Tuesday, November
28, 2017
I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to
worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your
brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!” Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the
prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. Let the one who is doing harm continue to do
harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous
continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward
with me to repay all people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and
the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Blessed
are those who wash their robes. They
will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from
the tree of life. Outside the city are
the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol
worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches.
I am both the source of David and the
heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.” Revelation
22:8-16(NLT)
One of the most asked questions about God is: Where
is He? It’s not really a
question about celestial location as it is a question about divine
intention. The question is asked with a
passive-aggressive frustration over some tragedy (and haven’t we had enough
occasion recently?).
Where is God; why would He let this happen?
It’s not a simple question really.
Neither does it have a simple answer; although the short-answer is
rather straight-forward: we don’t know…none of us knows! Not a single person in the world really knows
what is in the plan of God for each life.
There are some things that are too deep for us to understand; there are some
things too painful or too big a temptation to face before it happens. Who indeed can know the mind of God? Isaiah knew we are nowhere near that pay
grade:
For just as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than
your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9(NLT)
And so we are left with the Psalmist’s instruction to trust and obey with
praise:
Praise
the Lord, all you nations. Praise
him, all you people of the earth. For
his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures
forever. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117:1-2(NLT)
But it seems that still leaves us hanging; while we’re trusting this God
who claims to be good, we have this nagging question about why there is so much evil and
tragedy.
I do not pretend to have the answer to why, so
let me simply offer a wee bit of comfort in the midst of questioning if you’re
grappling with that:
It is comforting to know that He knows!
Note that in Jesus’ message to John, the Lord knows all about all the
evil, tragedy and injustice we see (and do).
He knows, and in His timing He will come and set right that which has
been wrong. This is Morning Star thinking; this
is having faith that a new dawn is coming.
It won’t be in any way according to what our human reasoning understands
as the right time, but
it will be according to the divine appointment God has made to dispel the
darkness. It will be as on-time as the rising of the
sun throughout the eons of days since creation.
For You
Today
In
the midst of making sense of the latest tragedy or the commonplace of changing
the baby’s diaper, lift your voice like the Psalmist:
Praise
the Lord, all you nations. Praise
him, all you people of the earth. For
his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures
forever. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 117:1-2(NLT)
No comments:
Post a Comment