Tuesday, October
30, 2018
“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. However, if righteous people turn from their righteous behavior and start doing sinful things and act like other sinners, should they be allowed to live? No, of course not! All their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins. “Yet you say, ‘The Lord isn’t doing what’s right!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one not doing what’s right, or is it you? Ezekiel 18:23-25(NLT)
I’ve heard
it so often, and I expect to hear it again whenever the news reports:
·
some financial ruin, or a gruesome diagnosis, or …
·
some violent act like a mugging or hate crime, like last
week’s shooting.
It goes
something like: How could God let this happen to
innocent people?
There are
a myriad of responses we could trot-out, but there are two ringing loudly in my
bones today on the heels of another deranged man killing eleven people, and the
ensuing accusations and counter-blame attempts:
1.
There are no totally innocent people.
2.
While God appears to be passively standing-by and passively letting
it all happen, nothing could be farther from the truth.
About innocence in the human family
The
apostle Paul, quoting the Old Testament prophets said that, among humans, there
are none
righteous.[2] Paul, as well as traditional Christian
theology (not to mention common sense) tell us we have inherited, and respond
to Adam’s sinful nature. That is why God’s
acceptance of penitent sinners is based on mercy through His grace and mercy[3]
not on our behavior. Thank God for
that! It is our behavior which gets us into
trouble; Christ’s behavior of sacrifice on the cross is what gets us out!
About God being a passive by-stander
It’s exactly
the opposite; sovereign God is not only our Creator, He is the sustainer of all
life and active in all that happens.
Just consider these few verses:
…“O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! 2 Chronicles 20:6(NLT)
Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Revelation 19:6(NLT)
To reign
as a sovereign means you’re actively orchestrating the life and order of your
subjects. God, omniscient, understanding
and aware of everything that has happened, is
happening, and will happen is the very definition of supervising His
Creation … and with a very detailed hand!
When the early stages of man’s development took a wrong turn, God turned
things around. Nimrod, King of Babel, decided
to succeed from the union of God with man, and built him a monument…God did not
stand passively by:
But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building … Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” Genesis 11:5-7(NLT)
Ultimately
God, Sovereign ruler of the universe and all that exists is orchestrating life
and the times and events of mankind to suit His plans for what is His! Like it or not we must be ready to cooperate
with that plan.
To do
otherwise is beyond foolish.
For You Today
Do you have plans for today? What in those plans convinces you that you
are cooperating with God’s sovereign will?
Go to VIDEO
[2] Romans 3
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