Bad Situation Or Divine Revelation?
Nathaniel J. Chapman
Mary, Pregnant And Unmarried
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A young woman is unmarried and pregnant. She was never married to the father of the child, and is currently engaged to a man who is not the father; and was engaged to him at the time of the child's conception.
How would you view this woman? Perhaps a loose woman? Perhaps a woman who has a wandering heart? Maybe some of you are thinking she is a straight up whore?
Now place that woman in a time, and place when such a woman would be punished by death for being found unfaithful to the man she was engaged to. Actually she would be stoned wether she was engaged or not.
Such was the case, and such was the setting for Mary the mother of Jesus. We know the dilemma that occurred from Mary finding out she was pregnant by the work of the Lord through the anointing of the Holy Ghost. In fact it even came to the point that an angel had to go to Joseph her fiancé, and charge him to marry her, and not be afraid of the situation. This was going to be a messy life to many observing them.
Now I am not writing this as a Christmas paper, nor am I writing this as an instructional advice entitled "Here's what to do if you get pregnant by the command of the Lord." This came to my mind when I was reminded by something somewhere in the hubbub of everyday life of the question that frustrates many,
"How could a loving God let bad things happen to good people?"
I don't know how often I have heard this question. It's right up there with the familiar line: "God only wants the best for you."
The problem with these phrases at times is that they rely heavily on the preconceived ideas of what each individual believes God will or will not do to those He loves. But we need to consider Mary's situation. A young engaged woman, excited for her soon and coming marriage, has the news from the Lord that she will become pregnant. To any other unwed woman of her time, this would have been a news of terror. For a young woman to find herself pregnant outside of marriage, from another man besides her fiancé nonetheless, this would have meant death, or a complete public shunning. Mary seemed to have had a different response. It's as though she had peace knowing it was the working of the Lord. How often is this the case for us when something "bad" happens? Do we immediately look to the negatives, and dwell on the "bad things that could happen"? The fact is God does allow bad things to happen to good people. Well that statement has some issues as well. There is none good no not one........except the good Lord Himself. Those "bad things" can be seen differently depending on how you look at the situation. Are you looking at it through the frail eyes of humanity, or peeking through the looking glass of heaven? You will see two different things, and have two very opposing outcomes depending on which one you look through. If we look back at that overly asked question, ("How could a loving God let bad things happen to good people?") perhaps we should consider the only good person that ever lived, and what the Father in heaven allowed Him to go through. There was a day when Christ was confronted by a rich young ruler, who sought to understand how he might obtain eternal life. When this young ruler reaches Jesus through the crowd, he cries out, "Good Master!" Jesus replied to Him in a very intriguing way by saying, "Why do you call Me good? There is only one good, that is God." Jesus puts this man in a place of decision, is Christ just simply another man in which there is no good, or is He truly the one true God thus calling Him good would be an accurate proclamation? As we who believe know to be true, Christ is the one true God, and He stands out as being good among the fallen. So when we consider that Christ came to suffer, to be mocked, and ultimately to die, this destroys any room for complaint and question as to why God allows bad things to happen to people. From the moment Christ came into the world, some "bad things" happened to "good people." These are not the only cases of such found in the scripture.
Joseph And His Crazy Messed Up Life
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I never got a chance to meet Joseph before he died, in fact anyone reading this has never met him, (If you think you have you may need to seek some help) but I can't help but think upon his life when it comes to "bad things happening." Of almost anyone in the scriptures recorded, Joseph stands out as a man who got royally screwed. From be hated by his brothers, then sold into slavery by them, one would think that would have been enough to cause Joseph to doubt in the goodness of God. From what we see in Genesis though, he never lost sight of the Lord through it all. But if being hated and sold by your brothers into slavery wasn't enough, Joseph was then horribly and falsely accused. When his brothers sold him, he was brought to Egypt, and purchased by Potiphar, and his wife. One day as Joseph was minding his own business as a faithful servant, Potiphar's wife came to him with the intentions to seduce him. Joseph, being the God fearing man he was, denied her seductions, and said, "How could I do such a thing against my God?!"
His master's wife in turn spread the lie that Joseph tried to force himself upon her, when in fact it was the opposite. So as the story goes, they capture Joseph, he lands in prison, and is left there till the day he died. Wait, that's not how it ended! A couple years into his prison sentence, Joseph interpreted a couple dreams for some fellow inmates. Later on the Pharaoh found out, and called for Joseph to reveal a dream for him as well. When Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph's interpretation he exalted Joseph, and made him second in command over all the land of Egypt! Wow! Now let me ask, was Joseph thinking to himself, "I'm so glad my brothers sold me into slavery!" Probably not. But years went by, and a famine hit Egypt and all the countries around it. Joseph's Dad, and his crappy brothers were dying for food, and decided to head to Egypt to buy some. Long story short, Joseph sees them, doesn't let them know it's him, tricks them, and reveals himself to them with loving, and forgiving arms. At this time Joseph makes a bold, and almost absurd statement. "What you intended for evil, God used for good!" For all those years that Joseph was mistreated, abandoned, abused and imprisoned, he could have thought "Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?!" But when the time came, and his family was in dire need of food, it was from the evil intended by his brothers, the Lord used Joseph in Egypt to save them. Joseph recognized this and instead of saying, "How could a loving God let bad things happen to good people?" Joseph basically said, "God took what we saw as evil, and turned it for His good."
Egypt: The Bad, The Ugly, All For The Good
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There is some good, bad and flat out ugly history between Israel, and Egypt. It would seem as though for a moment during Joseph's life that there was some comfort, and rest for the people of Israel in Egypt. But as time would have it, that changed. Joseph passed away, and soon after, the new Pharaoh forgot who Joseph was. The people of Israel grew in number, and with it so the fear grew in the heart of Pharaoh that Israel would overtake Egypt. So Pharaoh placed upon the Israelites heavy burdens and tasks in hope that it would diminish their growth as a people. This would solve his dilemma. Or so he thought anyway. Problem for him was that Israel continued to grow and prosper.
So in a horrible power trip, he commanded that any new born baby boy born to an Israelite should be cast into the river, and killed. It was during this murderous plot that God saw fit to bring into this world a child named Moses. Born an Hebrew, Moses's mother immediately set out to make sure her son survived the murderous onslaught. After making a wicker basket, she placed her son in it and set him in the river. Soon after, the daughter of Pharaoh found him there, took him home, and raised him as her own. In doing so, the scene was set, and the history of Moses and Israel leaving Egypt was soon to follow. Once again, God brought forth something beautiful out of something horribly bad. Too often we are focused on all the bad being done to us, and missing the beauty and wonder of the goodness of God that can be seen. Imagine what was going through each mind of the members in Moses's Hebrew family! Of all the babies being slaughtered, why was he saved? And in being saved, why was it Pharaoh's daughter that found him, and took him home as her own? Imagine if in the "bad" situations that arise in our lives, we sought to look and ask these kind of questions. What would the "bad" situations look like then? How would they effect us?
I believe that we would begin to see these "bad situations" as opportunities for "divine revelations." We would begin to search out the mystery of God in the events that make no sense to us. We need to understand that "He who began a GOOD work is faithful to complete it in us" no matter how we judge our surroundings to be.
Think of men like Jim Elliot, a missionary who upon his first contact with the tribe he was seeking to reach, was brutally killed by them. What a terribly "bad situation!" To make this a "good situation," we would have seen him go over there, make contact with the tribe, preach the gospel, make many disciples, and return to tell us how awesome it all went. Instead, the Lord had other plans in store, and in turn a fire of action was set in motion. In the aftermath of Jim Elliot's death, many committed their lives to the work of the Lord, and the preaching of the gospel. Years later, Jim Elliot's wife would return to that tribe, and bring the gospel to them, making many disciples for Christ. So although the situation looked bad for Mr. Elliot, his death became, as it were, a foundation for ministries after him. We should always be on the lookout for what God is seeking to do in the midst of our tribulations.
Paul And His Tough Life
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We all know Paul the apostle, the guy who penned the majority of the New Testament. If you don't know who he is, he's the guy that prior to his conversion made it his mission to drive out Christianity by means of prison, persecution, and/or death. He's the guy that stood by as Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to death by the mob. He heard him cry out, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit. Lay not this sin to their charge." But soon after this event, Paul who was called Saul at the time, was met by the Lord on the road to Damascus. While traveling down a road that led to Damascus, Saul and his men were met by a bright light, the brightness of which caused the men to fall to the ground. Paul went on to converse with the Lord, and in turn came to know the Truth. But in this encounter, Paul ended up losing his eye sight. Now at a distance we might think, why would a loving God call someone to Him only to then take his eyesight from him? That seems a bit cruel, and unnecessary. But it was necessary for Paul to go blind, for in his blindness God used Paul to open up the Church's eyes to the power of the Lord's forgiveness, and truth of being born again. Upon losing his sight, and repenting, Paul was then sent by the Lord to the home of a believer where he would end up regaining his eyesight again. The Lord was using Paul's weakness to bring about His will, something Paul touched on later in his epistle.
2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Paul saw that within the weaknesses that we may have, wether constant or occurring, we can be rest assured that the glory of the power of Christ will be found in them. How often we complain and cry out, "Why me God?!" when in actuality we should be thankfully awaiting what powerful work He is going to accomplish through us.
Paul had many trials and tribulations of which he could have complained about. But in each situation we the reader can see the power of the Lord at work. Paul did not have that luxury to see ahead, he had to walk by faith knowing God was in control. Think about when he was shipwrecked. He, and all the men on board barely made it out alive. But upon swimming to the Island of Melita, Paul had the opportunity to heal, by the power of Christ, many who were sick. This would not have come about had he not been shipwrecked. Throughout his trials and tribulations, Paul had one focus and one drive in life, this was evident when he said, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain." Whatever situations arose, whatever trials presented themselves, it didn't matter to Paul for this life was all about Christ and the preaching of the Gospel. The gain for Paul was found after this life.
We need to come to this same realization. When we rest all good things as being in this life, we diminish the grandness in our minds of what's to come. It is then that we become frustrated by these momentary trials and ask such questions as,
"Why me God?"
"Why would a loving God let bad things happen to good people?"
All Things Work Together For Good
The Conclusion
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The history of the Church that followed after the life of Paul, and the disciples, was one filled with persecution of indescribable pain, and suffering upon the Church. Some were drug by ropes down roads by horses till they died, others hung upside down on crosses, some beaten, mocked, and tortured. Yet in all this the Church continued to grow, and the passion with which the Church continued to preach the gospel with was as a roaring fire in a forest of dead trees. The realization to the saints was that these "bad things" were for the good, and to the glory of God, and that wether they lived or died, they were the Lord's. Today we seem to have a much different message. I remember a while back I was having a discussion on the whole end times/rapture issue and someone said that they did not believe the Church would go trough the tribulation because "God wouldn't let His bride suffer." Really?! Then how do we explain all the pain and suffering the early church endured? Or how about the 400 years that Israel was enslaved to Egypt? Or even Joseph's life sufferings? Or even yet, if God wouldn't allow bad things to happen to good people, why then did He allow Cain to kill Abel? Actually, let's go one more step, if God would not allow suffering to fall upon His children, why then did He allow His only begotten Son Christ Jesus to die on a cross?
To say that God does not allow "bad" things to happen to "good" people denies millions of believers before their salvation. For since they suffered they must not have been His children. Such is not the case.
What we need to do is "take up our cross and follow the Lord." We need to realize that just as Christ endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him, we ought to seek out the joy that follows our trials, and the reward that comes after the pain. Like a woman who has endured much labor to birth her child, we need to look forward to that which is to come from the trials we endure.
God allows bad things to happen to His people, but we need not fret because "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
-Nathaniel
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