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By NiteOwlDave
When we are struck by a tragedy, we often hear
non-Christians and Christians raise the age-old question,
"Why would a caring God allow that
to happen?"
We hear protests that God could have forced
the terrorists to steer away from the Pentagon in Washington and The World
Trade Center in New York, Sept. 11, but He didn't. The net result was 3,000 innocent
deaths. Why didn't He intervene? Hmm! Well, try this answer on for size.
God chose not to intervene because God gives
us freewill. That freewill even allows us to kill one another!
The Bible says that God allows sinful man to choose
to accomplish horrible atrocities, but that He is grieved when they
happen. It is not what He wants for us. Although saddened, God seldom
interferes with what fallen man conspires.
There are several times in the Bible when God
expressed sadness and anger over the conduct of His creation.
1. He was grieved to
have brought on the great flood which drowned all but Noah and his family who
were saved by the ark he built.
Genesis 6:5-10 is sobering:
"When the Lord God saw the
extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men's lives
were only toward evil, he was sorry he had made them. It broke his
heart.
"And he said, 'I will blot
out from the face of the earth all mankind that I created. Yes, and the animals
too, and the reptiles and the birds. For I am sorry I made them.'
"But Noah was a pleasure to
the Lord. He was the only righteous man living on the earth at that time."
2. God was grieved
about the whining Israelites after He led them out of slavery in Egypt to
Canaan (Israel) with Moses at the helm.
Psalms 95:10-11 states,
"For
forty years I watched them in disgust. They were a nation whose thoughts and
heart were far away from me. They refused to accept my laws."
3. God became ticked
with the holy-joe Pharisees as told in Mark 3:5. Jesus is talking:
"Looking around at the them
angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human
need..."
4. Jesus was despaired
in the Garden of Gethsemane before his betrayal and crucifixion as Matthew
26:37 notes,
"He took Peter with Him and
Zebedee's two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and
despair."
5. Jesus was vexed
over Jerusalem.
Luke 13:34 reports Jesus as lamenting,
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help
her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen
protects her brood under her wings, but you would not let me."
6. When Jesus saw the
wailing at the news of the death of Lazarus and seeing that Mary nor the Jewish
leaders exhibited no hope that Jesus could (but did) bring him back to life, "Jesus
wept."
That, the shortest verse in the Bible, is
found in John 11:35.
7. God became fed up
with the sinfulness of Sodom and, in this case, took direct action and
destroyed the city by fire.
Genesis 18:19 says, "Their sin is very grievous."
Anne Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy
Graham and a renowned author/speaker, offered the following thoughtful insight
about God and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a TV interview.
"I believe that God is deeply
saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get
out of our schools, to get out of government and to get out of our lives,"
Graham said.
"And being the gentleman that He
is, I believe that He calmly backed out.
"How can we expect God to give us
his blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
Essentially, we have only ourselves to blame
for this because we have many times ordered God out of our lives, thus leaving
a vacuum for Satan and his followers to sweep in.
We have demeaned God to an "X", as
in Xmas!
The following are observations that have been
circulated widely amongst Christians on the Internet. The writer is not named.
We (the US) watched in the 1960s as atheist
Madeline O'Hare successfully had prayer banned in public-funded schools.
Next, the Bible was excluded from the classroom.
Then we went along when Dr. Benjamin Spock who
said we shouldn't spank children for misbehaving because we might damage their
self esteem. (Spock's son committed suicide, by the way.)
Some parents said teachers and principals
shouldn't discipline their children when they misbehave. The action wasn't
spawned because of abuses. Still, we said okay.
Then someone suggested that pregnant students
be allowed to have abortions and their parents need not be informed. We went
along with it.
Free condoms became available at schools in
confidants. Parents shrugged.
We bought the argument that pornography is
simply appreciation of the female body.
Hollywood began to serve up more and more TV
programs and movies where casual sex and use of illegal drugs are exploited to
the point where we are no longer alarmed.
Rap and rock lyrics praise Satan, applaud
drugs, rape, murder, and suicide. We put up with it.
And we wonder why many kids—and adults—today
kill their classmates and strangers for no apparent good reason!
The Bible is bang on when it states that, "We
reap what we sow."
We have indeed sold out!
If a student today were to ask God why He didn't
save the child shot in a classroom, God would be justified in replying, "Dear
Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God."
Bizarre? Is it?! Apply the logic of cause and
affect, and this scenario computes quite nicely.
It's odd that we trash God and then wonder why
the world's going to hell. It's strange why we believe what TV and the
newspapers say, but deeply question what the Bible says.
It's weird how everyone wants to go to Heaven
provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible
says.
It's ridiculous how someone can say, "I
believe in God", but follows Satan who, by the way, also "believes"
in God but is going to Hell.
Strange that we forward thousands of jokes to
e-mail acquaintances, but hesitate about passing along thoughtful messages
regarding God.
We trade Christmas cards which call for "Peace
on earth," failing to include the preface to that verse which, in full,
reads, "Glory to God in the highest", then "Peace on Earth and
good will toward men."
It makes no sense that we will not forward
stories like this because we are concerned that friends might think we're
freaky.
It seems we are more worried about what people
will think of us than what God will think of us.
We would rather sit back and continue
complaining about the bad shape the world is in and wonder why no one is
standing up for the truth?
Let's get some guts and share stuff like this
around!
Don't forget, God cares for us despite what we
cause in this sin-ridden, God-rejecting world.
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