Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give him a serpent? If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good gifts to those who ask Him! Matthew 7:9-11
Have you ever been misunderstood? Or has anyone ever put wrong motives to something you have done with the purest of intentions? I think it is safe to say that at sometime in our life, someone has wrongfully judged something that you did with the best intentions and purest heart. It is a painful experience and sometimes we are unable to convince the person who has misjudged us that our actions were done in love with no hidden evil agenda. I believe that many people, some who even meant no harm, have misjudge and misrepresent the character of God our Father. I knew a woman who pastored a church with her husband. She is so very anointed, she could play the keyboard and sing, write songs and had the gift of teaching. She had four children and one day something got broke at their house. She asked the children who was responsible for the item getting broke and none of the children owned up to it. She finally told them that she was going into her bedroom and ask God to show her what happened and when she came out, the guilty person would be punished more severely for not only breaking the item, but for not telling the truth. She told me this laughing, and I sat there thinking what image are you leaving with the children. I recently heard a minister say that he had a hard time with the image that God was an egotistical being, manipulating the lives of people for pleasure. Some of the distorted views we have of God come from basically good people that have been through some difficult things, and misunderstood God’s presence and therefore assigning wrong motives to our Heavenly Father. For example, if a person prays for God to heal someone and they die, they will create a theology around the “unanswered prayer” and start to tell people that God does not heal anymore. Healing stopped with the New Testament Church. I sat in a Bible study a few yeas ago, and one of the women asked healing for her broke ankle that was not healing. The leader of the class looked at her and said, “You know God did that to you to teach you a lesson.” I sat there dumbfounded, the poor woman’s faith in God was challenged as well as she was made to feel like the God, she served was willing to break her ankle because she was so bad, just to teach her a lesson. It made me wonder what the leader had gone through and who had told him that God did something evil to him. The next week at Bible Study, in front of the class, I asked the woman if I could pray for her and before I started, I asked her, “ You know the Bible says in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have life more abundantly?”” If the enemy can make us question the goodness of God, he can create distrust that leads to a lack of intimacy with God. Cindy Jacobs is a prophet who had counseled Presidents and Kings around the world, tells how she was so hurt at God when her sister died of cancer. She told God she was angry and disappointed that God did not heal her sister, and God told her He was the same God she had served all her life. He also told Cindy her sisters lack of healing was between God and her sister only. How easy would it have been for her to assign an unfair judgement and to question the goodness of God in her life?
The goodness of God is revealed in Genesis. Starting on the third day of creation, God would look at all HE created that day and say “And God saw it was good.” On the sixth day, after He made mankind, this is what scripture says, “Then God saw everything that He made, and indeed it was very good. God created the world with everything mankind would need before He created Man and put them in the Garden. God’s love did not stop at creation John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 tells us “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 8:14-17 “For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Sprit or adoption by whom we cry out Abba Father. The Sprit himself bears witness with our spirt that we are children of God and if children then heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus.” God has also prepared a place for us to live forever with Him, John 14:2-3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also.” He is still meeting our every need while we are here on earth. According to Matthew 626-32 we are not to worry because God takes care of our physical needs. “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value that they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his statue? So why do worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor sow and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith. Therefore, do not worry saying, “what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Or What shall we wear? For after all these things the gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.” God knows what His children need physically and when we seek Him, He will provide. Ephesians 1:3 tells us “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Not only is God the giver of good things, He is good. Psalm 100:5 “For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever.” Psalms 34:8 invites us, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who rakes refuge in Him.”
I have heard the argument that if God is good, how can He allow these bad things to happen and can He really send a person to hell? God is good and in His infinite wisdom, He set laws and commandments in place to teach us how to live a blessed life. Just like a good earthly parent, who sets clear rules, like not playing in the street, because a car may not see you and hit you, God has set laws in place for our good. Can you imagine what life would be like if God had not given clear laws for us to live by? We are seeing some of this lawlessness in our generation. The government that was designed to protect our inalienable rights are trampling all over them and the courts seem to be just as perverse. Satan tries to challenge God’s goodness so you will reject His ways. The first lie of the devil was to question the goodness of God. He asked Eve,” Has God really said... if you eat you will know both good and evil.” God did not want mankind to know evil. From the very beginning He wanted to protect us from evil, but we were designed with a free will and we have the right to choose good or evil. The stubbornness and rebellion in mankind leads to lawlessness and chaos. Even though God created us with a free will and He understands human nature, not willing that any perish, He set consequences and discipline in place to help keep His children on the right track. God rewards/blesses obedience and He corrects rebellious behavior. God’s discipline is done in love and He has our best interest in mind. Hebrews 12:6 “For whom the LORD loves, He chastens, and scourges whom He receives.” Just before Moses died and Joshua lead the children of Israel into the promise land, Moses told the people what God promised. “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lod your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2. The entire chapter of Deuteronomy 28 goes over the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. Then Deuteronomy 30:19 he concludes with this warning from the Lord, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your father s, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them.” The threat of a curse seems harsh, unless you are the recipient of the abuse from someone who is disobeying God. One of reasons God promises of curses when we choose not to obey is for the protection of the righteous. All good parents have privileges set for their children who listen and they can trust and if we love our children, we have consequences for disobedience. God is not like mankind; He freely offers forgiveness and restoration to those who repent. When God told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their great sins, Abraham began to intercede to keep the judgement from coming. Abraham interceded for the two evil cities, “Would you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city?” God said He would relent for the sake of fifty, then Abraham started going down on the number of people required to save the city. His last offer was if there were ten, would the city be saved and God said yes. Sadly, there were not ten righteous people. Because there were not ten. God sent angels to lead the four righteous to safety before the judgement would fall. His mercy and grace are unlimited. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.
My sister called last week in tears. She sat on a jury for a young man who was accused of unlawfully shooting a fire arm. The instruction for the jury was the prosecutor had to prove with out a doubt that the young man was responsible for firing the gun. Two other young men had been harassing and bullying the accused, the accused was afraid for his safety and he put a gun in his vehicle for protection. During an altercation, the accused shot the gun to scare the other two men off, no one was hurt, but the accused was standing trial for unlawfully shooting the gun. Every member of the jury agreed that without a doubt that the young man had fired the gun, but none of them wanted to find him guilty since no one was hurt and he was just trying to ensure his own safety. Since their duty was to determine if the young man had indeed shot the gun, the jury sent a note to the judge and asked if there was any way they could acquit him or find him guilty of a lesser charge. The Judge responded that the law required them to answer the question, did the prosecutor prove without a doubt that the young man had fired the gun. The Judge told them if they could not fulfill their obligation the other option was to declare a mistrial and then the young man’s fate would be in the hands of another judge and jury with no guarantees how they would rule. She said with a very heavy heart, the jury found him guilty. My heart just melted as I heard her story and we talked about this was a picture of judgement day. One day we will stand before God and He will have to judge us by the Law. For those of us who have asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior and we have been obedient to Him, His death on the cross will pay for our sins. For those who have refused to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, their deeds will be examined by the Law. The Law says in Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death.” Revelations 20:14-15 “Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire which is the second death, and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” I do not believe that God has any delight in condemning a person to eternity in the lake of fire. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” John 3:16 says God’s love is so great He gave the most important gift, His Son. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish.” God loves everyone and wants all of us to spend eternity in heaven with him. I wonder when the Church will really see the heart of God for the lost and get serious about the Great Commission.
Cathy Nesmith