faithfully follow Him. How does He do that? By using everything we go through for His glory.
Out of illness and challenge, He refines us, purifies us, and centers our focus on what truly matters eternally.
Out of heartache and sorrow, He draws us to a place of needing Him so desperately that nothing else matters.
In death He brings us into His presence. What we deserve is eternal death - eternal separation from Him - and what He gives us is the opportunity to cling to Him no matter what our circumstances, and reflect faithfulness in the face of challenge. And at the end of whatever life brings, to be with Him.
He may choose to heal - and if He does, it is for His glory. But if He does not heal, He says that the death of His saints is beautiful in His sight.
It seems that some people's lives are far easier than others. It would seem more fair if those who are absolute champions of the Faith in their exemplary walk of faithfulness to the Lord throughout the breadth of their lives had a sugar-coated life on earth and at the end of a long and fruitful life just fell softly asleep some night to find they awakened in Jesus' arms. I could write the script I think is fair!
But - God is not fair. He is just.
The sun shines on the evil and unjust just as beautifully as it shines on those who are good, kind and faithful followers. That's not fair.
But, if God were fair, I'd deserve death - eternal death away from Him. I don't want God to be 'fair' - I want His mercy.
I grapple with what I see as inequity - but know God redeems our bad situations for His glory. It has happened over and over in my life. God has redeemed - or is in the process of redeeming even now - every rotten thing that has ever happened to me. He does that by allowing me to help others - to tell them that their rotten circumstance was never God's will, but just part of living in a fallen world - and that He will be with them through every moment of their pain, holding them, loving them, giving them hope. His promises are not hollow platitudes.
He is Life! He restores broken hearts and broken lives - the greatest of all healings! And He is still in the miracle-working business when it comes to touching frail bodies - but it's still important to keep that part in perspective. About 2 months before Jesus' death on the cross, he brought his friend Lazarus back to life - but Lazarus still had to face death eventually. None of us get out of this life alive. But we can get out of it alive in Him. That's the ultimate goal. That's what matters.
I don't mean to be morose - but in grappling with issues friends are going through right now, I am revisiting what I believe about God's fairness, and I have concluded that fairness and justice are not synonymous.
God is Love. God is Good. God is Just. God is not fair. And thank God He isn't!
In what seems to be unfair, God redeems the situations for His Good, His Best. In death He brings life - and very often in the challenge and difficulty faced by His saints, because they still faithfully follow even though the path is rocky and the earthly prognoses and outcome is not the one they'd prefer, God redeems their pain with heavenly fruit.
One of my friends recommitted her life to the Lord following her brother's death. Her brother's best friend gave his life to the Lord at the funeral. My own pastor's mother gave her life to the Lord at her sister's memorial service. Out of ashes, beauty.
The bottom line is, we will all die. Will we do it victoriously, knowing we fall into His arms as our light here fades?
Will we choose to be faithful followers no matter what our circumstances?
In 2000, following an oophorectomy which created a personal crisis, I read the book of Job and the book of Revelation back to back during the initial phase of my recuperation when things were most bleak. It was reading Job in that context that I truly understood what I needed to learn from reading it:
GOD DESERVES OUR PRAISE AND WORSHIP NO MATTER WHAT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES.
We are constantly affected by the result of Sin in the world - illness, accidents, inequities of all sorts - but when we know the Redeemer - who suffered for those very same sins, whose body was laced with stripes for our healing, we gain a different perspective. If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him. The end of the story is He Wins!!!!! which means We Win when we are His!!!!!!
In our deepest despair - He offers us Hope and grants us the courage to live in His Hope!
As long as there is life, there is hope - and I will pray for the healing I so desperately want God to perform - but I am also praying for lives to be touched who might not be touched any other way than through the path my friend must go on.....
Lord, redeem!
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