25 July 2022
Somehow, I feel quite certain Our Father gets tired of hearing complaints from us about how we don't have enough control over the things we experience in life. We want a better deal, and we tend to expect that our prayers for relief should be answered as we desire. "C'mon, God. Why did you give us this intelligence if you won't let us use it to decide things?"
That's pretty much what's behind the Fall. Adam and Eve were persuaded by Satan that their gifts and talents should get more respect from God. They should be able to use divine powers to accomplish things that their own minds could reckon as a better outcome. They could be like gods themselves, so eat that Forbidden Fruit.
Where was God when the Murrah Building in OKC blew up? How about when the killer entered that classroom in Uvalde? When that tsunami hit Sumatra in 2004? The same place He was when Job faced his own tragedy. Why do bad things happen to good people, or innocent children? Where is God when innocent unborn children are aborted? Why can't we somehow reach out and fix stuff so that tragedies don't strike unless we think it's fair and just?
We want God to honor our pitiful sense of justice, based on something Satan sold us.
It's not as if God hasn't spoken on the issue. You do realize that the Flaming Sword of Truth stands at the entrance back into Eden? That's symbolic language to remind us that God has revealed His path to paradise, and it's not what we can dream up. What we can dream up is a lie from Satan; it's what got us kicked out of the Garden in the first place. What God says constitutes the reality of how Creation works. We have to meet His standards of justice, not those we imagine in our moral blindness and sin.
Do you have compassion for the children in Uvalde, Texas? Then why aren't you living there? Why do you pretend that you can change the situation with the police department there when you probably don't even know where the town sits on the map? If it matters to you, move there and get involved in reforms. And when you go, make sure you bring with you a full understanding and commitment to God's revelation. Otherwise, you will be chasing the wind.
God has made it abundantly clear that the only power we are given in this life comes from His Covenant. Unless you submit to His ways and live within those boundaries, nothing you do will ever matter. The children in the daycare inside the Murrah Building and in that Uvalde classroom and on the beaches in Sumatra were the responsibility of other people, and those people did not honor God's Covenant. Maybe a few people in their lives had genuine faith, but nowhere near enough people. Because God said repeatedly, over and over, that He will protect and warn His people of coming sorrows only if they honor Him by obeying the Covenant.
It wasn't a glowing scroll that stands at the Gate of Eden; it was a sword. In the ancient Hebrew way of looking at things, it means that you must die to return to Eden. You must leave this life to enter that one. It's flaming, which is the ancient symbol of light and glory and truth. It's a sword that takes this life and gives you a better one. And in the New Testament, that sword became the Cross. So today you approach the Cross to get closer to Eden.
This life is a big lie. It's a delusion of Satan; it's not real. What happens to children who die in their innocence? They go to face God. He knows what's just; He is Justice. He gives them the eternity that He wishes. Granted, if someone killed them unjustly, the killer will face God, too. Still, death itself is not a tragedy. It's all the other stuff that comes in the package with death that makes a difference. Was there blood-guilt? God knows; He'll deal with it in His wrath. How do we know they didn't deserve to die?
We don't know. That's the whole point here. Everyone born in the flesh is under the Curse. That's what having a mortal body means: It is the Curse. Leaving this life is a blessing. However, God alone decides our exit. He does allow a certain measure of human choice, and doesn't necessarily intervene. However, He surely judges afterward. But He has revealed one thing for sure: Without embracing His Covenant, your life and death has no meaning in the first place.
And unless those who have the authority to decide things embrace that Covenant, everyone under their authority is also cursed. Sorry, but God and His Creation are feudal. Your ranting and raving about what's fair doesn't impress God. The issue is that you need to embrace what He has said. He's not going to help you as long as you assert things He didn't say.
That's why good or innocent people die. Not enough of us have sought out His Covenant, nor prayed from within the Covenant boundaries. If you are faithful to His Word, good for you. Keep praying that more people come to the Covenant, because without it, catastrophes are the norm. All of human life outside the Covenant is in Satan's hands, and he is our Enemy. He is free to exploit humanity at his whim. You cannot stay his hand, and God will not rein him in, until we reach a critical mass on Covenant living. We are all guilty of those innocent lives because we haven't done the one thing we could do.
Embrace the Covenant. Don't worry about stuff God didn't put in your hands. Stand up for His Word and let Him work out the results. Follow your convictions as best you can read them right now. Grieve for the losses you see, but don't blame God for refusing to act when He has clearly said He will not, and why not.
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