Abba, Father, I …

Oh, the paradox of the love of God!

Consider these verses in Jeremiah 31:

³ The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.

Yet despite that, he did beat them up:

² This is what the LORD says:
“The people who survive the sword
will find favor in the desert;
I will come to give rest to Israel.”

⁴ I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.

⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.

20 Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him, I still remember him.
Therefore my heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion for him,”
declares the LORD.

He promises : favor because he had sent the sword among them, rebuilding since He had torn them down, a return home since He had exiled them to distant places.

How could He do these to Israel?

Because He loves him, therefore He beat him!

⁶because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

They that know Him, just know it :

“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning:
‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf,
and I have been disciplined.
Restore me, and I will return,
because you are the LORD my God. ( Jeremiah 31: 18)

And they that know his voice in this way that He speaks to His children, cry out in pain, but follow him still:

¹⁹ After I strayed, I repented;
after I came to understand, I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

They that know Him, wonder why at His weird ways, but accept it, as is :

¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,

They that know Him, ask not why, trusting that since He be the potter, He knows what He doeth:

⁹ “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘He has no hands’? ( Isaiah 45:9 NIV)

They that know Him, when they ask why, and He answers them not, hold their anger still, for they are reminded that :

¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father  the son he delights in. (Proverbs 3:12)

They that know Him in that way, are wise in this matter and are therefore greatly blessed:

¹³ Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding, (Proverbs 3:13)

What does it mean for you today?

If you are a child of God, then

• That difficult situation you are in
• That lack of what you so desperately need
• That delay in getting what you want
• That relationship that is so damaged or is eludes you
• That grave illness that gives you torment
• That deformity and un-goodly member of your body that you so wish you could alter
• That sudden and untimely death of a ought-to-be-still-alive person

Is all part of the complex process that confirms your son-ship to Him.

⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things. ( Isaiah 45:7)

Why it is difficult to understand His discipline
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I know you are probably troubled by the misery that is Haiti after the recent earthquake.

Some people may have theories about “packs made with the devil” and all that. And some people may theorize on the effects of “voodoo”. I do not know.

I have not asked, and so i do not have an answer to your “why?” I am not a prophet.  But sad as it may be, there are two things i hope you get out of this terror.

(i) For possible explanations, read the post “If God is good, why did he let this to happen?”

(ii) Learn: this may be one of the end time signs

When asked about end times:

³As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ( Matthew 24: 3 NIV)

Jesus answers that:

⁴Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ( Matthew 24:4-14 )

We are so used to stories of starvation in Somalia/Ethiopia, that we might forget that those daily news events could be end time signs for us. We quickly forgot the 1m or so people who are reportedly hungry in North Korea.  Just a couple of years ago, over 200,000 people died in a Tsunami in Asia. We have almost forgotten that. Haiti’s misery is another soon to be forgotten earthquake event.

But, if there is at least something to “get’ from this, it is this: This may be an end time sign. And if it is and this  knowledge helps someone, then those Haiti people may have just been sacrificed to save that someone.

I was running as fast as i could and fighting at the same time. Fighting to keep from being pulled off the road and “eaten” by the little devils. Ahead of me i could see other people all running and struggling to escape the hoard of terror coming from behind us, but i could tell that some of them were running too slowly to be able make it. I reached two fellas ahead of me, patted and pushed them on the backs, telling them they needed to move a little bit faster. Soon it became apparent that they could not go any faster, so i left them and continued running. I did not look back, but i am sure they got eaten up, and never made it.

After crossing a bend in the road, i could see a great city somewhere in the distance ahead ( just a few miles ahead;  how many miles i could not tell, but it was sure within reach). I continued my race towards the city.

That is a portion of a dream ( or was it a vision ) i had the other day. Interesting, right?

Two lessons

And i learned  several things. Two of which served as a reminder, that in this race of life,

(i) the enemy is working overtime seeking to “actually” eat your soul if he can get the opportunity.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ( 1 Peter 5:8)

This is no joke verse.  The enemy is actively seeking to swallow you. Give him a chance and he will. Resist him and you win and he flees away.

(ii) It is important to help others make it in their race, but be careful. You also have a race to run. In your passion for your ministry to others, you may be bogged down with “worries and cares for others” and miss the end of your own race.

This is a real concern folks. None other than Paul himself was concerned enough  to admonish:

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. ( 1 Corinthians 9:26-27)

The sower re-explained
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Hola Amigos y amigas! I am back, sort of.

I am sure most of you have gotten over the old pleasant teaching that says: “come to Christ, and all your troubles will go away”.

If you still hold on to it, your are still a baby Christian. But being a baby Christian is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, if you were born again just last year, it is understandable if you are one, and with time you will learn. Even grown up ( mature ) Christians were once baby Christian. But there is a problem if you remain a baby Christian far too long. How long is too long? There is no known number, but may i suggest that 5+ years is a long time.

The goodies of being Christian

So what are you promised when you become a child of God?

Inheritance with Christ. Eternal life. To be part of Christ’s administration here on earth for 1000 years. (  Do you see why you should worry about those African leaders want to rule for 40 years? ).

Permission to “lord” it over those bad people and make them do the right thing ( This is the reason why you should not be trying too hard to get into politics to “set things straight” ). A chance to be a priest in the temple of God in the new Jerusalem. Freedom to communicate with the Father any time, anywhere, anyway you like. No appointments necessary. No “fathers” or “saints” or “Holy moms” to pray on your behalf. Permission to carry God ( the Holy Spirit ) around on earth. Permission to use the Lord’s name to do stuff ( e.g. beat up demons ). The list is too long to list here.
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There is no doubt that one of the most difficult problems for human beings to fathom is that of suffering. To the non believers, suffering makes no sense. In fact, many people turn away from believing in the Lord God because their logic about the Christian God and human suffering does not match:

If God is good and all powerful, why is there suffering in the world?, goes the popular question.

People who contemplate this question as stated will conclude ( erroneously ) that since suffering is real in the world, then either there is no God or there is a God but He cannot be good and all powerful at the same time. (  See here for more, if you are interested in more insights on that question.)

Why do Christians suffer?

But Christians who believe that the Lord is good and all powerful also have a problem with the idea of suffering. Why do Christians suffer? Somehow we expect that once we become sons and daughters of God, we should be shielded and not be subjected to any more suffering. Many great Bible teachers have attempted to explain the problem of suffering, so you can read those explanations, if you need to. I will not offer any complex explanations, for i am not a great bible teacher.
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