It is unfortunate for me and my blog that I am not able to discuss certain things that are taking up a great deal of my life right now. Suffice to say I am going through some rough times and trying to not only make the best of it but see God in all of it. Here is what I can tell:
Recently a lot of things have been going on with my family and how we relate to our church, rumors fly and things happen and it has been rough but not completely without a positive side. Two Sundays ago my wife and I stayed home from church for the first time in years, and no one was sick. We watched a vodcast from Mars Hill, it was about the story of Ruth, which is one of my wife’s favorite books, and it just so happens it was about “God’s hand in your suffering.” It isn’t a sermon a lot of people touch on because bad things in life are normally related to one of two things 1) You have sin in you life, and have brought it upon your self 2) The devil is attacking you.
Some people may have agreed with the first option in our case but I have been in contact with God a great deal as of late and I am sure he would have told me if that was the case and although the devil attacking is always a possibility I don’t think that is the case here either. I just think in an imperfect world where imperfect people are all attempting to reach a perfect God things get a little crappy.
I believe God is sovereign and he is good, which means he will do as he pleases to bring about good, by his terms and not ours. While I don’t go as far as some and profess that God brings calamity in your life in order to teach you a lesson, one must confess that if God is omnipotent and omniscient (all powerful and all knowing) then he does allow things to happen that we would consider bad. But the Bible does say “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” and that I believe.
I am past the point of berating God because of the evil of the world or the stupid parts of my life, I know that like a good Father he knows what is best and if nothing else, I can trust in that even when I can’t see it directly. He’s God and I am not, not that I would want the job I have seen “Bruce Almighty” and it didn’t turn out well.