Now all things are from God (Part 2 of 3)
Growth without pain is impossible
God will not allow us to grow fat and lazy in the fields of prosperity. He may have to drag us unwillingly into the valley, but He will take us there. This is where the church does the believer a great injustice. When we go through the valley, we are made to feel like we have failed and are being punished. It is not punishment at all but a process of refining, pruning, and shaping us into the character of Christ. In the scripture, we are told to rejoice in sufferings knowing that it is producing perfection. We are also taught that when we are partakers in suffering, we have the confidence that we are also partakers in the consolation (or the reward God gives for what we have lost). Look at these passages:
2 Corinthians 1: 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
1 Peter 4:12-16 12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
How can we be glad and rejoice with exceeding joy when we are going through a trial that seems to scorch us like fire? In Hebrews 12 we are told to look to Jesus as our example. He endured the cross even though He despised its shame – why? Because of the joy that was set before Him. He did not focus on the cross, but what was beyond the cross. He endured because of the joy of knowing that we would be reconciled to Him, purged from our sins and rescued from judgment. This is our example. We endure sufferings and even rejoice – why? Because God has given us the power to look beyond the trial and see that we will become like Him and therefore become co-heirs with Christ.
Hopefully you are beginning to see why I said the modern idea of faith is a travesty to the Christian walk. Instead of looking at the benefits of God when we are tried, we are taught to despise this work of God and resist it with all our might. We are taught that it is not the work of God, but either an attack of the devil, sin in our lives or a lack of faith. In stead of being strengthened by our leaders knowing that we must go through these things and that God uses these things to grow us in the faith and become more like Christ, we are taught that only prosperity is used to measure godliness. Instead of encouraging those who suffer, condemnation is given to those who are walking through the Refiner’s fire.
Looking at Suffering Beyond the Human Perspective
It is so very important to look at our trials from a godly perspective. Let’s go back to our opening passage in 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
I have highlighted the phrase ‘now all things are of God’. I would like for each person who sees this passage to take it to heart. Memorize this passage and don’t let yourself lose sight of this principle. NOW ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD. If you are a new creation by trusting in Christ, you have this great promise. Every single thing that enters into your life is of God. This is true for tragedy or blessing. It is hard for many people to accept that God would allow bad things in our life; however, we are looking at the worldly perspective. Do you remember what happened when Jesus foretold His death to His disciples? Peter took Him and rebuked Jesus. It seems almost comical that Peter took God aside and rebuked the Creator of the universe. Why? Peter loved Jesus and the thought of losing the one person that meant the most in his life was too painful to even consider. What was Jesus’ response? Jesus first rebuked Satan who was stirring Peter’s passions contrary to God’s will and then He said to Peter, “For you are not mindful of the things of God but the things of men”.
We are the same today. When problems arise, we want to take God aside and rebuke Him because the things we desire are being violated by the things God desires for us. We rebuke God in many ways. We may say, “Why is God doing this” or “Why did God allow this to happen?” We may also rebuke God by declaring a false faith and refuse to accept the circumstances that God has ordained while demanding the things we desire. When I look at circumstances I can only see my comfort and feelings. I cannot see eternity and I will NEVER choose pain. When I get angry at God I am saying two things, I don’t trust God and I am saying that I value the things in this temporary life more than the eternal blessings of God. It is hard for us to see but it truly is better to miss out and even suffer in this life in order to gain conformity with Christ. In eternity I will never look back and mourn over the things I have lost in this world but I do believe we will lament over the eternal things we sacrificed in order to gain a worthless comfort or pleasure that will pass away when I leave this world.
I will resist the things of God when it conflicts with what I think is right. Twice in Proverbs we are told that there is a way that seems right to man but the end of it is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25). Since I am not able to see the end of my ways, I must learn to trust God even when it does not make sense. If the things that seem right to me from a human perspective will pass away in death, it is vital to look to God as the only source of true wisdom and trust that He alone knows how to produce permanent good in my life. Look at this important passage from Ecclesiastes 7:2-4
2 Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
This passage is teaching us several important principles. First we are told to consider that this life has an end. The feasting is worthless once this life is over and the wise will take this to heart. We also learn from this passage that God uses pain to make the heart better. When someone has a life of ease, their perspective will be shallow and pleasure will be the only thing they value. When we hear an inspirational testimony, it is always an amazing story of how God brought someone through the fire and how adversity has taught them to stand strong by God alone. There are no spiritual giants that have never been through the fire. When someone goes through trials, they either rebel against God, wallow in their self-pity, and become bitter or they turn to God and find true strength and the goodness of God. This passage teaches that the fool’s heart will long for the house of laughter and entertainment but the wise will trust God even in sadness and allow Him to shape our hearts as He conforms us to Christ.
The work of God is attributed to Satan
I cannot count the number of times I hear Christians blaming Satan for everything that goes wrong in their lives. From pulpits around the country we often hear messages about the attacks of the devil and Christians spend so much time fighting the devil that they never follow God. The power of Satan is trickery. Only by deception can Satan have power over the life of any believer. Once we have been set free in Christ, Satan has no more power over the Christian life. Instead of saying, “The devil is after me”, we should be saying, “Now all things are of God”. Anything that happens in the Christian’s life is by the hand of God. It is true that when we sin there are consequences that we must endure, but even these can be used by God. He saw our actions long before we sinned and God knew what decisions we would make and He has already made a way to return back to Him and be restored to our eternal path.
What we call the attacks of Satan is in fact the work of God. We are told in scripture that we will be refined by fire in this life, we will suffer persecution, we will have tribulation, we will be pruned, etc. However, all these things fall within the promise that “now all things are of God” and the promise we read earlier of Romans 8:28 that teaches that all things work together for our good. Yes, this applies to even bad things – or so-called bad things. Consider the many examples of bad things that God used for good in scripture. Joseph was an immature, self-centered young lad that God chose to be a deliverer for Israel. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own family, shipped off to Egypt where he served faithfully until he was falsely accused of adultery when he resisted the advances of Potiphar’s wife. He was then thrown into prison and forgotten. Even those who promised to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf forgot about him for many, many years. God shaped his character through all this and then raised him up to be used to deliver Israel from a great famine that lasted for years.
The very people who sold him into slavery were suddenly at his mercy as he became the second highest ruler over the Egyptian kingdom. Instead of being bitter, Joseph recognized God’s hand through it all and testified to this in Genesis 50:19-21
19 Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 "Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Once you recognize that all things are of God, forgiveness becomes much easier and bitterness is dispelled. They meant it for evil, but in truth, this was the hand of God who meant it for good.
An amazing example of the truth that Satan has no power outside of God’s will is clearly seen in Job’s life. God calls Job His servant and put a hedge around Job. As an example to us, God initiated a test for Job by pointing out His faithfulness to Satan. Satan then complained that God’s hedge protected Job and nothing could harm him; however, Satan challenged that if the hedge was removed, Job would curse God to His face. God allowed Satan to attack Job but set clear boundaries. Three times Satan returned and requested more access into Job’s life. Each time, God set the limits that Satan had to abide by. This is true for anyone who belongs to God. The Bible says in Psalm 34:7 that, “The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.” Are you walking in the fear of God? God has a hedge around you that Satan does not have the power to invade; however, God does have the power and the right to allow Satan to try us.
During Job’s darkest hour, he made the two greatest statements of faith found in the Bible. When Job’s so-called friends came and blamed Job for his own trials and claimed that God had rejected him because of some secret sin in his life. Job proclaimed that he was right with God and stated, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”. Wow! How many Christians could say this after losing their family, health and money? In Job 2:10 Job’s own wife gave up on God and encouraged Job to curse God but Job refused. In fact, Job gives us a powerful testimony that we must take to heart. Look at Job 2:10
10 But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Will we accept good from God and not accept adversity? I have heard many preachers claim that God would never send bad things into our life; however, we know this testimony is true because God stated that ‘in all this Job did not sin with his lips’. If this was a false statement, it would be a lie which is sin. A false testimony about God is sin. It was the religious friends of Job that God condemned and said that they did not speak right about the Lord when they falsely testified that God would never do this to a righteous person and that there must have been something wicked in Job’s life. Today Job’s friends would be saying that it was either a lack of faith or hidden sin; however, God showed that this was from the Lord.
We know the whole story because it was given to us in scripture, but Job never found out why he went through these things. He said that he would defend is cause before the Lord and would ask why God has done this; however, when the trial was over and God revealed Himself to Job, the explanation went quite differently than Job expected. God answered by asking Job a few questions. In Job 38, God begins by saying, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” God then asks Job a few questions to show that Job was completely ignorant about the things of God – Where were you when the compass was set in the earth; when the boundaries were set for the oceans; when all the things of God were planned out… In other words, Job can only see his point of view – a brief pinpoint in time and even that without seeing how God made all things work according to His purposes. God has His perfect plan and has everything established so that it works in perfect harmony to accomplish God’s will while at the same time working for our good. What is man that we should question what we cannot see, perceive or even conceive? Job’s answer was well stated in Job 40:3-4:
3 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 4 "Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth
When we truly begin to understand, we will no longer angrily cry out ‘Why God?’ Instead we will lay our hand over our mouth and realize the truth – who is man to question God? As far as we can see in scripture, God never revealed His reasons to Job and it was not necessary. When we have sight, we have no need of faith. Very rarely will God reveal His reasons to you before you go into tribulation but often times God will reveal many things to us afterward if we trust Him and enter into the rest He has prepared. Even so, by faith we must trust Him even if we never know why.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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