In Luke 13, Jesus spoke of eighteen people that were killed
when the tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them. He asked His listeners if
they thought those people were more sinful than all the others living in
Jerusalem because they suffered this fate. Then He answered His own question
saying, “No.”
Unexpected tragedies can happen to any of us. We don’t
always understand why God does what He does — why some live and others do not.
He could have spared those 18 people that were tragically killed when the tower
fell on them. He could’ve prevented the tower from falling. He could’ve caused
them not to be there when it fell.
Miraculous testimonies were told after the September 11th
terrorist attacks. Many lived to tell how God delivered them from the tragedy,
while thousands of others unfortunately perished when those planes struck the
World Trade Center twin towers. Some had missed their flight and wasn’t on the
plane that struck the buildings. Some had errands to run before work and wasn’t
in the building when the planes flew into them. Twenty survivors were pulled
out of the rubble after the buildings collapsed.
The apostle Paul said in Romans 9:14… “Is there
unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!”
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV) “For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts
than your thoughts.”
Recently, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and heard
a preacher say, “God will either change things for you, or He will change you
for things. Sometimes God will lighten the burden, and other times He will strengthen
your back. And both of them are an answer to prayer. It’s not an either/or, He’s
God. Prayer will either change you for things, or it will change things for
you.”
Jesus prayed, “Father, let this cup pass from Me.” God sent
an angel to strengthen Jesus and He endured the cross, despising the shame,
having drank the full cup of God’s indignation, bringing us salvation and
everlasting life.
Enduring trials and tribulations is hard, but AFTERWARD
we will have become someone that only the experience could’ve created.
Hebrews 12:11 (NKJV) Now no chastening seems to be joyful
for the present, but painful; nevertheless, AFTERWARD it yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
God has a purpose for everything He does, and everything He
allows. We won’t always understand it, but we must trust in His character… that
He is loving. In fact, God is love. He is the very essence of love.
One day I happened to stumble across the NIV translation of
Jer. 29:11…
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for
you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
I gasped loud and deep in total surprise at the phrase “not
to harm you”. Why would I ever think He meant to harm me? Why was it such a
surprise to know that He didn't want to? Because, I didn’t know Him as well as I thought I did. The apostle
Peter encouraged us not to think it strange when we fall into fiery trials, because
they will come, but the Lord has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
When Satan came to the Lord concerning Job, the Lord threw
Job under the bus (so to speak) when He asked Satan to consider His servant
Job. The Lord took down the hedge that protected Job and allowed Satan to
devastate him. But AFTERWARD, Job came away from his tragedy a totally different
person. God addressed Job as “My servant” in the first chapter, and in the last
chapter He still called Job “My servant”. God kept him through it all. He
restored Job’s losses with twice as much as he had before, and made his last
days on earth better than his younger days.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV) This is what the LORD says: “Let
not the wise boast of their wisdom, or the strong boast of their strength, or
the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know Me, that I am the LORD, who
exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I
delight,” declares the LORD.
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove