‘For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.’ I Corinthians 13:9-10
Why?
The rhetorical question only God can answer most of the time. People don’t talk about the why’s of things, because we don’t know them. It is often too high for us to grasp and understand in depth.
Look at Job, a man who ‘seemed’ to have the right to a ‘why’. In Job, chapter 42:1-6, I will list Job’s response to God when he received true wisdom.
- Job understood God as all-powerful.
- He realized that all he knew before encountering God and spoke about was in error, out of a lack of knowledge.
- At the point of repentance, his eyes of understanding were enlightened and he could see the Father.
Does God allow things to happen because he wants to use us as scapegoats to use? Does He use people at will for random tests? If that’s the case, then who’s next? In what country will he choose to allow another natural disaster? What business will he permit to be torn and destroyed, regardless of how much hard work the owners and staff have done? Whose family member is next?
Job found out God is not a gambler, setting people up to see if they win or fail. He is a Father. He has seen our end from the beginning, and when He allows things in our lives, He uses those things to bring us from point A to B – Z.
What is man? Are we not dust, how can we know these things? It is hard to see that the pain was allowed for our glory and that we will look back and thank God for a lesson we learned from it one day.
Who wants the lesson? We need it.
When Job repented, God opened his eyes to see far beyond his human understanding, readying him for glory. God didn’t stop there. He doubled Job’s wealth from before and added sons and daughters. These acts were not to say sorry to Job; they were the fruits of a life transformed by God and lived for God. Through Job’s later life, God Introduced kingdom mindsets, culture, and lifestyle. The Job who could see God was not the same man we were introduced to in Job, chapter 1.
Let’s look at Jesus, another man with the right to a why.
- He was God, who became man
- Born as man, but without sin
- Hung on a cross for the sake of the world, totally innocent
Unlike Job, Jesus knew God and the reason for his pain. He endured it and died, resulting in you and me, kingdom promoters. Jesus died so that perfection can come.
God doesn’t need to wipe out people and things in our lives for a mere test, He is God. He allows things because unknown to the enemy, our Father will use the pain for our good and, in doing so, build for the kingdom. Would any parent knowingly throw his child into a fire? No. However, He allows us to go through what we need to for our sakes, to make us perfect in Him.
The sons of God understand that everything they have and are is for the kingdom; there is no middle ground. If God cannot use our lives, and all we have to build with, then we are not kingdom-minded. Abraham gave up one way of life for another, and still did not see the city he sought; Noah kept building, despite how mad he seemed; Jesus preached the kingdom and died for it, though there were no outward signs that the time for the Holy Spirit had come.
Job said, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.’ ( Job 42:5). Don’t be blinded by the roaring fire, and give up in the heat, look up to Jesus and see.
Till next time, be transformed!!
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