dang saul
"don't ask God for patience, cause he'll just put you in some situations that will make you learn to be patient." well i'm pretty sure that's close to how it works.
i've read through the book of job. a group of my friends and i studied job in a seemingly neverending twelve-week guided study. it was painful, as the whole time it felt like the author (of the bible study book) was constantly trying to get us to relive our worst moments on earth so that they could be fresh in our minds when we discussed job's conflict of pain and suffering vs. trust in God. boy, did it suck. job's pain was enemy-inflicted and God-allowed.
what about this one: "God allows bad things to happen, but he doesn't cause bad things to happen..." well i'm pretty sure that one's not true...not totally true, anyway.
when you're in the king's chamber playing the harp to soothe him, and he boils up in a fit of rage and throws a spear at you with intent to kill...on two separate occasions, that's bad. you'd be like, "dang, saul!" what would you say if that happened and you found out that God made him try to kill you? you'd be like, "thank you, kind Lord. God is love." actually, my initial reaction, if i'm being honest, which i am, would be more like, "dang, Lord. what the heck?! i know you're sovereign, and i don't question your ways. but in this case, what are you thinking? dang!" then i'd be like, "if God wants me dead then maybe i should die!"
the fact is that sometimes that bad thing in your life, that conflict is self-inflicted. and sometimes it's enemy-inflicted. but sometimes it's God-inflicted.
God made some bad stuff happen. when the israelites had been slaves in egypt and God had told moses to go free them, and pharaoh had said no way, and God had done some amazing things to convince pharaoh, and finally he had said ok go ahead...the bible says that God hardened pharaoh's heart. after going through all that. then God hardened pharaoh's heart, and he mobilized his army to pursue his recently freed slaves.
when your former owner, who has set you free, comes at you with his army of foot soldiers and chariots, swords drawn, torches blazing, that's bad. you'd be like, "dang, pharaoh!" what would you say if you found out that God made him do that?
it seems He does stuff like that over and over again in scripture. (God made adam endure loneliness for a long time, God made/allowed joseph to sit in prison for a long time.) but the advantage we have as the readers thousands of years later is being able to zoom out and look at what God is setting up in each of these cases. with pharaoh and moses He was getting ready to eliminate the threat of the former oppressor ever going back on his decision again. with david and saul, he was setting david up to be an even greater, wiser, more wonderful king by making saul seem crazy, irrational, and cruel. He was working all things for the good of those who love Him. (i feel like i've read that somewhere before...romans 8:28 rings a bell...)
so when something bad happens, i have to remind myself that conflict is what God will use to change me to make me more like He wants me to be. that doesn't mean that i like it, but at least i can embrace it and learn from it. let it change me. make me stronger. and the awful thing (that i perceive as awful) might just be God's first move in a series of events that will bring me into a place where i can do amazing things for Him.
Created almost 2 years ago
