This break has been a whirlwind of emotions so far. It started out with so much joy and lightheartedness on my family ski trip, but was cut short on Dec. 22nd when we got the call that Anthony and Nicole had died in a plane crash. I will never forget the moment when the world felt like it stopped as my mom held the phone up to her ear in the grocery store parking lot. I remember her face was formed into utter sorrow and I thought to myself "whatever she is hearing now is going to change our lives." That's the thing about tragedy…it changes things.
That raw, shocked feeling that I get when something terrible happens is something I fear the most. I fear it because I know it's going to happen. Tragedy is not choosy and has room for everyone. It's just part of this fallen world we live in right now. Something that has really stood out in my mind and been such a testimony to me is how the family has handled the loss. They have not turned away from God, but have glorified His name in all of this which is usually not the case.
Usually when something bad happens people become bitter towards God and even doubt that He exists at all. The age old questions:"Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is a good God then why does He take the ones we love from us?" It seems to me, as long as our lives are the way we want them to be, then trusting God comes easily. The second things go south, we question His name. Why is that?! Why is it that we turn away from the Hope we have in the midst of darkness? Why is it that we turn away from the One who hated death so much that He sent His son to give us an alternative???
Here's the deal…this world is FALLEN. We live in a world where the enemy searches to steal, kill, and destroy. We live in an imperfect place and because of sin many troubles come with it. We were the ones that decided to eat the apple and mistrust God in the beginning. He is not the One who wanted all of these bad things to happen, so why do we blame Him?! Why do we blame Him when He is the One who has brought hope to save us from all of this? If our faith depends on our lives being completely void of tragedy all the time, then that faith is sure to be tested. YOU WILL experience tragedy! That's the sad truth. So if tragedy makes you turn away from God, then there is no solid foundation there. You are obviously believing lies about God and this world, because anything that makes us question God is from the enemy. If I ever have doubts about God I pray away that spiritual warfare, because OBVIOUSLY I have some wrong thinking going on!!! God is GOOD…He hates death more than we do.
He chose to give humanity free will in the very beginning which gave us the choice to trust Him or not. Adam and Eve did not trust God's word, and therefore they ate the apple and death now exists. We didn't trust God then, and we turn away from Him now. He was not the one who chose to bring death into this world…WE WERE. It is not God's fault that these things exist, sin is to blame. Luckily, His love is so strong that He chose to die for us even though we've messed it up BIG TIME.
I know He cries with us. I know He wishes that we didn't have to go through all this. But having a true relationship with us where we CHOOSE to love Him back was worth giving us the option of rejecting Him. He wants my whole heart without having to force me into it. Even though I am the one who chose sin and death over Him, He sent the Perfect Sacrifice to blot out my sin. Now that the Holy Spirit is in me, God cannot reject me, because He cannot reject Himself. When the Lord Almighty sees me, He sees Jesus Christ. What a HOPE that is!!! Even though I am a broken human being, He has chosen to sacrifice Himself to have my heart and give me an eternal inheritance!!! He is the HOPE in the midst of all this darkness!!!!! If everything just went great all the time and no tragedy ever came about, that would mean that we never had a free choice in the first place! Our true relationship with Him was worth giving us the choice to mess it up BAD. You think we have had to experience sorrow?! Jesus Christ was forsaken by the Lord when He died on the cross and bore all our sins and there is NOTHING worse than that!!!! We cannot even fathom the grief! And all of that was because of US!!! Here we are blaming God when He is the only One who has the right to point fingers…but He doesn't! His love is unfathomable.
I for one am thankful that I am the one choosing to fall in the love with Jesus. We can have a relationship that is so much deeper than it would be if He just made us robots with no free choice. Sin and death are around these days, but I'm here to tell you that it's not forever. We should cling to our Savior more in the hard times, because He is the One who is going to give us a way out! He is the HOPE in all of this. I have a day coming when there will be no more tears. One day…all my longings I've ever felt will be satisfied. Death will lose all of it's power and I will live eternally with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and our Lord!!!!
Maybe instead of questioning God in tragedy we should cling to Him more. Maybe it should give us an urgency to share our faith with friends who don't know the Lord personally yet. I am very thankful for my relationship with Christ and the hope that I have in the midst of tragedy that has and will come my way. He promises to be our Strength, our Comfort, and He even says He will work everything together for our good. What a promise. Thank you, Jesus!!!
*It's not the end until all is made right, so don't lose heart.*
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