You’ve probably asked this question yourself. I can almost guarantee you’ve heard someone ask it. I’ve done both…asked it and heard it just this week in fact. It’s one of those “questions for the ages”…it has been asked ever since mankind got thrown out of The Garden on our ear…

Why does God allow bad stuff to happen to people?

We know deep down that God could stop all of the bad stuff…the stuff happening in our lives, to the people we know, around the world. He has the power, but why doesn’t He do it?

People come to different conclusions. Some think it’s because He’s mean. Some say it’s because He doesn’t care. Some that He doesn’t even exist.

There are “deep” theological answers (think “free will”), but I’m not getting into that today. This whole topic came up while I was reading a passage out of Hebrews this morning. The answer given there is specifically for those who are following Him. Why does God allow stuff to happen to those who are trying there best to follow Him?

Why?

Because we’re His children, and that’s what a good Dad does…

As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children.
Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children,
it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.
Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us,
shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
Hebrews 12:7-9, NLT

When I read that this morning I wanted to know more about the word “discipline” used here. It made me think of how I discipline my own children (a common occurrence…just ask Kyle), punishing them to change their behavior. And it’s close…but it goes beyond how I typically think of discipline. God is using what goes on in our daily lives…the good and the bad…to shape and mold us. He lets the stuff happen because He wants it to train us…to change us. The word is more akin to the idea of instruction and training—not just punishment.

And God’s does this all throw His perfect filter of love and grace. He isn’t allowing these things to happen because He’s mean or doesn’t care. Quite the opposite…He allows it because He knows it’s good for us…it will develop our character and draw us to Himself (if we let it). I don’t know about you, but I want to be a legitimate child of God. And He’s been using plenty of “stuff” in my life to discipline/train me. I just wish it wasn’t so painful sometimes (as does Kyle), and I wish I would realize what’s happening when I’m going through the battle.

Most, if not all, of us struggle with living a right (righteous) life. I know I do. I feel Paul’s pain in Romans when he talks about doing the things he doesn’t want to do and not being able to do things he wants to do (Romans 7:15-21). I want to do right and live right, but too often I fail miserably. I feel weak. I feel like a mess.

God has been slowing shifting my focus over the past few weeks. Away from actions and rules. Toward love and grace.

It’s a hard lesson to learn because I have years of “bad thinking” built up. I’m used to thinking about trying to follow all the rules instead of following Him. Years of guilt instead of grace. It’s not the best way to live…and it’s not God’s way.

I got yet another reminder of that this morning in my devotional book…

“Trying to be holy always results in failure after failure. Falling in love with a righteous God results in progress. Failures still happen, but there’s a noticeably different approach to them. Instead of obsessing about shortcomings, we begin to obsess about God’s goodness…Law no longer consumes us; grace does.” (Walk With God, p. 201)

I wish this lesson came more naturally…but for me it’s hard work. I have to work to focus my attention on my relationship with God instead of trying to be good. But it’s getting easier…more natural. I am learning to accept God’s love and walk in His presence every day. I have much to learn, but I have a patient Father who wants me to learn this lesson and live in His grace. What a relief!

I have taken a little hiatus from blogging this month as I tried to find a new “life equilibrium” once school let out. I have been trying to spend time with family and with God to be sure my priorities are right. Blogging paid that price (and that’s as it should be). Life is getting back to “normal” (whatever that is) and the blogging itch is slowly returning. It’s a creative outlet for me…and hopefully it gives back a little too.

This morning I was reading in Romans and had one of those “light-bulb” moments. Here is the passage I was reading and meditating on:

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…
he called them to come to him…he gave them right standing
with himself…he gave them his glory.
Romans 8:29-30, NLT

I have read this passage, and other like it, without much thought to this notion of being “chosen” by God. I have been in classes that explored the theological implications of us being “chosen” by God. I understand the theological concepts (and “controversies”) behind the word and the concept.

God gave me new insight this morning. It might not be new to you—I pray it isn’t—but it was fresh and new to me…my “light bulb”.

Here it is: God chose me! (I know…groundbreaking isn’t it?). I mean…he actually chose me. He made a conscious decision. God wants to know me.

This goes back to the adoption metaphor that Paul uses earlier in Romans chapter 8. I wasn’t born into God’s family (like my own children were born into our family)—God adopted me. He chose me. God wants me so much that He actually selected me—God picked me! I wasn’t the last kid left to be picked for kickball…He chose me to be His son…and to be like His Son.

That is mind boggling and life changing. The God of the universe…the God who spoke worlds into existence…chose me to be adopted into His family.

It feels good to be chosen.

I gotta tell you, I am getting way more out of my study of Jeremiah than I thought I would (I know, not much faith huh?). I am 13 chapters into the book and I must say that I am starting to feel…just a little…for Israel. God is putting the hammer down on them. They deserve it for turning to idols instead of turning to God, but He is really letting them have it.

Why? Because He loves them. And He’s a jealous God…very jealous. This morning’s reading gave a little insight into what is frustrating God so much. God has Jeremiah buy and then bury a loincloth. God waits (I am assuming for a looooong time) and then tells Jeremiah to go dig it back up. It’s completely ruined…”good for nothing” is what Jeremiah calls it. And that’s when God makes his real point:

As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist,
so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord.
They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—
an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me.
Jeremiah 13:11, NLT

God was frustrated because He had created Israel to cling to Him…but instead they turned from Him. It broke His heart (so to speak). He wanted relationship with His people and they walked away…they ignored God and turned to idols instead.

Ouch.

God created me…us…for that very same relationship. He wants me to cling to Him…to be His pride and glory. Too often I blow it and turn away from Him instead. I want to listen to Him. I want to walk with Him.

I want to cling to Him…like static cling!

As part of my time alone with God in the morning I have been reading the book Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning (thanks to a recommendation by Natalie Witcher—read her blog). A few weeks ago one of the chapters in the book hit me pretty hard…God used it (and is still using it) to shift some of my old paradigms about how I look at God’s love for me. He asks this great question that I am still wrestling with:

How would you respond if I asked you this question: Do you honestly believe that God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you? (Abba’s Child, page 64)

That’s a great question…do I really believe God loves me…or that He even likes me? Not because He has to…but because He just does? I have difficulty answering this question; I don’t like my answer. But the truth is, God does love us. Period. End of story…

God loves who we really are—whether we like it or not. (page 22)

Thank God for that one…but I wonder how many of us actually believe it. I wonder how much I actually believe it.

More to come on this topic…

I just started reading a book by Brennan Manning called Abba’s Child. It was recommended by one of my favorite bloggers, Natalie Witcher (if you haven’t…please check out her site). And I have not been the slightest disappointed (and I am only into the second chapter so far). In the very first chapter, Manning makes a statement that has stuck with me all week…it is still working on me:

“God’s sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we have sinned and failed. A “slip” for an alcoholic is a terrifying experience. The obsession of the mind and body with booze returns with the wild furry of a sudden storm in springtime. When the person sobers up, he or she is devastated. I had two options: yield once again to guilt, fear, and depression; or rush into the arms of my heavenly Father—choose to live as victim of my disease; or choose to trust in Abba’s immutable love.” (page 20, emphasis added).

Alcoholism isn’t my particular “demon” but I understand the choice Manning is illustrating here. And I too seldom run into the arms of my heavenly Father. I turn to the wrong stuff instead of turning to God. I’m not sure I even know how to run into His arms…but it’s my heart’s desire and something I am asking Him to teach me. It isn’t natural…it isn’t my first instinct. But it’s what I need.

So God and I are working on it. I am learning to trust in His “immutable love”; I am learning to run into His arms; I am learning to be His child. I just wish I wasn’t always such a slow learner!

“God in his wisdom saw to it that the world
would never know him through human wisdom…”
(1 Corinthians 1:21a, NLT)

This is the passage my devotions started with yesterday. We don’t get to know God through our wisdom. It doesn’t work that way…it’s not God’s plan. In fact, God ensures that we don’t get to know Him that way.

But why?

Because if He allowed us to get to know Him based on our own wisdom and knowledge, we would take the credit. Of course we would…that’s what we do. We don’t get to really pursue God—it’s the other way around. God pursues us.

Again…why?

God pursues us so that we will know that He loves us. There is no doubt. No question. God loves us. Period. He loves us so much that He wants to be sure that we don’t get in our own way and take the credit for His love (I’ve done this). He loves us so much that…

“…he gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16, NLT)

Now, why would I want to go and mess that up?

“Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?
He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!
Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man
must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified,
and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Luke 24:5-7, NLT

I have been reading through the life of David as part of my time with God lately. I am currently in 2 Samuel after David has been King for awhile. In fact, part of the story has shifted from David to his sons and daughters. What a mess!

Here’s a quick highlight from just 2 Samuel 13:

Tamar is raped by her half-brother Amnon.
Tamar’s brother, Absalom, plots revenge against Amnon and kills him (can’t honestly say that I blame him).
King David banishes Absalom from his kingdom.

That’s what I call a dysfunctional family. King David finishes mourning for Amnon’s death and wants to be reunited with Absalom, but he has a problem…he has banished Absalom. Enter Joab…one of the David’s friends, confidants and generals. He wants the king to be reconciled to his son so he sends a woman to seek David’s advice…really a ruse to get David to see how think-headed he is being (and it works).

As this woman is talking to David, she says something that lept off the page at me this morning. It’s a truth I know…but it never hurts to be reminded once in awhile. Here is what she said:

God does not just sweep life away;
instead, he devises ways to bring us back
when we have been separated from him.
2 Samuel 14:14b, NLT

She was using God as an example of why David should find a way to bring his son back, but the truth here is amazing.

:: God pursues us ::

He devises ways to bring us back to Himself. He does not want us living apart from Him…He want a relationship with us more than we want it with Him!

As I think back on my own life, this has been true. God has pursued me and He has devised some very clever ways to bring me back to Him. I wish I wasn’t always so stubborn and stupid, but He is patient and loving.

How is God pursuing you now? How has He pursued you in the past? Thank Him for it!

This morning I had a powerful time with God…one of those moments that come when you least expect it. For me, these times are typically marked by God showing me how much He cares for me, but this morning was different. This morning God showed me a glimpse of my own journey with Him—He showed me a part of myself that I need to be aware of. It came from this passage:

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you),
why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more
to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
Galatians 4:9, NLT

I have read this particular verse I don’t know how many times…but I have never read it like I did this morning. I have been a slave to many tings in my  life…including “the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world”. What are the spiritual principles of this world? Anything that points away from God to something else…idolatry. For some it’s about money and power. For others it’s narcissism (maybe most?). For some it’s an addiction. For others it’s loneliness. The list goes on and on…

As I read this verse this morning I was captured by the first part—the fact that I know God, but more importantly, He knows me! And because I have this relationship with Him I should not be drawn back into my old pattern, my old addictions, my old life. It calls to me often. But then, so does He.

So instead of being a slave to anything in this world, I am a slave to Jesus. I am His. I belong to Him. And He knows me…He knows me better than I know myself. So I am going to cling to Him and work more and more to get to Him better and let Him know me better to.  That’s not easy because it means I have to open myself up to Him and to others…and that leaves me vulnerable. But it also leaves me open to His love.

Like I said…I belong to Him. I can’t wait to see where He leads!