Why don't they get what they deserve?
There is an Hong Kong Evangelical Team that recently went to Adelaide Australia to do a shooting for a gospel sharing film. In the process of reaching the shooting location, the Evangelical Team has unfortunately experienced a motor accident. Fortunately, there were no deaths but it has caused severe injuries to the crew. Fiona Leung, who was previously a renowned Hong Kong actress, was part of the crew as programme host. Fiona attracted a lot of attention of the general public in the Hong Kong community towards this motor accident. (read about it here in Chinese)
This incident was raised as one of the many topics discussed in one of the Christmas dinners that I attended last year. The conversation began commenting on how unfortunate the crew were, and why such accident had to occur on a bunch of good people with wonderful intentions. The most impactful statement made in the course of discussion was: 'Fiona is a devoted Christian. She is actively serving in gospel sharing activity. She is not a lazy Christian, so why didn't, at the very least, Jesus protect her but exposed her to this accident? She should at least got what she deserved for being so devotional?'
When it comes to times of pain and suffering, we tend to think we are the better "managers" of life, questioning why people who suffered did not get what we would perceive are the better things in life. People often would accuse God and question why He just sat there with His arms crossed and did nothing to stop the bad things from happening on the good guys. While it may be a difficult challenge for people to have faith and hope that God will provide us with all the good things when times are rough, we should constantly remind ourselves God does have His own timing and own plan for everything to take place.
In Genesis 6, God has told Noah He is going to destroy everything and told Noah that if he wanted to save himself, he is to build something no one would have ever thought of building at the time: an ark. People during Noah's day would have probably questioned why a man would be so stupid to build such a big boat (if a boat was ever an invention known in those days!) in the middle of nowhere on dry land with no apparent reason. Noah himself would probably want to know how the ark is going to save himself. However, with so many uncertainties in mind, Noah still persisted and placed his faith in God's direction for almost the next 100 years to get the ark built!
Imagine having no clarification on the given directions for almost 100 years! Would you have thought God crossed his arms and have forgotten what He had commanded Noah to do? With the benefit of hindsight, that is certainly not the case. By Genesis 7, it is revealed that God had never been forgetful and I am sure everyone can fill in the rest of God's gracious plan for mankind: the flood came and only Noah's family, along with all the pairs of animals survived.
Today, the attitude of many people has not changed much compared to the days of Noah. Many bad things happen on good people that make a person's faith in Christ look "stupid", just like Noah looked "stupid" for building an ark in the middle of nowhere. Questions like "Why do devoted Christians have to suffer? Jesus should have saved them from it!" make the Christian faith incomprehensible. But with Noah's lesson in mind, 1 Corinthians 2:9 further reminds us that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (ESV).
There is no way we would be able to see how God is preparing for us. While we may not understand why some bad things inevitably has to happen to us, we should remind ourselves that it will ultimately be good in God's big picture at the end of the day. The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV):
This incident was raised as one of the many topics discussed in one of the Christmas dinners that I attended last year. The conversation began commenting on how unfortunate the crew were, and why such accident had to occur on a bunch of good people with wonderful intentions. The most impactful statement made in the course of discussion was: 'Fiona is a devoted Christian. She is actively serving in gospel sharing activity. She is not a lazy Christian, so why didn't, at the very least, Jesus protect her but exposed her to this accident? She should at least got what she deserved for being so devotional?'
When it comes to times of pain and suffering, we tend to think we are the better "managers" of life, questioning why people who suffered did not get what we would perceive are the better things in life. People often would accuse God and question why He just sat there with His arms crossed and did nothing to stop the bad things from happening on the good guys. While it may be a difficult challenge for people to have faith and hope that God will provide us with all the good things when times are rough, we should constantly remind ourselves God does have His own timing and own plan for everything to take place.
In Genesis 6, God has told Noah He is going to destroy everything and told Noah that if he wanted to save himself, he is to build something no one would have ever thought of building at the time: an ark. People during Noah's day would have probably questioned why a man would be so stupid to build such a big boat (if a boat was ever an invention known in those days!) in the middle of nowhere on dry land with no apparent reason. Noah himself would probably want to know how the ark is going to save himself. However, with so many uncertainties in mind, Noah still persisted and placed his faith in God's direction for almost the next 100 years to get the ark built!
Imagine having no clarification on the given directions for almost 100 years! Would you have thought God crossed his arms and have forgotten what He had commanded Noah to do? With the benefit of hindsight, that is certainly not the case. By Genesis 7, it is revealed that God had never been forgetful and I am sure everyone can fill in the rest of God's gracious plan for mankind: the flood came and only Noah's family, along with all the pairs of animals survived.
Today, the attitude of many people has not changed much compared to the days of Noah. Many bad things happen on good people that make a person's faith in Christ look "stupid", just like Noah looked "stupid" for building an ark in the middle of nowhere. Questions like "Why do devoted Christians have to suffer? Jesus should have saved them from it!" make the Christian faith incomprehensible. But with Noah's lesson in mind, 1 Corinthians 2:9 further reminds us that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him" (ESV).
There is no way we would be able to see how God is preparing for us. While we may not understand why some bad things inevitably has to happen to us, we should remind ourselves that it will ultimately be good in God's big picture at the end of the day. The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV):
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Imagine if only good things happen to christians and bad things happen to non christians. Christians are blessed with richness and health, non christians are all poor and suffering. Of course this will make all people to become christians and everyone happily ever after. But what then make us christians. A bunch of people who worship because they love wealth, who praises because they love themself. Is this what God is looking for? A bunch of people who follows him because they have to. Of course not. He is looking for people who can give up everything they have into following him.
Luke 18:22
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
God wants us to love him. You don't love him because he give you wealth. You don't love him because you are self seeking. You love him unconditionally.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.
This is how we should love God.
The book of Job is about suffering.
Even Good people like Job have to suffer. After God has taken away all his possession and children, he is still willing to worship and said,
Job 1:21
and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
How amazing that is.
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Anonymous |
4:16 pm, January 06, 2007