Why Do Some In The Church Miss The Faith Message?
I think there is a religious idea floating around that says that God is so big and beyond our comprehension that what and why He does things cannot be understood by mere men. Hence, His will cannot be determined by a knowledge of His nature. This because (by some unknowable reason beyond our ability to comprehend) we reason that an all loving all powerful God could also be the type of God who would put sickness on people to achieve some higher purpose. As earthly fathers it is inconceivable that we would even consider putting cancer or AIDS on our children, regardless of how serious the lesson we desire to teach them. Yet we ascribe this very activity to our heavenly Father! We reason that "his thoughts are higher than out thoughts"(more on this later). We reason that the same love that saves the soul, will destroy the flesh to affect the soul. (This despite the fact that the salvation of our soul was achieved by the sacrifice of Jesus, and not by the suffering of our flesh. There is no evidence that our physical suffering in any way improves our standing with God or state of righteousness. Any blessing or good thing we have comes from above, not from sickness, pain, or lack.)
The question remains:
Does an all powerful God have to resort to the methods
of the devil to accomplish His will? If so, then is He not admitting that
the devil and his methods are correct? Of course I refuse this reasoning.
I contend that we _can_ comprehend
the love nature and actions of God, and that His ways are the same as,
no... _Better_ than our ways. Jesus came that He might show us the Father.
I believe that He was successful! We see the nature, will, and power of
God in the life, words, and ministry of Jesus. If we can know the nature
of the Father, we can also _reason_ what His will is. What is the will
of a loving and merciful heavenly Father? It is the same... No, Better,
than that of earthly fathers! Else the words of Jesus have no meaning:
Matt 7 (YLT)
7 `Ask, and it shall be given to
you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened to
you;
8 for every one who is asking doth
receive, and he who is
seeking doth find, and to him who
is knocking it shall be opened.
9 `Or what man is of you, of whom,
if his son may ask a loaf--a
stone will he present to him?
10 and if a fish he may ask--a
serpent will he present to him?
11 if, therefore, ye being evil,
have known good gifts to give to
your children, how much more shall
your Father who [is] in the
heavens give good things to those
asking him?
What good things do you want
for your children?
His goodness factor is "how
much more" than yours?
These words reveal that God
displays His love toward His Children in the same way we display our love
toward our children, with the exception that His love is greater, His gifts
are better, and His power to give is greater. How can it be conceived that
our heavenly Father (who is better in every way than earthly fathers) will
not only fail to match our good gifts, but will actually deliver bad gifts?
Which brings us back to Is 55, and the higher thoughts and ways of God.
Isaiah 55:9
For [as] the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than
your thoughts.
Is 55:9 is used by many to build God in the image of the devil. The devil is the author of sickness, disease, death, stealing, lies, destruction. They will take their sufferings and the sufferings of others and claim them to be a manifestation of the love of God (despite the good gift declaration of Jesus). They reason that since God's thoughts and ways are higher than our ways and thoughts, His higher thoughts and ways could therefore include thoughts of sickness and sick ways. This reasoning bothered me for a long time, because it contradicted the image of God as being a loving merciful Father. I finally looked up the verses in their context, and the truth came clear:
Isai 55(KJS)
9 For [as] the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and
returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring
forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to
the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth: it shall
not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper [in the thing]
whereto I sent it.
12 For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace: the
mountains and the hills shall break
forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field
shall clap [their] hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come
up the fir tree, and instead of
the brier shall come up the myrtle
tree: and it shall be to the LORD
for a name, for an everlasting
sign [that] shall not be cut off.
What do these verses reveal about
the higher thoughts and higher ways of God?
They are contrary to the common understanding of verse
9. Look at the manifestation of God's higher ways and thoughts:
(1) rain and snow from the heaven that water the earth
and causes grain to grow and provisions of bread for men.(v10)
(2) In like manner, His word does not return to Him void,
but accomplishs that which He pleases, and PROSPERS the thing it is sent
to.(v11)
(3) It brings joy, peace, and singing on the earth.(v12)
(4) INSTEAD of thorns, there shall come up a fir tree.
INSTEAD of briers shall come up a myrtle tree. (v13)
Hence we see that the higher
thoughts and higher ways of God are _better_
than ours, NOT worse! There is nothing in the context
of these verses that imply that His higher thoughts and ways would somehow
lead Him to send briers, thorns, lack, sickness, suffering, sorrow, or
crying into our lives; rather his higher thoughts and ways bring provisions,
prosperity, joy, peace, singing, and good things.
I understand that there are examples
of sickness and poverty in the word. But the rule of faith is that He is
a _rewarder_ of those who diligently seek Him, that He gives "how much
more" than earthly fathers, that those who ask receive, that the prayer
of faith shall heal the sick.
If people imagine they are suffering
for some higher purpose of God, then the remedy is to learn the lesson,
repent of the sin, and go on to get healed. But it is inconceivable that
God intends us to spend a lifetime in sickness and poverty. Job is an example
of this. How long did he suffer? Best estimates are that his suffering
was for a few months, after which he was healed and had all restored. If
we are to use this as an example, then do the same. I am sure we have all
used up our few months of sickness justified by the Job model. So now get
on with it and be healed and restored as he was.