Bad things happen...

3 of 3...i promise, i'll be quiet for a couple days now... these 3 posts don't tie in so much, so no need to feel you need ot read all three or you will miss something, also no need to read them in order...or read them at all...hope you're having a good day and have a smile on your face...

Why is it that when we think we are going through a hard time, God has disappeared on us, or that He has turned his back on us, or simply that we are ‘under attack’? Thinking about things this evening, I was reminded of how Jesus went through suffering and death, and it was the ‘good’ thing we NEEDED him to do. We would not be where we are today if God had not sent His son Jesus to earth as a man, lived his life and gave it up through a horrible death on a cross.
So, we do not understand why good people die, or why bad things happen to good people. Yet, do we think that Mary and Joseph, knowing now what we know about Jesus dying for our salvation, would have complained and turned their backs on God because their son was killed by a mob?
We expect all good things to be from God, and we should, the bible says that very thing, “All good gifts come from the Father.” And “if we as evil parents know how to give our children good gifts, how much more does our Father in heaven know how to lavish on us…” (a little out of context, that verse is referring to God giving us the Holy spirit. Although is there any greater gift than the ultimate counselour, the power of heaven, and the comfort of a King, love, joy, peace, understanding, all the ‘gifts’ of the spirit. To inherit the Spirit is to inherit his ‘gifts’, so in the sense of receiving from God, we have actually received all we need and more through the receipt of the Holy Spirit. But I drift a little from where I am going to make a point; We MUST expect goodness and good gifts from our God. However, what we must not discount is that there are things that happen in this world that do not look ‘good’ to us that the Lord allows us and even leads us into to bring us into a new area of our lives, or to teach us something we can only learn in that place of difficulty.

You can read all you want about a bullet wound, but until you have a bullet flying at hundreds of feet per second (or however fast a bullet travels) lodged into your leg, you have not fully understood what a bullet wound is all about, let alone the fact that different places of receiving that lodged bullet would mean more or less pain, and quite possibly your death. What did Jesus need to learn from being in the wilderness for 40 days without food and water? I once fasted for 40 days. The first 7 I was eating just fruits and vegetables, then I felt God saying I needed to only drink liquids (no restriction but alcohol), and then after 4 days of that only to have water. By about the 30th day or so I was in the hospital, sicker than I had ever been. I wish not to do a 40 day fast again. For the remainder of those days I restricted on what I was eating based on what I felt the Lord was saying to me. I don’t say this to gloat or to say I did something great. I say this to put a little severity to the situation that Jesus went through. How hard it must have been. I know I will never do a fast like that again unless I have the ability to walk into the wilderness for 40 days like Jesus did. If you must continue to work, and drive, and play, and live outside of seeking God for 40 days, then your fast will be harder than what Jesus did, so I recommend not doing so.

Now, having said that, I don’t want to actually say that Your fast would be harder than what Jesus did, simply because I do not want to belittle what Jesus went through, and to also point out that I was not there, have never done a 40 day fast and have no idea how it is going to affect my life. Maybe one day I can share with you how it does affect my life. (don’t get all ‘oh but you’re not supposed to say you were fasting’)…We know Jesus fasted didn’t we? And the bible tells us to on several occasions, including Jesus telling the apostles that “this one only comes out by prayer and fasting.” Meaning, we must fast, and if Jesus can talk to his crew about it, I can surely encourage and be encouraged by you all. Now lets move on.

Paul was sent through the ringer on multiple, horrifying occasions to end up in Rome to preach the gospel. Jesus was ‘bruised for our iniquities, by his stripes we are healed.” Out of bad things, good things happen. Do not despise the bad things that are happening in your life.

Job walked through hell and back, and in the end he had more than he had when we start his story. God told Jacob to sacrifice his only son, that’s pretty bad right there, I don’t care who you are, that’s a trip right there. And I could even go as far as saying that is ‘bad’, and God himself told Jacob that. But in the end what happened? He was blessed, and Isaac was blessed etc…

What I believe the issue is, and I think that almost everything I write goes back to this point somewhere in my writing, is simply that we do not understand the heart of God fully to judge whether we are in a thing of God or if we are ‘under attack’. Jesus spent 30 years getting ready for his ‘ministry’, he also retreated to solitude with the Father on more times than we can account for, as well as doing so in the middle of teaching or preaching or healing the masses. Relationship is the ticket to understanding what God is doing in our lives. I believe that full heartedly.

Jesus didn’t always understand it either. “If this cup can be taken from me…” That is a desperate plea, from a man on his road to being killed by the brutality of a mob. He also knew what He was supposed to do and what He was going to endure, and because there was no other way to have this happen, He walked that road and gave his life for us. I don’t know about you, but I am thankful that something bad happened to someone good. You could say that I am thankful that someone’s son was killed, that someone’s brother was killed, that someone’s teacher, mentor, best friend and companion was killed, right in front of them, as they cried, and sobbed in horror, without understanding the full extent of what was going on. I can only imagine what was going through the disciples heads when this happened. They never put it together until then. Jesus told them he had to go away, He told them to their faces, and yet when it happened, what would have gone through their heads. I can tell you what might have gone through my head. Maybe something like, “oh my goodness, were we right in following this guy all this time? Was he really the Messiah? What is going on? Who do we turn to, he was everything we knew, I am not ready for him to be gone…”

That’s another very interesting thought. How many of Jesus’ disciples cried out “it’s to early, I can’t do this on my own yet, we need you Jesus, I need to learn more, I need to have you here with me, there is so much I don’t understand.”

I’m sure we have all felt that way a little on some level or another, wondering why we have been thrown into something so early, kicking and screaming, “it’s to early, I am not ready.” Life is about being thrown into the deep end and learning to swim on your own. Life I said before, you cannot only read about a bullet wound to fully understand the ins and outs, the pain and the draining effect of a bullet would until you have a bullet lodged in your leg (or anywhere else). It is in the act of doing what you have learned about or read about that you gain an appreciation, or I guess better said, an understanding about what it is you have just done.

I can read all about healing and setting people free, I can learn all there is to know about casting out a demon, but until I actually step forward, see someone possessed by a demon and step up to the plate, exercise the authority in Jesus Christ that was given to me and cast it out of the person, setting them free, I do not know what it is like to cast a demon out.

I am as guilty as those I speak to, and some of you may not be guilty, and to you I say good on ya, keep up the good work, I, as well as God and those of us around are proud of you and inspired by you in what you do, but I am guilty of sitting in a corner waiting for the world to come to me, rather than stepping up to the plate and swinging. “Pony up” as the cowboys used to say… (did they really say that?, and I can only guess it means ‘man up’). I’ve stepped onto more trails than I planned. I started with a simple thought that I’m rather glad something bad happened to someone good…

Don’t be afraid of the hard times. Ye, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff comfort me. If we are to pray that, then there must be a time we will be walking through that valley. But we are instructed to no fear, because greater is he that is in us, than he that is in this world who opposes us.

The reverse of all of this is true as well. I’m pretty sure I have asked this before, “why do good things happen to bad people?”. Well I can tell you that I’m glad that a good thing (salvation) happened to a bad person (me), because that’s where my supposed ‘goodness’ took over, and yet most days I wonder if I can actually claim that I am one of the ‘good’ ones. We have all had, and continue to have our stints in the world of sin, and we are also all offered the free gift of redemption, salvation and forgiveness through the death of Jesus. So, next time you look at a ‘bad’ person and wonder why something good happened to them, remember that the very same thing happened to you, and your good thing, salvation, is far better than their good thing on this earth.

For the sake of good, a bad thing had to happen. And for the sake of a bad person a good person had to die. We can only inherit what we are willing to receive.

Do not despise hard times, but instead turn to God for comfort and salvation through those times. Ye though I walk… remember those words always. It is in those words that you will find comfort. There will be times that we walk through hard times, walk through things we do not understand, but we must ask what goodness is on the other side of that darkness.

God, I choose to not despise the ‘bad’ things I find myself walking through, but instead, I will endeavor to press into you, to find your face and to seek your presence, your friendship and your companionship; to know you as father, and to know you as Saviour. To understand the fullness of your presence, the reality of you living in me, the reality of your spirit being within me, and “I in you, You in me, even as Jesus is in You, Father.” Help me to realize the times I am in, and when I don’t, to continue to trust in you and trust that you have good places for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me a future and a hope. All to your Glory God…