Tilling and Planting

Tag: God’s Goodness

  • Unanswered Questions

    Unanswered Questions

    Intro

    Have you ever asked God questions when life doesn’t make any sense? Or when things go off the rails? I know I have. Often the question is “Why God?” And how many of those questions has God answered? For me personally, it feels like many questions go unanswered. When it comes to questioning God, some say it’s not right while others say God is big enough to handle our questions. So before I dig into why God might leave questions unanswered, I want to address the question of should we question Him.

    Can I Question God?

    In a word, yes! You most certainly can. However, there is this small matter called intent that I need to address.

    Look throughout the Scriptures and you’ll find people who asked God questions all the time – and you’ll see a whole lot of them God left unanswered. For most people, God remained gentle and kind toward them in their questioning. In many of those cases (Abraham, Job, Moses, others), He reaffirmed who He was to them without directly answering their questions. And that was enough for them.

    However, there’s also those whom God rebuked (Israelites in the wilderness, Pharisees, Zechariah – New Testament). So what’s the difference? Why did God rebuke some and respond with love and compassion to others? It comes down to their heart. As God told Samuel, He “looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

    The Heart Question

    Those that God rebuked questioned God (or Jesus) as if they knew better. They actively resisted receiving Him with thanksgiving (Israelites), praise (all of them), and recognition even though they should have known better (Pharisees). And others questioned Him with doubt and bitterness (Zechariah). They had no faith in God and this became the genesis of their questions. Consequently their questions went largely unanswered. Instead the people got rebuked for their questioning. Honestly, getting the answers would not have changed their hearts. Thought at least in Zechariah’s case, the rebuke resulted in a heart change. Praise God that even those whom God Almighty rebukes can get a second chance.

    For those He didn’t rebuke, their questions came from places of honest doubt, confusion, and humility. They genuinely sought God and whether He answered their questions directly or not, they all chose to trust Him. And that’s the key. When we have questions, we need to be prepared to trust God no matter the answer – or lack thereof.

    Reasons

    Before I go on, I do want to address different types of reasons that could be the answer when we say “why”.

    The first type is because of a choice we make. Sometimes I think some Christians assume that they can make careless choices and not suffer the consequences. And then ask God “why” when they do. But God never once promises that we will not suffer the consequences of our choices. In fact, just the opposite. The Bible speaks about people dealing with the consequences of their choices all the time. Paul warns about it quite a bit in his letters. Going 20 over the speed limit? God is not obligated to blind all the police to your dangerous speeding. In fact, God might urge a cop to pull you over so you learn your lesson before you hurt someone or yourself.

    Secondly, if it wasn’t by your choice, maybe it was the choice of someone else. We live in a fallen world where people have free will. Why did that person die in a car crash? Because the other person made a choice to drive drunk. People resist God all the time and make choices that unfortunately hurt His followers.

    The third type would be the ones that are truly not from any choice anyone made. Such as cancer or other diseases and sickness. Why do these happen to godly people? The short version goes back to we live in a fallen world where that just happens to people. We can’t control it. Now to move on to answering the “Why do these things happen to godly people” question.

    Why do These Things Happen?

    Of the three types of reasons that I went over, the second two are the ones that are most relevant here I think. I don’t want to spend any more time on the first one since that one can be summed up as “I made a bad choice and suffered the consequences.” And hopefully I learned a lesson to never do something like that again.

    I didn’t do it

    The second two are a bit more complicated since I (or you) didn’t make any choices and something bad still happened to us. In those cases the question oftentimes comes from why didn’t God protect His children from either the choices of others or the fallen nature of the world. I think one answer can be found in how God’s sovereignty actually works – and is the topic that is often on trial for these things, along with God’s love, goodness, and justice. I address a lot of these in my posts on God’s Goodness and God’s Sovereignty.

    To summarize this position, God is good all the time and only does good things. He never uses evil to “get around to something good”. God chooses to limit Himself in a way by operating primarily through finite beings (us, angels). He wants us to exercise our free will and make the choices that will advance His Kingdom.

    Another possible answer to why some of these things happen can be found in the Bible in Romans and James.

    Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

    Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

    Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

    James 1:2-4 (NIV)

    I wish to reiterate that God will not bring the trials and sufferings upon us (though He will ask us to get outside our comfort zone at times, however that is very different from the trials and sufferings described here). However, when these things happen, God promises to be with us and to fashion in us a more Christ-like character and to work things out for the good. Jesus promised that we will have troubles in this world (John 16:33). After all, the world hated Him first (John 15:18-19).

    War

    And on top of that, Satan hates us Christians so much that he’s going to do what he can to derail us and make us ineffective and turn away from God. We are in a real war with a real enemy. So we can expect all kinds of attacks. Physical, financial, mental, etc.

    I Still Didn’t Answer the Question

    You might be thinking, Cory, you still didn’t answer the question of why God leaves some questions unanswered. And you’re right. Because truthfully, I don’t know why God doesn’t answer all our questions. I can only try to throw out ideas that might help you better understand why things happen. Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t give a clear answer in this area of God’s decision to not answer questions. All I can say is two things: He is God and He does what He will and second, He calls us to trust in Him when we don’t understand. And I believe that sometimes it’s because we don’t have the answers that we have to learn to trust God more and ultimately be drawn closer to Him. That’s the best answer I have.

    Wrapping Up

    I hope I introduced some insight into why bad things happen to good people. Whether by our own choices, the choices of others, this fallen natural world, or straight up attacks from the enemy, the bad things fall into one of these categories. I recognize I cannot give a concrete reason for God leaving questions unanswered, but He never promised to answer all our questions. He only promised to be with us and that we can trust Him always. And that’s something we need to ask God to help us become okay with. That’s one question He’ll gladly answer.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Victory in Jesus

    Victory in Jesus

    Intro

    The church in America has been infected with a defeatist mindset. I don’t know how long ago it started, but at some point the Church forgot it has victory in Jesus over the enemies of God. All too often we live like we have been defeated and won’t even bother trying to fight. We say things like, “That’s just the way it is” and other similar things. Many Christians don’t realize that we don’t have to settle for struggling with sin and muttering “I can’t wait to get to Heaven to not have to deal with this struggle.” They don’t realize that in Jesus we have victory over the devil and he has to flee from us when we tell him to. Some people might even claim that we are powerless to do anything. I beg to differ. The Bible tells a very different story. Check it out.

    Victory Over Sin

    The Bible says that Jesus was tempted and yet didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:15). Because of that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross atoned for the sins of the every person ever born from the creation of the world until now. And beyond. Jesus’ supreme victory over sin enables us to live victorious over temptations and sinful lifestyles.

    Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:24 (NIV)

    No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1 John 3:9 (NIV)

    Now I hear you saying, “But, Cory, I’m saved, but I still sin. What gives?” And my answer is simple. Ask yourself this question, “Am I living in a sinful lifestyle with no intention of changing, or am I actively fighting my sinful tendencies?” If you are actively fighting, then don’t worry, you’re on the right track! When John says “they cannot go on sinning” he means that we as Christians cannot live a lifestyle of sin and enjoy it like we used to. This means that we have victory in Jesus to overcome our sinful past and the temptations that crop up.

    Victory Over Satan

    When Jesus rose from the dead, He also defeated Satan once and for all. When Satan tempted Jesus, He claimed to own the Kingdoms of the world and could give them to Jesus. All Jesus had to do was bow down and worship Satan (see Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13). But look at what Jesus said after He rose from the dead.

    Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18 (NIV)

    Jesus reclaimed all the earth through the Cross and the Resurrection! And to top it off, this passage – referred to as the Great Commission – shows Jesus telling His disciples that He gives them His authority as well. Furthermore, during Jesus’ ministry, He sent out His disciples and gave them authority over demons and evil spirits. So, why then are so many Christians afraid of Satan and his minions? Jesus gave us authority over them. There’s nothing to be afraid of. If you suspect that there’s some demonic spirit affecting you or a loved one, tell it to go! They have to obey. If it doesn’t seem to work or you are just struggling with the idea, then seek out someone with experience.

    Victory Over Struggles

    I’ve already talked about the sin struggles and struggles against demonic enemies. So what other struggles could I be referring to? How about mental struggles. Stuff like fear, anxiety, depression, general pessimism towards life, negative attitudes, addictions, etc. All these things can (and do) plague Christians every single day. But they shouldn’t. These are all things that Christ gave us victory over on the Cross. God says 365 times (or 366 times, I’ve heard it both ways) in the Bible “Do not fear”. 2 Timothy 1:7 says that God doesn’t give out spirits of fear. He gives a spirit of a sound mind. A sound mind in this context is one of calmness. One that remains unbothered by what’s going on in the world. Yes, you should acknowledge that terrible things are happening, but you shouldn’t let it drive you into fear or anxiety.

    We are not slaves to the thoughts that hit our mind.

    We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

    In Jesus, you have the victory to take every thought you have and give it to Jesus and instead force yourself to think about holy, pure, righteous things (Philippians 4:8). Jesus gave this power to us. But so much of the time, we allow the news and other negative talk dominate our thoughts and minds. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to allow it. I can turn around and combat it with the Spirit of God that lives in me.

    How to Walk in Victory?

    The question that all this brings up is, how do I do this? How do I actually overcome the struggles in my life? I hinted at part of it in the last section. The mind. All these struggles I mentioned have at their roots a particular mindset. Whether that mindset is “I can’t control the thoughts that enter my mind” or “Satan is so powerful I’ll never overcome him” or even “I have an advanced stage of cancer, I need to prepare for the inevitable”. In all these cases, in order to start walking with the victory we have in Jesus, you need a mindset change. And here’s some practical ways to go about getting that mindset change.

    The Practical Side

    1. First, you need to believe it. Choose today that you are going to start believing that Jesus already gave you victory over these things. And remind yourself of this every day.
    2. Start every day reading the Word. Fill your mind with what the Bible says about who God is and who He says you are.
    3. Speak life into your life. Declare out loud (doesn’t have to be loud) what God says about you from the Bible. Some good ones to start with are “I am more than a conqueror”, “God is with me”, and “I walk by faith, not by sight”.
    4. Let go of shame. Do not allow sins and mistakes of the past rob you of joy or of being who God called you to be. Jesus already paid for those. Let it go.
    5. Walk in obedience. Obey what God says in his Word and obey what God has called you to personally. The more you walk in obedience, the less you’ll find yourself doing or thinking the things you struggle with.
    6. Surround yourself with people of faith. This goes back to a previous post of mine. It’s impossible to live this Christian life without a community of believers around you to build you up.
    7. And lastly, pray with boldness. Did you know that God says we can come boldly to His throne (Hebrews 4:16)? But all too often we come with hesitancy and pleading, begging God to do something. The early church did not pray that way. In fact, they prayed with boldness, declaring the victory of Jesus over situations – and it happened! So pray like you have the victory. Pray with boldness. And if you struggle with boldness, pray for boldness! Acts chapter 4 says that the church prayed for boldness and God answered that prayer.

    Wrapping Up

    As I wrap this up, I just want to say that I’m talking to myself just as much as I’m talking to you. I struggle with thoughts and temptations and (at times) fear. I struggle with physical issues that I’m seeking healing on, but haven’t seen yet. My mindset isn’t fully renewed to see myself walk in the full victory of Jesus. But I’m learning, I’m moving forward not backward. And at the end of the day, that’s all God asks from us. To move forward. And God will do the rest. He’ll get us there. So, get out there and walk with your head held high and a smile on your face. People might think you’re crazy, but we have a hope that the world doesn’t have. And we are victorious in every way possible. So why shouldn’t we smile?

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Shepherd

    The Shepherd

    Intro

    Jesus refers to Himself as The Shepherd. Even more specifically, the Good Shepherd. What exactly does Jesus mean by this? In what ways is Jesus like a shepherd. And how are we, His followers, like sheep?

    Sheep

    To understand why Jesus likens Himself to a shepherd and us to sheep, it would help to get an understanding of what sheep are like. Here’s a handful of characteristics of sheep that as humans, we tend to resemble. Disclaimer: I found the original list here. Credit where credit is due.

    No Sense of Direction

    Sheep are notorious for wandering. Without a shepherd to guide them, the sheep will get hopelessly lost. They’ll likely go wherever the sheep ahead of them goes. If a couple of sheep wander off a cliff, the rest of the flock will probably follow. Stories of sheep doing exactly that are well documented. Here’s one such story.

    Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 15 metres to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived. Shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000.

    Sounds pretty dumb, right? But let’s be honest. How many people do something, follow some fad, some star just because “it’s cool.” So many people go along with the crowd because they want to be “in.” We don’t always think about the consequences. We just want people to accept us – even if it means doing dumb (or dangerous) things.

    Defenseless

    When you think about an animal who’s great at defending themselves, sheep are probably not the first one that comes to mind. Frankly, they’re terrible at it. Apart from ewes kicking when protecting their young or the fact that when frightened, the whole flock tends to run together (safety in numbers), they can’t defend themselves very well. That’s where the shepherd comes in. They defend the sheep against predators and their own stupidity.

    Similarly, we can run and maybe kick a little against small things, but when it comes to needing protection against the bigger enemies, we desperately need God’s divine protection. Without that, we will fall prey to Sin and Satan over and over again with no hope.

    Can’t Get Up

    I remember watching the VeggieTales adaptation of David and Goliath (Dave and the Giant Pickle) and thinking that the portrayal of sheep falling over and needing help to get back up was just a fun thing the creators put in. After all, there’s no way that there’s an animal incapable of standing back up when it falls over, right? Apparently, there is, it’s called a sheep. When sheep tip over (particularly on their backs), they are physically unable to stand back up. They require assistance from the shepherd to get back on their feet.

    How many times have we fallen in life and would have fizzled out or even died (whether self-inflicted or not) if we didn’t get help from God?

    Emotional and Recognizes Voices

    On a brighter note, sheep have an amazing ability to recognize the voice of the shepherd who cares for them. If a stranger’s voice tries to command them, they will more than likely run away in fear. They know who’s voice they are safe listening to. In addition, sheep are emotional creatures. They build friendships with other sheep and will even stick up for those friends in a fight. They can become anxious or distressed, and they feel sadness when a fellow sheep dies or is lost.

    I don’t think I need to explain the parallels to humans with this one. For we have all felt anxious or distressed at times and most (if not all) of us have felt the pain of a loved one passing away. We long for companionship and connection to fellow humans. And we learn from an early age, the voices of our parents. When strangers try to tell us to do something, we tend to question if we need to listen.

    Can’t Carry Burdens

    If there’s one thing that sheep were not made for, it’s carrying heavy loads. You will never see a sheep as a pack animal. They will be quickly crushed by such a burden. Similarly, God did not mean for us to carry the burdens of life like we do so often. God created us to be dependent on Him, and to give our burdens and trials of life to Him. We can’t carry it all on our own. We were never meant to.

    Settles For Less

    Sheep generally don’t know what’s good for them. If they see a dirty puddle, they’ll stop and drink from it – even though there might be clean water just a few feet away. As long as it satisfies in the moment, sheep just don’t care. Shepherds help the sheep find what’s good for them. And sadly, we are like that all too often. Rather than going after the good things of God, we settle for the things of this world which do not satisfy.

    Valuable

    Another point in favor of sheep is that they were quite valuable back in ancient times – and still are in different parts of the world. Owning large flocks of sheep indicated that one had wealth and influence. God declares us to be His special possession (1 Peter 2:9). God values humans above everything else in all of creation (Matthew 10:29-31).

    Can’t Care for Their Wounds

    Many animals lick their wounds until they heal. But not sheep. Sheep can’t do anything to help their wounds. Without treatment, sheep might die of easily treatable wounds. Shepherds are essential to the treatment of wounds. While we treat our physical wounds very well, we have no ability to treat our spiritual wounds on our own. We need help.

    Innocent

    Lastly, sheep are often associated with innocence and purity. How could you look at a sheep and blame it for anything worse than wandering away from the flock and getting lost? God calls us to be innocent and pure like sheep. Though that’s not possible without His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus washed away our sins and made us spotless as a sheep’s wool. Innocent in His sight.

    Jesus as The Good Shepherd

    Knowing now the nature of sheep, it doesn’t take much to understand the importance of a shepherd. And in John 10:11, Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd. So, now I’ll describe how Jesus fits into that role of a shepherd. I’ll reference back to the list of sheep characteristics and show how Jesus fulfills these.

    Valuable, Innocent, Healed

    I’ve already mentioned how much God values us – similar to how valuable sheep have been. And I’ve also mentioned that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are innocent and pure in God’s sight. And going along with that, the cross and resurrection provides the means through which God heals our spiritual wounds – much like the shepherd must care for the sheep’s wounds. Romans 6:8,11 (NIV), “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him…In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, God made us alive spiritually – totally healed.

    Guidance, Settling

    A shepherd leads his flock of sheep from one place to another. And he always leads them to the best pastures and waters he can find. He ensures that his flock will have everything they need and not settle for less. Psalm 23 is a fantastic passage to describe God leading us as a shepherd does his flock. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4, NIV).

    Falling, Carrying Burdens

    I briefly asked how many times we might have fizzled out in life if God hadn’t been there to pick us up. To put a verse to this: Psalm 145:14 (NIV), “The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” When times are tough, God will be there always to lift us up. And furthermore, Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus carries the burdens we cannot carry on our own. He invites us to come to Him and learn from Him, because His burden is light, and it’s light because He carries it with us.

    Defenseless

    A lot of people might get offended to think that we are defenseless like sheep. And in the physical world, I can’t argue that we will defend ourselves in a variety of ways. However, in the spiritual world, we got nothing. Our only defense against the powers of Satan and our own temptations comes from God. Only through Holy Spirit living in us and enabling us to we have any sort of defense against the dark powers that operate in this world. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11 (NIV). This verse makes it clear that we need God to stand against the devil. We can’t do it on our own.

    Hearing His Voice

    Jesus states in John 10 that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd and He further states that His sheep know Him and know His voice (verses 3-4,14-16). A lot of people (myself included) struggle with this idea of hearing God’s voice. We wonder if we are hearing His voice or if it’s our own thoughts or if it’s the enemy trying to trick us. There is a process of learning to recognize God’s still small voice. It comes through spending time with God in prayer, worship, and reading of the Word. Simply knowing His word helps to prevent us from being deceived by other voices. After all, the Bible is the chief way by which He speaks to us.

    Wrapping Up

    Comparing people to sheep may not be the most flattering thing but praise be to God that we have a Good Shepherd to take care of us! I hope this instills more confidence, hope, and peace in your life.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • God’s Sovereignty

    God’s Sovereignty

    Intro

    God’s sovereignty is undisputed amongst Christians. However, what they do dispute about is how that sovereignty translates to the world we live in. In other words, how much of what we see in the world (the good and the bad) is a part of God’s will to happen? And how much is because we have free will? I only briefly mentioned God’s sovereignty in my post about God the Father and I aim to expand upon that today. In addition, I actually can’t fully talk about sovereignty without comparing it to God’s goodness, which I’ve already established in both the Trinity Trilogy post and my last one, Good Good Father.

    Good Vs Sovereign

    Admit it, you weren’t expecting that as a heading. It’s Good vs Evil right? In this case, when people ask the question “If there is truly a good and loving God, why is there evil in the world?”, they are questioning God’s sovereignty. Therefore, when talking about His sovereignty, I need to balance it out with His goodness. And believe it or not, the truth is simpler than people make it out to be. And it’s easier to figure out than people realize as well. When I first heard what I’m about to tell you, I was blown away by its simplicity. And it brought a greater measure of peace and confidence in my life. Enough teasing let’s get started.

    Simple Vs Complicated

    As I mentioned, I need to balance out God’s sovereignty with His goodness. Putting these two together is the only way to make sense of how God’s sovereignty works in the world and can explain why evil exists. And when performing this balancing act, I also need to introduce two other factors: simple vs complicated. You see, when people try to explain evil in the world in light of God’s goodness and sovereignty, they also (often unknowingly) describe one or both of these attributes as simple or complicated.

    After defining these, I am going to mix and match them to get four types of worlds that we could be living in based on God’s goodness vs sovereignty. I’ll describe these four worlds and then use what the Bible says about God and the world as well as real-life experience to determine which of the four worlds we live in. Let’s get started.

    Simple Goodness

    When I say God’s goodness is simple, I’m saying that God wants only good all the time. He will never want nor use evil to get good. He will not use an “Ends justifies the means” approach to how He operates in the world.

    Complicated Goodness

    To put this simply, a complicated goodness means God ultimately wants good things and will always circle back to good but might trudge through some evil to get there. In this world, God might reach inside my body and mess with it to ensure I end up with some disease just so He could do something in my life that is good.

    Simple Sovereignty

    This is also pretty simple to define, it means God’s will occurs all the time. Everything that happens is from God and is His will. Literally nothing happens in the world that God did not plan out and say, “I want this to happen.”

    Complicated Sovereignty

    With a complicated sovereignty, God is supreme, but His will won’t always occur. Instead, He is working to establish His will in our world. I teased this concept in a previous post with an analogy, I’ll repost it here to refresh your memory (or introduce for the first time if you haven’t read that post).

    The monarchs of old Europe were sovereign over their kingdoms. But not all their subjects obeyed the laws or did what the monarch would’ve like them to. Criminals ran around doing as they pleased disregarding what the king desired. It’s the same with God and our world. God is sovereign over all, but not everyone chooses to live their lives by His standards or do what He desires them to.

    Four Worlds

    Now that I’ve defined each of these terms, I’m going to mix and match to get the four worlds I mentioned earlier. Each world will have a basic list of attributes that would be true of that world.

    Simple G.Complicated G.
    Simple S.Cosmic Utopia
    -Perfection.
    -No sickness, death, crimes, etc.
    -No free will.    		Cosmic Blueprint
    -Two nations fighting, God is playing both sides. That means only one will, one rule, and one kingdom.
    -Satan and demons are puppets of God.
    -No free will.
    Complicated S.Cosmic Battle
    -God is good all the time.
    -Two kingdoms, two wills fighting.
    -Free will plays a role.    		Cosmic Mystery
    -No clue what is and is not of God.
    -God is unknowable.
    -There is no anchor point to know God.
    -Free will plays a role.

    Let’s go through each of these and see what works and what doesn’t based on the Bible and reality.

    Cosmic Utopia

    I’m going to say little to nothing about this one because it’s so obviously not what we see in the world and the Bible is all about how broken man and the world are and how God is working to restore everything. So, it’s pretty safe to say that God’s goodness and His sovereignty can’t both be simple.

    Cosmic Mystery

    I know, I’m not going in order, but I want to show both ends of the extreme since there are rare times when an extreme is the truth in life. With Cosmic Mystery, we can’t just look at the world and say if it is reality like we could with Cosmic Utopia. However, when we read the Bible, we can. The Bible is very clear that we can know God. Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God. John 14:9 (NIV), “Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?””

    The Bible also repeatedly calls us to grow in our knowledge of God. How can we if He is unknowable? Given that, I can confidently say that God’s goodness and sovereignty also cannot both be complicated.

    Cosmic Blueprint

    Ever hear the phrase “God works in mysterious ways”? Or “Everything happens for a reason”? Both of these are great descriptions of this world, the Cosmic Blueprint. In this world, God’s goodness is complicated, while His sovereignty is simple. So, everything that happens is in God’s will and He is willing to use evil to ultimately accomplish good in the lives of people. As humans, we have no free will, no choice. God determines all our choices for us. Satan and his horde are mere puppets. Unable to do anything without God’s permission.

    I see multiple problems here. First, the Bible puts blame on Satan for various things such as deceiving Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), being a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) and snatching the truth from people’s hearts (Matthew 13:19). Expanding on that, Revelation 20 describes the punishment Satan will receive for his deeds. But if Satan can’t do anything without God’s permission, then everything Satan has ever done and will do are basically his marching orders. And that means that the Bible is unjustly blaming Satan and using Him as a scapegoat.

    Secondly, the Bible is also clear that as humans we make pretty rotten choices. The entire book of Judges is all about Israel rejecting God, getting punished, crying out to Him for help, and God sending someone to rescue them. Again, Israel would be unjustly punished if they didn’t have free will. Without free will, we are a bunch of fleshy robots only able to do what we are programmed to do. In this world, God is playing a one-player game. And He controls everything in it.

    So based on this, there’s no way that the correct combo is Simple Sovereignty with Complicated Goodness. This leaves one more.

    Cosmic Battle

    The final one is the combination of Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. I already gave an example of old Europe for how sovereignty doesn’t immediately equate to everything happening in accordance with the will of the sovereign. In addition, the New Testament uses multi-kingdom analogies all over. We see phrases such as “Kingdom of God”, “Kingdom of Light”, “Kingdom of Darkness”, etc. Revelation talks about a war between Satan and his angels against Micheal and his angels. And Ephesians chapter 6 is all about preparing to go to war against Satan.

    And to demonstrate from the Bible the simple goodness of God, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 and “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (NIV). Furthermore, Jesus says that He came that “they may have life” while it is the thief that “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). And since Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God, we can be confident that this applies to God as well.

    In this world, even though God doesn’t cause evil in order to bring good, He most certainly takes the evil and turns it around to bring something good from it.

    What’s Left

    It’s pretty clear to me that the Bible points to Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. Now, this actually doesn’t answer all the questions. For example, what about the Old Testament with all of the punishments attributed to God? Wouldn’t that point to a complicated goodness? Not necessarily. In short, God established a covenant with Israel that said “If you obey me and follow me, I will give you blessings. If you turn your back on me, I will punish you.” So, God promised to punish the people should they turn their back on God. And God always keeps His promises (an attribute closely related to His goodness). Granted, it is still a little confusing and deserves its own future post.

    One final thing I’d like to say about how God’s kingdom operates. God chooses to limit Himself and work through people and angels to accomplish His will. Could God just snap His fingers and get it all done? Yep. But He doesn’t. He chooses to use finite beings who screw up to get things done. Why? Because He wants us to choose Him of our own volition. Free choice is one way we are made in the image of God. God desires us to follow and obey Him, but He wants us to choose Him, not just be a bunch of robots programmed to do that.

    Wrapping Up

    By now I hope I’ve done justice to God’s sovereignty and His goodness. They are two key aspects of God, and it wouldn’t be good to treat them flippantly. And it’s important to remember that God is on the throne, He is sovereign, and all things will be made new and put right. And we all need to remember that we are in a war. We live in a world of two kingdoms duking it out. But we have nothing to fear. For God will work it all out in the end. That is our hope as Christians that we can hold onto.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Good Good Father

    Good Good Father

    Intro

    I’m sure many of you have heard the song Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin. The song does a good job capturing the heart of God as a loving Father. I’ve already briefly touched on God as Father in my post God the Father. I didn’t have time to go in depth on that, but now I’m ready to dive a little deeper into what it means for God to be our Father. In addition, I aim to hit upon another of His characteristics that I only briefly mentioned – His goodness. It’s hard to talk about God as Father without also talking about His goodness.

    Fatherhood

    The Bible refers to God as our father on a number of occasions. While the Old Testament tends to demonstrate the distance between man and God, there are still several references to God as the Father of the Jewish nation. For example, Isaiah 64:8 (NIV) says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The Israelites certainly had this understanding, but the relationship wasn’t intimate. To many of them, He was more of a distant Father. Someone you see or talk to occasionally and dare not disappoint or upset in any way. Someone you respected with fear and trembling.

    However, the distance between Israel and God was Israel’s doing. God had a more intimate view of their relationship. The first few verses of Hosea chapter 11 records God saying He “loved him [Israel] and out of Egypt I called my son”, “taught Ephraim to walk”, “healed them”, “led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love”, and He “bent down to feed them”. Jeremiah 31:9 (NIV) says, “I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” God declared Himself to be Israel’s father – and a very loving father at that – even though Israel itself didn’t share the same view. Hosea 11 also notes how Israel kept going astray and didn’t acknowledge what God was doing in their midst. And yet God kept loving them. And that’s how God treats us as Christians. With perfect love.

    Abba Father

    And when Jesus came, He doubled down on God as father. He called God His Father on numerous occasions using the deeply intimate word “Abba” (Daddy). One such example is in Mark 14:36 (NIV), “‘Abba, Father,’ he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” In one of Jesus’ most difficult moments, He cries out to God with the most intimate word. But even when all was going well, Jesus used that same term. And taking it a step farther, Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God using the phrase “Our Father…”. I’m sure you are all now mentally reciting the Lord’s prayer. In addition, Jesus says multiple times throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) the phrase “your Father” when referring to God. Clearly Jesus wanted us to understand and know God as our Father.

    And not just any father. A good father. Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV). Matthew 6 gives two other examples about our “Father in heaven” caring about our basic needs – clothing and food. He tells us not be worried about those things because God will take care of us. And this is the perfect segway into the second half of this post.

    Goodness

    There’s a phrase I remember hearing as a kid and later as a young adult when I would go to Lifest, the MC of the festival (Peder Eide) would say “God is good” and wait for the crowed to respond, “All the time”, then “All the time”, “God is good.” Numerous songs talk about how good God is and people will say the phrase “God is good” over and over again.

    And yet, there are people who doubt that. Does the Bible really claim that God is good? Yes! I referenced the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says that God will supply our needs and gives good gifts to His children. But even more than that, we find it all over the Psalms. Here are a couple of examples from the NIV: Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” and Psalm 31:19, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

    In addition to the Psalms, when King David appointed Levites to minister before the Ark, he gave them words to praise the Lord with. And the entire passage 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 is just praising the Lord for how good He is and how He is worthy of praise and is their deliverer, etc. The Israelites knew what it meant for God to be deliverer. Just read the account of the Exodus and the worship service that occurred after the crossing at the Red Sea. And as mentioned before, the Psalms are loaded with similar songs of praise to God for His goodness. Not just all the good things He has done for the people, but simply for His goodness.

    God’s Nature

    God doesn’t just do good deeds. Goodness is a part of the nature of God. God is good. It’s impossible for God to do anything evil. I do recognize that there is lots of evil in the world. But I also firmly believe that God did not, does not, and will not cause any of that evil. But there are many people who question the existence of evil, “If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?” And this is a good question that deserves a thorough answer. Which I cannot give here in this post. I plan on covering that question when I address the related question of evil and the sovereignty of God. As you’ll see there, the issues of God’s goodness, His sovereignty, and the existence of evil in the world, are all tightly related.

    Wrapping Up

    I sure hope and pray that you see how much God loves you as a good father loves his children. I know that earthly fathers disappoint us, and some are downright terrible to their children. My goal with this post was to encourage you that God isn’t and will never be that kind of father. He perfectly loves you and has been and always will be good to you.

    A Time to Remember

    Earlier in this post I mentioned Peder Eide, the MC of the Lifest Grandstand. As I was working on this post, I needed to confirm the spelling of Peder’s name and discovered that he passed away April 26, 2024 (this is a very good read on the kind of man Peder was – the image of him on stage is from Lifest). It’s a very sad thing to hear and Lifest will never be the same. Peder was fun to listen to as a MC, but he was also a musician. Two of his songs that I know are both songs that fit right in with this post’s twin themes of God’s goodness and His fatherhood: “Taste and See” (based on Psalm 34:8) and “Abba, I belong to You”. Because of that, I’m dedicating this post to Peder Eide, I know that you are in Heaven worshipping before Abba, Father God.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!