Why, LORD?

I sat at my computer wondering what I wanted to write.  I was praying, asking God to send me something encouraging for these unprecedented troubled times. And shortly my friend Judy Hames sent me the following. She wrote exactly what was on my heart. Read what Judy wrote, and be blessed:

We ask: Why is God doing this to us?

• God did not cause this virus.
• God did not cause these riots and carnage.
• God did not cause this hate.

Let me tell you a story.

A professor at a college liked to be tough on Christians. (Online source, author unknown)
In the first class every semester, he would ask if anyone was a Christian and then he would degrade and demean whoever answered afirmatively. As was his norm he posed this question to one young man:

Did God make everything?

Yes, sir, God did.

Then if God made everything, God made evil.

When the student did not know how to respond, the professor smiled inwardly and outwardly believing he had yet again proved God to be a myth.

Then another student raised his hand. “May I ask something sir?” 

Is there such a thing as cold?

Of course there is. Just step outside.

Actually, sir, cold does not exist.  Cold is merely the term we use for the absence of heat. Absolute zero means there is absolutely no heat. Cold doesn’t exist. It is a term we use to describe how we FEEL when heat is not here.  Sir, is there such a thing as dark?

Of course, there is, In a few hours it will BE dark.

No, sir. Darkness does not exist. Darkness is only the absence of light. Darkness is a term used to describe the fact that no light is present.

Sir, is there such a thing as evil?

Of course, there is. Just turn on the evening news to hear all about the murders and robberies that take place.

Sir, evil does not exist. It is just a term we use to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is simply a state where God is not present. Like cold is the absence of heat. And darkness is the absence of light, Evil is the absence of God. And the further we go from God, the further we leave His light and go into evil and darkness.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and everything on it. On the 6th day, God created man and woman IN HIS OWN IMAGE. Genesis 1:31: God looked at all creation and saw that it was very good. God is perfect. Creation could only be seen as very good to God if all creation and man and woman were perfect in every way. Everything was in perfect balance as God intended it to be. There was no sickness or death,
No drug or child abuse, no birth defects, no cancer, no rampant viruses, no extreme heat or cold, no hate, no riots. Adam and Eve walked and talked with God face-to-face in the garden and lived in perfect peace until the day the serpent tempted them. 

Satan tricked Eve by saying: You won’t die. If you do what I SAY rather than what God says, you will become LIKE GOD and YOU can now decide what is good and what is evil. The moment they ate the fruit, the DNA of all creation changed. Man and woman had turned their backs on God and pain, sickness, brokenness, and death entered the world. Just like he still does today, Satan gave Adam and Eve the choices, but failed to reveal the consequences of those choices.

NOTICE. God did not bring sickness and death and evil into the world. SATAN did. The world God had made in perfection was broken.

God did not cause all this. Jesus said He is the light of the world. And His light shines through those who choose to walk with Him. According to Isaiah 61, Jesus came to proclaim good news for the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and to release from darkness for the prisoners. Jesus came to bring GOOD to us, not destruction. And Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can settle the issues of our time. 

But we have decided Jesus doesn’t belong in our politically correct world. We have been convinced not to talk to Him, not to pray to Him, not to mention His Name, not to thank Him or anything else. We have told Him to get out of our meetings, our schools, our TV shows, our ball games, our graduations, our dinners. Jesus is very polite. He knocks on our door and comes in when we invite Him. And when we tell Him to leave, He leaves. When He leaves, He lifts His hand of protection that we take for granted.

Satan is the personification of all evil.
He desires to hurt, to destroy what was created in the IMAGE OF GOD because God would not let HIM rule the world. We cannot fathom the depths of evil of which Satan and his followers are capable. We do not understand people who desire to cause anarchy to destroy our economy, to take away our freedoms, to use the upheaval to bring about their evil agenda. We do not understand those who hate all cops because of the despicable action of one. And when we hear all this stuff, we are fearful. Today we are a divided country racially, politically, and socio-economically and Satan is laughing at the chaos he has created.

Hear this! We serve a God who is greater than the virus.

We serve a God who is above all prejudice.

We serve a God who is mightier than the riots.

We serve a God who is bigger than the spirit of anarchy.

We serve a God who is stronger than the spirit of confusion and chaos.

We serve a God who is LIGHT rather than darkness.

We serve a God who is Hope rather than Fear.

We serve a God who is Love rather than Hate.

We serve a God who can take manure and make beautiful flowers of it.

God can take the time we have had to shelter with our families and use it to bring about family restoration.

If we will let him, God will use the time when there is no football or basketball or golf to pull us closer to Him.

God can take our fear and use it to draw us into a closer, safe relationship with Him. And God can use the prayers we are pouring out in fear for our nation and our families as the SEED for a MIGHTY REVIVAL that can sweep our nation and transform us.

James 4:7: Therefore, submit to God. RESIST the devil and he will flee from you. 2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I do not know what the future holds but I KNOW I can trust the ONE who holds our future. We need to trade our fear for faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Being able to let go of our fear depends on who is in our drivers seat.

If WE ARE, we will be fearful.

If JESUS IS our driver, we can be assured that we can sit beside Him, trust Him no matter what is going on around us and know that He has everything under control from now and on through eternity.

It is time for us to put aside our fear and TAKE HOLD OF JESUS.

It is time for us to love ALL others with the love of God.

MLKjr said: Returning hate for hate multiplies hate...Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. Only the powerful, forgiving love of Jesus Christ can do that. 

It is time for us to rid ourselves of all anger and hate. 

It is time to reach out to people who are alone and hurting. 

It is time to get on our knees and call down heaven. 

It is time to ask God to forgive us for ignoring Him.

It is time to ask God to forgive us for not honoring Him.

It is time to invite Jesus back into our homes, our relationships, our businesses, our communities, our states, our nation, and our lives. Are you ready?

Judy C Hames

Thank you Judy.  By the way she wrote a book that I have given away several times to hurting people.  Find it on Amazon.   

When A Pill Won’t Reach the Pain, by Judy C. Hames.