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The last two weeks we have endeavored to expound on the question Jeremiah asked for the children of Israel; ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ (Jer13:22). My point is to address what is perhaps the most difficult question of life…Why? In other words, why has this bad thing happened to me?
I originally offered three points to remember when encountering difficult times. But a fourth is needed: 1.God is good (Ps. 145:9) 2.There is always a reason for a difficult situation (Pro26:2) 3.You may not be ready to handle the answer 4.By faith…God can change your circumstance (Mk9:23) Without exception the most important of these four truths is the goodness of God. Although ‘goodness’ is part of God’s immutable nature(Ps. 136:1; Ps. 145:7,9)--it still must be interpreted! Why? As we have already discovered, so often contemporary theologians interpret bad things that happen with a simple cliché’--“God is sovereign!” Of course, in reality the Bible does in fact teach that God is indeed sovereign(1Tim6:15; Is45:5,6), but by answering a difficult situation with a cliché, theologians and pastors reduce the sovereignty of God to: whatever will be will be**, or whatever happens is God’s will. On the contrary, this is no way to teach the sovereignty of God, and in reality describes a pagan theology known as fatalism. Therefore, in order to adequately answer our original question: ‘Why bad things happen?’ we have to understand both good and evil. To understand evil however, requires us to first understand good. So, from the beginning “good” was associated with the natural realm (Gen1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31). It was not simply a theological doctrine; nor some ethereal quality without ontological substance—and without definition nor meaning!! On the contrary, ‘goodness’ was designed by God to be an experience—of the natural realm, i.e.of the creation! David agreed proclaiming, “Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men!” -Ps. 31:19 The first part of Psalms 31:19 says God’s goodness is “…stored up…” which means hidden, treasured and laid up for usage. However, Biblical doctrines are not ‘stored up’ for usage. Furthermore, the latter part of the verse in the NIV says, “…which you bestow in the sight of men…” meaning it is something that can be discerned as good by the five physical senses, i.e.others can ‘see’ the goodness of God to you. So far we have learned that God’s goodness: 1) can be stored up; and 2) can occur before the sons of men. Interestingly, both of these points imply some sort of physical, tangible human experience. However a third point from Psalms 31:19 can be derived from the word ‘great’ in the phrase: “How great is Your goodness…”. The Hebrew word “great” is “rab” and means: abundant in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality (Strong’s). Therefore, all three of these points together refer to something good which can be seen, heard, tasted, touched, or felt; AND…that is also abundant in number, or size, or quantity, or quality, etc.! In other words, the ‘goodness’ of Psalms 31:19 is so abundant that it meets your personal needs, as well as possesses abundance more that can be ‘stored up’ to meet the needs of many! And what’s even more, not only can it meet the needs of many, but can also abundantly meet the needs of many! Therefore, God’s ‘good’ nature can be identified by ‘good’ things in the natural realm, i.e.the creation—and therefore cannot be limited to a spiritual doctrine. Psalms 34:8 confirms this truth: “O taste and see that the LORD is good…”, where the word “taste” (tawam) means something that can be perceived and also experienced! Therefore, we are expected to ‘BOTH’: i.discern and ii.experience God’s ‘goodness’ in BOTH the spiritual and physical realms (the creation)---in order to understand God’s nature of good! On the contrary, if a person cannot discern good from evil, how can he or she know God from the devil? Yet, if one cannot discern God from the devil, how can one even dream to know ‘Why bad things happen?’ Tragically, the prophet Isaiah says in the last days men would be unable to discern good and evil, calling good evil and evil good (Is. 5:20). Why? Because the rejection of God’s word is sin, and darkens understanding, enslaves, and kills. On the contrary, God’s Word not only is a light to all men(Jn1:4,9), but literally changes the natural realm to conform to God’s will! For example, the Word of God can literally change sickness into health(Pro4:20-22). To further establish my point, Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus(Lu16:19-25). While Jesus was condemning the rich man--but not for his riches--He quotes Abraham as saying, “in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things”. But if Jesus condemned the rich man for his riches why did he call his riches “good things”? Yet, here is my point! To what were those good things…that Jesus referred? The context describes the “good things” as: “Riches”, “food”, “fine clothes”, and “luxury”, etc.!!! I repeat, the fine clothes, enough food, fine dining, desires, luxury, and the money necessary to live in these things…Jesus called good! On the contrary, moving from the rich man to Lazarus, in Luke16:25, the things which Lazarus received in his lifetime: poverty, hunger, sickness, comfortlessness---Jesus said, “and likewise Lazarus evil things”. I repeat, what the rich man possessed in his earthly life was called ‘good’, and what Lazarus received in his earthly life were defined by Jesus as ‘evil’. Matthew prophesied that Jesus would take away our sins and our sicknesses (Matt. 8:16-17). So, sin and sickness must be evil, or why would Jesus take them from on us on the Cross! On the contrary, righteous living, good relationships, physical health, and financial increase are all good. Therefore, the Bible is replete with how to define good and evil!!! See Deuteronomy 28. All this emphatically teaches us the only way to discern good and evil is through God’s Word. Therefore, because God is for the good, and against the evil(Deut30:19); and God’s will for your life is only good (Lu2:14)—we can only conclude not everything that happens is God’s good will for your life!!!! And what’s more, just because the contemporary theologian who due to their theological ignorance/misunderstanding of God's Word declares that ‘God is sovereign’ when something bad happens that they can not explain does not mean that bad experiences are God’s good will! On the contrary, the ‘good’ nature of God rejects such folly; Whom alone knows what is good, and by default evil…because He exists as good and does good(Ps119:68; Mat19:17)! The next time something bad/evil happens to you, remember, God’s word declares, “The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power, And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness. -Job37:23 Therefore, fight the good fight of faith—for the good and against the evil….and choose never to give up!! Derrick Jackson *It has been brought to my attention that there may be an exception to last’s week tidbit. If you will remember, I wrote under the ‘category of permit’, there were only three separate possibilities: 1.The one giving permission; 2.The one doing a thing, and 3.the one upon whom the thing is done. Well, one astute reader says that someone committing suicide is all three. Excellent!!! **For the older readers, these words are the interpretation of the title of the song ‘Que Sera, Sera’, sung by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, “The Man Who Knew Too Much!” QuoteBit You can understand ‘limited’, only within the definition of ‘unlimited’! -Derrick Jackson
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The prophet Jeremiah asked a very important question – “Why?”
If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the magnitude of your iniquity, your skirts have been removed, and your heels have been exposed. -Jeremiah 13:22 KJV Jeremiah was inspired to ask and answer this question directly: ‘Why have these things (bad) happened to me?’ The answer was: “for the magnitude (greatness) of thine iniquity.” The “iniquity”, i.e.sin was the reason for the troubles. The question is, can we extrapolate the ‘reasoning’ of Jeremiah 13:22 to all evil? I argue…YES! First, in addition to His other attributes like knowledge, understanding, wisdom, power, and Creator, God is sovereign* which means He must also possess responsibility for everything that happens in allowing both good and evil. However, because God is responsible for everything does not mean He ‘does’ everything!! Remember, God is perfect(Deut32:4) and as such, is righteous, existing without evil/sin (2Cor5:21;Ps92:15) and therefore cannot do evil!** On the other hand, Satan acts to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn10:10). Therefore, God does good (Ps119:68; Ps136), and Satan does evil (Jn10:10; 2Cor2:11) by inspiring man, to whom God gave free will to choose evil. Second, God is rational, answering the prayers of His people, and revealing Himself, i.e.His omniscience to His people(Jn16:15). For example, regarding evil, Solomon says, “Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight (Prov. 26:2). The phrase “the curse causeless does not come” (KJV) teaches bad things or evil does not occur apart from a reason. In addition, Elihu--whom God does not condemn in the book of Job--echoes this truth in Job 37:23: “The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power, And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.” Jesus also confirms the fact that a reason always exists for evil/suffering/pain in John11:4- ““This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”” Moses is yet another witness establishing the truth that reasons exist for both good and evil in Deuteronomy 28. For example, The Good: “..’IF’ thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God,(28:1)” “…all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee (28:2)” The Evil: “But ‘IF’ you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” (28:15) And finally, Paul summarizes and confirms this truth in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…” Within the truth of God’s sovereignty ‘someone’ or ‘something’ has to be responsible for anything that occurs in life. If everything that occurs in life is God’s will, then Satan exists without purpose and blame…and obviously, therefore, no reason exists for a Christian to need to pray! Can God answer prayer for something against His will? No!*** On the contrary, He only answers prayer according to His will (1Jn5:14). Furthermore, why is there even an admonition to resist the devil (James 4:7) if every experience is God’s will? If we have no control in the bad things that happen in life, no reason exists to resist the bad? What’s more, how can one even know if something is bad if everything is labeled as God’s will?!?! On the other hand, if you cannot discern whether something is from God or the devil, ‘never’ blame God for a negative, painful, or evil experience! See Job as an example! And what’s more, when in a difficult place please don’t blurt out what I consider one of the several common pseudo-spiritual statements: ‘May God’s will be done!’ While it is true that God is sovereign, but to translate God’s sovereignty into ‘everything that happens is God’s will’ is not only false…but blasphemy! Another super religious statement used by Christians in times of sickness is “God is trying to teach you something.” While there is a partial truth in this statement---because God can ‘use’ anything—either good or bad--to teach you! Two quick points pertain: 1.The Biblical method God uses to teach His own is the Holy Spirit (Jn14:26; Jn16:13-15;1Jn2;27), Who is the teacher(1Jn2:27)…not sickness and disease! And 2., why pray for healing, if you choose to wrongfully believe it is “God’s will” for you to be sick to teach you “something?” And what’s worse, why go to the doctor, if you actually believe God is trying to teach you something…in the sickness? A final pseudo-religious statement used in painful and difficult situations by those who incorrectly conclude everything is God’s will: ‘God permitted it!!’ While it is true that God does permit things--including bad things, i.e.evil things--to happen because He is God, and is ultimately responsible for everything that happens…yet that does not mean that God is doing the bad things!! Remember, the absolute truth is God cannot do evil!**** Therefore, just a moment of Holy Spirit-guided thought (Eph1:17,18) unveils the error in the following interpretation: ‘Because God is sovereign, when a bad thing happens means God permits it, therefore it has to be good because God is good!’ On the contrary, this theology is false because three parties are necessary in the word “permit”: 1.One giving permission, 2.One doing the thing permitted 3.One upon whom the action is done. The one permitting an action must permit the one doing that action. Therefore, the one permitting an act cannot logically be the same individual doing the action. Both the one permitting an act and the one doing that act, also cannot be the one upon whom an act is done. For example, if I (1) permit my dog (2) to bite you (3), then I(1) am giving permission, the dog(2) is doing the biting, and you(3) are being bitten! As the statement: “God permits it” relates to my point in this tidbit, the question that now demands an answer is if God (1) gives His permission for a bad thing to happen to you; and I (2) am the one upon whom the bad thing happens; there yet remains one slot left to fill—which is the one actually perpetrating the bad thing on me! Who is that being? I submit that the being doing the evil is Satan!!! “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” -2Cor2:11 Pastor Derrick Jackson *Absolute Ruler, or ‘only’ sovereign or only potentate (1Tim6:15) **however, God can ‘use’ evil (Rom8:28) to bring about good. God creates the ‘capacity’ for evil(Is45:7)---but He does not do evil; commit evil; or commit sin. ***However, in judgment---for sin---He can! For example, after Israel came out of Egypt, God answered their prayer for meat…but God accompanied that prayer with judgment! Yet, we are not referring to the wrath of God in judgment in this tidbit! ****Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. -Jms1:13. If God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone with evil—how can He do evil?!?! |
Derrick JacksonPastor, Author Archives
February 2025
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