Surely God will never do wickedly, nor the Almighty pervert justice. Who gave Him charge over the earth? Or who appointed Him over the whole world? If He should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. “If you have understanding hear this; listen to the sound of My words: Should one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is most just? Is it fitting to say to a king, ‘You are worthless,?’ And to nobles, ‘You are wicked?’ Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands…” Job 34: 12-19, NKJV.
Heavenly Father, we do pray that as You continue to speak to us through Your Word, that our position, as individuals in the Great Controversy, will be well defined; and by Your grace, we will allow You to get us ready for Your soon coming! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
We are looking behind the scenes of Job’s tragedy. Several things came to our attention yesterday: When the dialogue between GOD and the Adversary was over, he, who was a former resident of heaven, left the presence of God. He had already lost the battle that he initiated against Michael; and there was no longer a place found for him in heaven. He left God’s presence intent on destroying Job; and these are his intentions for every follower of the Lamb (Revelation 12: 17)! But the Adversary cannot touch a child of God, without God’s permission! It is important that we do not lose sight of the fact, that every tragedy that we witness, is a direct, or, indirect, consequence, of the controversy between good and evil!
What I have found to be one of the greatest challenges for many believers, myself included; is not understanding why God, who is all powerful, allows tragedy to touch the life of His followers, when He has the power to prevent it! It just does not make sense… to our human minds. Perhaps the reason we do not understand a lot of things about the way God works in our world, is because, without even realizing it, many of us have, created a god in our own image! If we were God, we would do things this way, or that; and when God does it some other way, our minds cannot comprehend it. Therefore, according to our value system, we reject it, as wrong! The reality is, we are not God!
What I have been impressed to do, is to allow the Holy Spirit to take me back to Calvary! There, I catch a small glimpse of the way God does things; versus the way we human beings do them. When, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, my mind travels back to Calvary, I see two powerful scenes: The Father, infinite in power; so great, that darkness had to engulf Him (Matthew 27: 45), to hide Him from the sight of human beings, to keep them from dying! I see Him as He stood beside the cross of His Son (The Desire of Ages, p. 665); but did not rescue Him! Was He unable to rescue His Son from a death that He did not deserve? I am sure that you will agree with me, that that, was not the case. You may say but that was His choice. He chose to let Him die! True! But for the death of the Son to be efficacious, did it have to be the cruel, shameful, death on a cross? I am almost certain, it did not have to be. But He allowed it! Do I understand this? No! Because God’s ways are not my ways!
The other scene that comes to mind is that of the Son. He who had power to lay down His life and take it up again (John 10: 17); is being reviled by the very ones for whom He is dying (Matthew 27: 40-44)! He knew that perhaps there would be more who would reject His sacrifice, than those who would accept it. Nevertheless, He stayed on the cross, in order to save us! Do I understand the dynamics of His behavior? No! Because He is God, and I am not.
I am in no way trying to minimize the validity of the questions you may have about many of the incomprehensible things that happen in our world. But I entreat you; let us be faithful! Someday, we will understand!
We will continue tomorrow.