Yet he said to her, as some decadent woman speaks are you speaking. Indeed should we receive good from the One, Elohim, and should we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips
Job 2: 10, Concordant Old Testament
It's one of the mysteries which most people find in their search for meaning in the ways of the Lord. Why do bad things happen? If God loves us, and He does, why is it that calamity continues to plague His creation? I used to think that one of the best answers to this question came from the Lords servant Job, who himself suffered many bad things at the behest of the accuser. Yet, God allowed Satan's requests to bring suffering unto Job. Why? For that I turned to the words of Job to his wife as she boldly tells him, "Curse God and die" {Job 2:9}. Now, this might be the human, flesh reaction to the bad things in our life. Knowing that God is in control of all, He surely had a hand in our suffering, right? More on that in a minute. However, Jobs response to his own wife provides some insight. For it is Job who proclaims, "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity" {Job 2:10}? If we, as believers, trust that it is God who is all in all, then dealing with adversity is par for the course. For we all know that life as a whole is not a bed of roses. My own beliefs of my life in the Lord have allowed me to better understand the question of why God allows bad things to happen. If we adhere to the centuries old mainstream church separation theology, then we might consider the misguided belief that we're separate from God and that He brings about challenges in life outside of His true love nature {First Epistle of John 4:8}. That is, that He is somehow exacting revenge upon those He desires to. However, if we look upon God with the correct understanding, we see that our life is in Him through each and every moment of our life. Jesus Himself speaks of our union life in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. Contrary to the teachings of the church, my life has not been separated from the Lord. Everything that I do and all that happens occurs in the realm of my life in the Father. This is a comforting knowledge to have when the rubber meets the road. That we can rest assured that we live our life in Him. Yet that doesn't seem to answer the question, why does God allow bad things to happen? Well, what is it that Job understood that we don't? That God is all in all. He is in the sunshine as well as the difficult times.
For me to be living is Christ, and to be dying, gain
Paul to the Ephesians 1: 21, Concordant New Testament
It is common knowledge that the evangel spoken by the apostle Paul is one of our best references to our life in Christ Jesus. What were Paul's feelings on the difficult times in his own life, of which he had many in service to the Lord? Well, Paul understood that his life was not his own to live. He speaks to this truth in Galatians {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. Paul understood that his old man, his old humanity, had been crucified with Christ on that cross {Paul to the Romans 6:6}. That his life was now in Him {Paul to the Romans 6:8}. Paul also speaks to the "Momentary lightness of our affliction" {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 4:17}. I believe that it's safe to say that Paul's focus was not on his affliction, but upon his life in Christ. That his afflictions could not compare with the glory that would be revealed in him {Paul to the Romans 8:18}. When Paul sought the Lord three times to remove from him what we're told is a "Splinter in the flesh," the Father communicated His desire for the apostle. That being, "Sufficient for you is My grace, for My power in infirmity is being perfected" {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 12:9}. Therefore, Paul glorified in his trials "That the power of Christ should be tabernacling over me" {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 12:9}. I see these words of Paul as words of encouragement whenever we are buffeted by the trials of life. These trials are not outside of the Lord, but a part of our life in Him.
Wherefore also, lest I should be lifted up by the transcendence of the revelations, there was given to me a splinter in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he may be buffering me, lest I may be lifted up. For this I entreat the Lord thrice, that it should withdraw from me. And He has protested to me, "Sufficient for you is My grace, for My power in infirmity is being perfected," With the greatest relish, then, will I rather be glorying in my infirmities, that the power of Christ should be tabernacling over me. Wherefore I delight in infirmities, in outrages, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christs sake, for, whenever I may be weak, then I am powerful.
Paul to the Corinthians (2) 12: 7-10, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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