DAILY DEVOTIONAL – October 27, 2020
“Through It All”
Prayer: Lord of all creation, God of the universe, we are amazed that You have gone to such incredible lengths to love and forgive us in the life and death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus. We pray Lord that You would have mercy on us, and grant us the eyes and ears of faith to hear Your answers, Your Word, and that You would grant us the courage and strength of faith to walk in Your will and the ways You set before us. In Jesus name, Amen.
Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-3a
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Devotional – “Through It All”
Perhaps one of the most common questions I get as a pastor is the question, “Why is God doing this? Why is He letting this happen to me?” I myself have asked that question plenty of times, so I know firsthand the conflict that lies at the root of that question. It is the conflict between the brokenness and despair of this world in which we live, and the truth of God’s perfect love and almighty power. However, this is only a perceived conflict. A perception we have because of that very same brokenness and sinfulness we possess.
Yes, God is ultimately in control of our life and nothing is a surprise to Him, nor does anything happen by coincidence. However, that does not mean that God is a puppet master pulling every string. Though we in our sinfulness, like Adam and Eve, have used our free will and blessings of being created in the image of God to sin and rebel against Him, that sin does not nullify the goodness and necessity of human free will. If God were to override our free will, it would necessarily mean that He made a mistake in giving it to us, and that is certainly not the case. Instead, in His infinite grace and mercy, God works His power and loving salvation even in the midst of and through the brokenness of human will and through the natural course of the lives we live.
We see repeatedly throughout Scripture God exercising His providence in and through the freedom and free will that He mercifully endowed us with as our Creator. God created the natural order of things, both in the physical world and in the spiritual world, and He most often works His miraculous power into our lives through the natural consequences of life; both good and bad. Take for example, how God worked freedom for the Israelites enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt. Even knowing that Pharaoh would persist in hardening his own heart, God still worked through Moses and through His creation in order to deal justly with Pharaoh and bring about salvation for Israel.
Or, consider how God allowed Himself to be negotiated with by Abraham before bringing destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah. This was not an exercise in futility or an episode where God wasn’t sure what to do. God desired communion with Abraham and was inviting him be a participant with God in the history of salvation. 2 Peter 1:4 says that God, “has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
In a third example, we see how God works His grace and power through even the less than desirable consequences of sin when He used a physical ailment to minister to and strengthen the Apostle Paul’s faith, even after Paul had prayed and begged God 3 times for healing. Paul recounts in 2 Corinthians 12:9 how God answered his prayers and said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” “Therefore,” Paul says, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
Ultimately, we see God working supernaturally in and through the natural course and consequences of humanity as He worked salvation in and through the brokenness and sinfulness of men by becoming man Himself in Jesus Christ, though perfectly without sin. We see how in Christ God used even the corrupt institutions of man-made religion and government, submitting Himself to the horrors of our wickedness and allowing Himself to be unjustly tried, convicted and sentenced to a horrible death on the cross. Indeed, the love of God is more powerful than the wickedness of men.
God displays His omnipotent power, not by eradicating evil and all the negative consequences of sin, but by using even the sinfulness of men and the brokenness of this world to bring about His redemption and restoration.
God may not will for someone to get sick, but He may allow the consequence of sin on our bodies and on creation to run its course in order to work out salvation on a personal level. God certainly does not will or create evil, but as with Pharaoh and the Exodus from Egypt, God will use even evil against itself to accomplish His loving, merciful and saving will and work. God does not wish that anyone should perish, have to die, suffer or go to hell, but God is not a puppet master. The dice are not loaded and the deck of cards we are dealt in life are not all pre-determined in such a way that resigns us to fatalism. God is so mighty, so powerful and so loving that He redeems what sin has destroyed. He takes the broken, shattered pieces of our life to bring about a new and eternal creation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
We all suffer. It is an unfortunate fact of the broken world our sin has created. But there is hope and there is a joy more powerful than our suffering. It is a transcendent joy that comes from knowing and believing in the living and risen Christ. Having the truth of God’s Word in our hearts, we find strength because we know that we endure for a reason – we carry our cross with hope because Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the Devil has proven God’s love for us, the sureness of our salvation, and that we have an eternal purpose far beyond this broken life and broken world.
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotion in God’s Word, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
