“Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Genesis 18:25
Blue Skies on Raid © ecstaticist // Flickr.com
In one form or another we’ve all said it, or at least thought it: “How can a loving God allow that?”
There are so many ways in which we think we can call God to account for what he does, or doesn’t do — permits, or doesn’t permit. It really doesn’t matter what. When things don’t turn out the way we have prayerfully asked (or told) him, then, as far as we’re concerned, it’s his fault.
We seem to have something lodged in our brain that causes us to think that we and our ideas are the standard of justice, fairness, and goodness. Isn’t that ironic? We, who have corrupted things in every possible way that can be imagined, set ourselves up to be our Creator’s judge.
When we ask “How can God allow this to happen in this world?” we ignore that it is we (our selfishness and greed) who permit war and crime to continue. Shouldn’t the natural follow-up question really be, “How can God allow us to allow that?”
As far as God’s character is concerned, we need to return to the basic conviction of Abraham. Now Abraham encountered a great deal of crime, hunger, poverty, violence, and corruption of every kind, yet he always fell back on what he believed to be true about life: God will always do what is right and just. He can’t do anything else. His flawless reputation determines his every action.
Abraham was so persuaded of this that he put everything he had on the line more than once. On one occasion, he risked what his most valuable possession on earth (his son Isaac), believing that what he gave away in obedience to God would not and could not be lost forever (Heb. 11:17-19). It is said that Abraham believed (trusted) God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3).
This must become the center of gravity for our theology too. The thought that God isn’t fair, just, good, kind, or loving should be banished from our thinking forever. The fact that we’ll go through all kinds of trouble and sorrow in this life is inevitable, but it’s not inevitable that we blame and accuse God of not being right or good because of it.
It’s probably part of our fallen nature to engage in the blame game. We highly disapprove of bad times (particularly for ourselves), but there must come a time when we grow up enough to assume that whatever is happening to us at the moment is for our maturity and ultimate good (Rom. 8:28). It may take more and more time and experience to reach this conclusion (as it did with Abraham and every other believer since), but if we’re paying close attention it will eventually dawn on us that this really is the case.
So now let’s try moving ahead through the year 2012 with an attitude and perspective shift. Let’s approach every single challenge and disappointment with this new (old) view on life: “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?” Of course he will; it’s his nature. And yes, he appreciates our trust and confidence.
We live in a “blame someone else” society. We look to see whom to blame. For our problems we like to blame the former colonialists, former or present governments and politicians, bosses, colleagues, parents, children, neighbours, migrants, foreigners and if we can’t blame anyone then God does the favor and takes the blame! Ideally people need to take responsibility for their situation and act to improve. We simply cannot go on blaming others or God.
Raja, I think we’ve been taught (or at least encouraged) to blame everyone else but ourselves. It’s the cultural norm. Once we lose the idea of personal sinfulness, then by default there’s no one else to blame but someone else.
Is the end of times here? Good debate question. I know for a fact that we have already entered the first half of the 3 1/2 year mark of THE GREAT TRIBULATION PERIOD. The world time clock is ticking down. We all will be tested before the rapture occurs.