When things go wrong

What are things that have gone wrong in your life that you hold against God and may still have a grudge against Him about?

Before reading the article below, take some time to reflect and list out ¹losses you may have experienced or are experiencing. 

Is it a...

*Failed (or failing) Marriage
*Family unit shattered because of divorce
*Business loss or failure

*Betrayal by someone you trusted

*Premature or unexpected death of a loved one or close friend
*Decline in health (life-threatening sickness, hearing or memory loss, aging, or overall physical decline)

*Anything not listed that applies to you

Often when it looks like things are not working, but breaking down and going wrong, God is still doing good things, often the biggest and best things. 

How is that possible? It sounds backwards. What is it about pain or loss that is actually good or even best? Is it improved circumstances like Joseph experienced below?

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ” - Gen 50:20 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/gen.50.20.ESV

Sometimes God is bringing about a miraculous outcome circumstantially (like Joseph) after a period of suffering. But not always or automatically. When bad things happen and go wrong, and we experience the opposite of Joseph's experience - i.e., circumstances not getting better - how is this best? After all, we are told that all things work together for good for those who love God. 

As a teenager, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers (betrayal). Then he wound up in jail through no fault of His own and was forgotten more than once, but eventually was appointed to the second-in-command of the greatest nation in the world at that time. 

The problem with the Joseph story, however (or rather how it is sometimes interpreted) is that many incorrectly assume the good that Joseph was referring to above is only better circumstances because that is what happened to him. We limit the good only to positive circumstances, e.g., Joseph being in a position of great power and influence to keep many from starving. When we do, we will miss the ultimate good God is always doing when circumstances do not improve. 

Our ultimate good is our increased union with God through the suffering we go through and our partaking more deeply in His love as a result. Why? So our relationship with Him deepens, and our experience of His love increases. And also so we can be more effective for Him and become a greater means by which others are drawn to Him.

Our greatest need is not always having our circumstances "fixed" but rather a greater union and relationship with God Himself and our partaking of and participation in His infinite love more fully i.e. it is more important to experience more of God in His infinite love than to experience improved circumstances.

Some of us may never experience improved circumstances from the trials of life. But all of us will experience a greater union and a stronger relationship and connection with God when we trust him through our struggles and pain.

For this reason we can always be grateful for all our struggles, no matter what the outcome or form they take - i.e., improved circumstances or not - or what causes them to occur - i.e., my poor choices or another's. Because, when we trust God, they become the means of drawing us closer to Him and our entering more fully into His love. For this, we all can (and should) be grateful. Otherwise, we will be defeated and risk becoming angry and bitter and miss the primary good He seeks to bring about in and through us.

• How do we advance in pain? Click here
• How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here
• For a further discussion on the primary role of pain, click here
• For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good, click here...and here.
• The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/grace; click here.
• For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.
• For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.
• For a discussion on the necessity of humility, click here

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Footnotes:

¹When you contemplate any losses you have experienced or are currently going through, what do you feel? Desperation, sadness, anger, humility? If anger, you have yet to fully trust God. Ask Him to reveal His love to you, so you can let go of it and allow His love to flow again. 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:35-39 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.8.35-39.ESV

Doing vs Being

Doing is binding and enslaving. Being is freeing. If a positive sense of who we are (our identity) is based on what we do, we will never achieve enough to gain the long-term sense of well-being (value, worth, love) that we need and were designed for.

We need perfect and infinite love because, as bearers of God's image, we were designed to be loved perfectly and infinitely, by the perfect, infinite God of love. We can never secure this for (or by) ourselves because we will never live perfectly enough to earn His approval and love. Nor does any other creature offer this kind of love. To seek perfect infinite love from finite persons or things doesn't work and will ultimately disappoint us. So we ¹should not seek it from them, for only the Creator loves us in this way.

The good news is we don't have to, because Christ did this for us. As His infinitely cherished children, we are called to simply abide, dwell, or live in His perfect love. Only as we abide in God's love, perfectly secured for us by Christ, do we become loving. The more we abide in His perfect love (by faith), the more loving we become.

What is the nature of being or abiding? It is believing and receiving (claiming) the offer of a perfect standing with and before God, earned for us by Christ's efforts, not ours.

Being (abiding) in His love leads to doing. Doing can never lead to being; i.e., being loving never leads to being fully loved. Being fully loved leads to being loving. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit (gets much done), for apart from me you can do nothing... As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love" i.e. claim this reality (truth) and own it - Jesus speaking to his disciples at the last supper. John 15:4-6,9

Where the confusion comes in is that faithful obedience (i.e., doing) does result in - is the fruit of - our experiencing God's love more fully. But this is on our side of the relationship. Our doing - obedience - does not cause God to love us more. His love for us is no greater or less because of what we do (or don't do), simply because it's based on who we are as a bearer of God's image and poured out on us because of what Christ did for us by bearing our condemnation and removing it from us and also assigning His righteous life to us as if we lived it.

Because we are in Christ, the Father's love is fixed and fully (perfectly and permanently) set upon us, and poured out in our hearts by His Spirit as we trust Him in all His love. It never stops or subsides. Own this! Stand on it! Abide in it!

This is not only for our sake but for Christ's as well. For God to love us in this way honors Christ and the infinite pain He submitted to in order to reconcile and unite us to His Father. Live - dwell, abide - in this reality.

For a further discussion, click here

For a discussion on bearing much fruit, click here For a discussion on acting before being, click here

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Footnotes:

¹this does not mean that God cannot demonstrate His love to us through another creature or by His creation. These are some main ways He does so. However, we must recognize that others are the means by which He loves us. So indirectly, it is still God's love we experience through these.

No one can love the way God loves (sacrificially and totally other-focused) until they are loved by God first. They are loving only because of His love. They become more loving as they abide more in His love.

Does God send people to hell?

What makes heaven a place of bliss? It is the delight we will experience in God and by being in His presence.

But if we do not delight in Him and His presence now, what makes us think we will in ¹eternity?

It is not as if a switch suddenly flips on, filling us with delight the moment we stand before Him, after a lifetime spent with that switch turned off.  

For those who wanted nothing to do with God—and even despised Him—all their lives, being in His presence will not be a delight. It will be a shock and fearfully dreadful. This will be especially true when they realize that God gave ²clear indication of His desire for a loving relationship with them and did everything necessary to extend His love, yet they rejected both it and Him by rejecting Christ.

Requiring someone who spent a lifetime rejecting God to remain in His presence would be a greater hell than hell itself.

Imagine living in a house with someone you distrusted, ignored, and avoided all your life; not exactly my idea of fun. And not because your assessment was correct but because you believed it was and refused to believe otherwise. 

So how have we rejected God?

We reject Him when we live our lives as if He does not matter, even though all we are and all we have is a gift from Him—when, in effect, we simply couldn’t care less about Him. If we thought of Him at all, it was only briefly in our most ³desperate moments, and even then not for the purpose of knowing Him, but merely in order to find relief from our suffering.

If God does not matter to us and we avoid Him now, He will not force Himself upon us. Instead, He will honor our wish to live without Him.

The reality is that God does not send people to hell. They choose it themselves, day by day, by living as if God is insignificant or does not exist at all—when the truth is ⁴exactly the opposite.

To live this way is to live a lie. It runs contrary to who God is as our beautiful and majestic Creator, to who we were created to be, to our very design, and to God’s loving desire for us.

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Footnotes:

¹The more we come to delight in God in this life the more we will delight in Him throughout eternity. The reward of our faithfulness to God in this life is God himself. 

https://thotsaboutgod.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-necessity-of-dependence.html

²By sending His Son and by giving us all the blessings of creation.

³But this usually passes quickly because He didn't give us the relief we demanded on our terms.

⁴Every good thing that we have and are comes from God. Nothing that is would be if there was not God. God is the source of life, love, and all things. The absence of Him and all that He offers, is hell. 

Is "tribalism" ok or racist?

We are most comfortable with those who are most like us. 

Why?

Because we are more affirmed and feel safer (more comfortable) around those like us. It is common ("natural or normal") for everyone to feel this way. It is not unique to any one group - white, black, brown, yellow, etc. 

Why?

It takes a lot more self-denial and sacrifice to relate to those who do not have the same values and interests as we do. If we have any interaction with others we have nothing in common with, or who are at least like us, our focus and energy must be on them, not on our interests and needs. ¹This kind of interaction is more about giving than getting. It requires less effort and sacrifice to interact with those most like us.

For the above reasons, being with those most like us tends to energize us. Being with those least like us tends to drain us. If we are not full of love, loving others different from us is impossible to maintain ⁷long-term. 

For the same reasons, harmony is more pleasant and enjoyable than disharmony. We are naturally drawn to harmony. Harmonious relationships tend to energize us. They affirm and reinforce our interests. Those that drain us tend to be challenging and involve more conflict.

There is also a practical benefit of working with those who are most like us. When we are in a joint effort, uniformity can result in greater cooperation and efficiency. This is good, not bad.

Some accuse others of racism for having these sentiments and being naturally drawn to those most like themselves. Yet, if we are honest, this is common with all groups. 

Is this ⁵racist? If so, every last one of us - regardless of our ethnicity - is a racist. Hanging out with others for the above reasons is common to everyone. 

Some call this ²tribalism. But is tribalism racism? It is no different from when you and I prefer being with loving friends or family ("our tribe") rather than with a group of strangers.

Having ³these sentiments is common in all relationships and "groups." The very act of accusing someone else of being guilty of this - as if they aren't themselves "guilty" - is exercising this very attitude by the accusation.  

This is why a loving family is so valuable (if we are blessed enough to have one). A healthy, loving family is a place where we are best known for both our strengths and flaws, and still most accepted and embraced. It is usually where we feel most free to be our real selves, with the least concern about ridicule or rejection (though certainly not always the case).

Racism, on the other hand, is very different. It is an attitude of superiority based on one's ethnicity (group/"tribe"). It is believing we - our "group" - are better, ⁶objectively, more important or valuable than others. This may be true subjectively - i.e., more valuable to us - but not objectively.

But isn't this also true of friendships? No one considers having friends racist. Good friends are good, important, and valuable to us personally. They encourage and strengthen us. That is a good thing, is it not?

While close relationships may be more important to us subjectively, they are not necessarily so objectively.

On the other hand, it is not wrong to love those who are ¹different from us. It is what we are called to do. In fact, as followers of Christ, we are called to love those opposed to us, i.e., our enemies. It just takes the most energy of all interactions and ⁴directly the least immediately rewarding, if not harmful - but potentially the most rewarding indirectly. 

To be able to love those least like us is not natural but ¹supernatural. For this reason, it is good to love others who are different from us. It requires greater dependence on God to love others sacrificially. 

In fact, it is impossible to love sacrificially until we experience the sacrificial love of God offered to us in and through Christ. 

God calls us to this because this is how He loves us...

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. " - Matt 5:43-48

But again, is it wrong to gravitate to others we are most like and have the most in common with? This is actually the basis for friendship. No one would suggest friendship is wrong. Yet some would have us believe it is and call it ⁵"tribalism" - which is the "first cousin" to racism according to those who throw these derogatory labels around.  

The irony is it is usually actual racists that push the narrative that being drawn to others most like us is wrong when, in fact, everyone participates in friendship and considers it not only perfectly normal but healthy.  

We are all far more alike than different.

One thing all of us have in common, that unites us at the strongest and most basic level, is we all desire to be loved, valued, affirmed, and important; i.e., we are designed for love because we are designed to be in relationship with God, who is love. We are all like God, who continuously gives and receives love among the Father, Son, and Spirit. We are in His image.  

And what is God like? The most valuable person of all. Without Him, nothing else exists. We are valuable by virtue of being like God - i.e., in His image.

In summary, it is not wrong or racist to feel more comfortable around those who are more like us. Nevertheless, we are called to a higher standard and to reach out and love those who are least like us, even our enemies. Not loving those different from us is not racist. Unloving, yes. Racist, no. 

For a discussion on identity politics Click here

For a discussion on the joys and challenges of giving, click here. 

To see if God has anything to say about immigrants or immigration, click here.

For a discussion on values, culture, and racism, click here.

For a discussion on racism and the necessity of forgiveness, click here

For a discussion on what divides us, click here.

For a discussion of the harmful nature of identity politics, click here.

What is the nature of racial privilege? Click here for a discussion.

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Footnotes:

¹People who are culturally different from us can have one main thing in common with us. A relationship with God through Christ. This connection is stronger than any natural ties we may have with those most like us culturally, intellectually, in appearance, etc. This is the most significant and deepest common denominator we can have. Especially those least like us naturally. What lovers of Christ have in common is even more significant than the connection among a loving family - though very much like it in important ways. 

If we are among others who have this deep spiritual connection with God, we are dealing with others who are focused on giving and not getting. This is the strongest possible bond we can have with anyone, even immediate family who do not have a love relationship with Christ. True believers are people who seek to love their neighbors as they love themselves. This is the greatest and most unifying value of all. This is also why Christ called loving God and others the greatest commandments.

When this is the central focus of a group of people, it is the strongest point of unity and overrides all other differences. In fact, it allows us to enjoy the differences of others as their uniqueness is a reflection of the creativity of God. This is unity within diversity.

This is why a strong church can be filled with a diversity of cultures and ethnicities yet still be united under this most central point of unity. A relationship of receiving love from our Creator and loving Him in return and our neighbor as we love ourselves. This is greater than any differences and can override them all when we are governed by love.

The two greatest commandments are the greatest not simply because we are told they are but because they summarize the purpose of our existence and the very nature of God and His creatures, i.e., to love as we are loved.

Anything we place a higher value on over our relationship with the Creator is a form of idolatry. Nothing is more valuable than God. Not our culture, race, vocation, or even our family.

This is why churches segregated by race or culture - e.g., white, black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc. - are likely not as honoring to God. To be segregated in this way is to value our culture and personal preferences over loving and valuing God and our neighbor. 

If we are separated by a language barrier, that is a separate issue that can be addressed on a church-to-church basis. But outside of this...

 "...in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." - Gal 3:26-29

²Some subcultures are so strong they have their very own "lingo."  Some examples would be the hip-hop world, the technology world, the academic world, the world of sports, the medical or health world, etc.  These are subcultures within a culture. 

³Having common values is so important that if we do not, it can even lead to husbands and wives separating. We call it "incompatibility" when, in fact, it is actually a matter of love, or the lack of it. 

⁴By directly, I mean we rarely gain any direct benefit from those we seek to love who are different from us. The benefit we may gain, however, is from seeing others blessed by our efforts to love them. It is an indirect gain. This is not something that comes from them, but comes as a result of loving others as Christ loves, i.e., seeing them flourish because of our efforts. This is what God is like. We are acting like God when we love in this way.  

⁵There can be a problem with tribalism, but it isn't racism as some assert. The problem is it is basically about me, my needs, my wants. So in that sense it is wrong and contrary to our initial design, not because it's racist. 

This focus on self is the result of our rebellion against God and our failed attempt to be our own God. Based on the current condition of the world, it is clear we have failed miserably at being our own gods.

Everything is a mess because of our rebellion. We are now missing the love we once had in a relationship with God, caused by our choosing to disconnect from God, the very Source of love. Now we go about trying to fill that void caused by His absence through created things and our own efforts to obtain them.

The fact is we weren't designed to be our own god and to make life work without the only true God. We were designed to be in union with Him. The source of love, life, and all things, and experiencing a constant flow of love from Him. This enables us to pass love (from Him) on to others. 

We are not an endless spring of love. Only God is. We, on the other hand, are vessels or conduits that can hold and pass on the flow of love from God to and through us to others.

The main point about tribalism is it's not unique to a certain race but common among all humanity, for we have all rebelled from God. But this is not racism as is asserted by some. It is the broken condition of all humanity -  including you and I - not a particular group or race.

⁶ VS subjectively, where someone or some group can be more valuable to us personally.

⁷ Unless or until we find out that all humanity has far more in common at the most fundamental level of who we are as bearers of God's image, i.e., we are all designed by God to love and be loved by Him and to pass on that love to others. This is God's greatest desire i.e. will, directive, commandment etc.

Disconnected from the Source of all things

We suffer because we, along with all of humanity, are ¹disconnected from our Creator; the Source of life, love, and all things. As a result we no longer function as we were designed to. In a word we are ¹broken.

We also suffer because the rest of the created order is in bondage because of our choosing to turn away from God. 

Therefore we experience both internal and external turmoil and suffering. 

Our rebellious distrust of God is the core reason for all ²pain, suffering, corruption, and death.

God did not (and does not) cause evil or suffering. It is the absence of God the causes suffering. Pain is the organic result of our choosing to reject and walk away from Him; to live independent of Him and attempt to make life work without the Source of life, love, and all things. 

If you turn off the light switch (or unscrew the lightbulb), the light goes out. The one who made the light switch isn't the problem; the one who doesn't use the device as designed is.  

However, God uses the resulting pain of our disconnection to reveal to us that He is the ultimate Source of love, life, and all things. Pain itself is not good. But God uses it for good by showing us our need for Him who is not only good but best. He is best because He is the Source life. We were created to experience our highest good in and through a relationship with him, not by surrounding ourselves with creature comforts.

Pain does not have the last word regarding suffering and evil; God does.

How does God use evil for good?

 

Suffering can reveal to us how life does not work (as intended) without Him, so we might be drawn back into a loving relationship with him i.e. learn how to flip the light switch on or screw in the light bulb.

He does not (and did not) cause evil itself but he does use it. It becomes a tool to turn us back to Himself and shape us, making us a more perfect bearer (reflector) of His image i.e. He uses it to make us more like His Son who is the perfect reflector of God so we too might also reflect Him in the same way.

God is greater than evil (suffering). Evil doesn't win, God does even in and through evil. 

¹For a further discussion on being broken click here.

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Footnotes:

¹We are not completely disconnected objectively. In Him we live, move, and have our being. Without Him we (or anything else) would not be.

But we are disconnected subjectively, consciously, willfully (by our choice), and personally.

²Pain is the ³loss (or absence) of the good things God has created that we use to ease or mask our pain. Pain is a reminder to turn back to God, our ultimate good, and no longer turn to the good things we use for self comfort. 

Nothing is wrong with creation in itself. It is the misuse of it that is our problem. Creation is not the Source, but only the means by which God seeks to convey his love and goodness.  

The reason created things don't work long term - meet our deepest need - is our need is permanent not temporary - we are designed for infinite love (God's love) not temporary comfort. Created things are temporary. They do not have life in themselves but are sustained by Christ. "... And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together"

³For an extended discussion of this last point, click here. 

Free will or free choice?

While our choices are ¹free and 100% ours (i.e. we freely choose to do what we want), our ³wills are not. Our wills are tied to our desires (wants). 

To say it another way, our "chooser" is not broken, but our "wanter" is.

²And our wants (desires) dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

If we desire (want) the wrong things, we choose to pursue the wrong things. 

And our desires are tied to what we value. The more we value something, the more we want it and the harder we pursue it. 

And we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

If ⁴we are blind to seeing God's true value, worth, beauty, wisdom, glory, majesty, and power as our infinite loving Creator - i.e., the Source of life, love, and all things - we will never pursue Him as the infinitely valuable and significant (glorious) being that He is. Instead, we will desire and pursue created things and beings. 

(For a further discussion on our ability to see things as they truly are, click here.)

Why? ⁵We are like God and created to enjoy (delight in) Him who is most valuable, beautiful, wise, glorious, majestic, and loving. Absent a personal relationship with Him, His Spirit does not reside in us, and we do not see Him as He is but go after His creation (the next best thing) to fill the void of His absence. Particularly other bearers of His image (you and I) who, by design, are most like God and have the greatest capacity to love and reflect Him most. This capacity is awakened and re-engaged when we are in union with Him through Christ.

And what is truly valuable is experienced by faith more than pleasant circumstances. 

"...without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he ⁶rewards those who seek him." - Heb 11:6

For a further discussion on the importance and necessity of faith, click here.

So do we have any evidence that God is trustworthy outside of - or in spite of - our circumstances? 

Yes, Christ Himself and what he went through to restore us to the Father. If this was the only evidence to prove God's love to and for us, it is more than sufficient. No other evidence is necessary. 

But to fully appreciate this restoration, we must understand who God created us to be and how alienated we are from Him who is the Source of life.

God's glory is our glory.

Scripture tells us God is infinitely valuable (glorious), but what about our value and our feeling of being significant or important? Are we valuable? Does it matter? If so, why?

Because God is significant, important, and valuable, we are and must be like Him in this same way in order for us to be able to appreciate and enjoy Him in all His glory and all these qualities He possesses. 

We are told in Jas 4: 

[5] "...Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”"?  

What kind of spirit has God put within us? A spirit that longs for (is passionate about) infinite love, worth, and glory. Love that can only be satisfied fully by the Source of love - our Creator - not by creation. 

This includes all the innate talents and gifts we already possess... such as musical, mechanical, athletic, business, artistic (creative), speaking, writing, or intellectual skills etc.  

God will not share in (is jealous over) our pursuit or loyalty to any other "lover" because He knows our greatest joy and satisfaction is ⁷ultimately only in Him. There is no other true "lover" who can fill this need and desire in us for love; love that He designed to be filled ultimately and only by Him who is love. Not because He needs our love but because we need His. This is "the spirit He has made to dwell in us."

Our capacity to value and enjoy Him is unparalleled by any other creature - even celestial beings.

Our being in His image wasn't happenstance. He designed us this way. He is the Creator; we are His creatures...but unlike the rest of creation, we are created in His image. Therefore, He loves us and desires that we experience Him to the maximum extent of His true worth and our capacity as bearers of His image. 

Everything in creation we seek for life (i.e. meaning, significance, value) outside of God is temporary. Creation is good and has value, but it is limited. Therefore, it comes up short of filling our need for and sense of value-worth (glory). God gives us creation as a means of revealing Himself to us and as evidence of His infinite love for us. But it was never meant to be our god, i.e., that which we worship and pursue.

GOD alone is the Source of infinite love. To experience His love to the maximum extent of our capacity, we must give Him all our loyalty and faithfulness (i.e., have no other "gods" before Him). Otherwise, we will never experience His love as it truly is and as we were designed to, but instead we will pursue created things (especially other creatures) for love, meaning, and purpose outside of and instead of Him. We can not worship both God and mammon.

Where does this need/desire for significance (glory) come from? Click here. 

For a further discussion on the difference between willpower and affections, Click here

Why was there a forbidden tree in the garden? Click here.

For a discussion on the necessity of choice, click here.

For a further discussion on how our "wanter" is broken and not our "chooser," click here. 

For a further discussion on how our choices are affected by our ability to see, click here.

For a discussion on ability vs. responsibility, click here

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Footnotes:

¹And our choices are ours alone. No one else's, including God. Therefore, we are fully accountable for what we value and choose to pursue. 

²Note the progression of the "ands" mentioned at beginning of this article. Each deals with a significant shift, but also a vital connection to the previous and following "and" statement. To get to the 2nd "and" you must understand the 1st. And to get to the 3rd, we must recognize the 2nd, etc. Here's a recap...

*our wants-desires dictate what we ¹choose to pursue. 

*our desires-wants are tied to what we value

*we value only what we ⁴see as valuable. 

*If we are blind to seeing what is most valuable, we pursue the wrong things. 

*our partaking of and participation in His love now is primarily by faith

³Is God free to do whatever he wants? 100%!  But because God is holy, He only wants (desires-wills) what is good and best. He is not a robot and freely chooses righteousness; i.e., His character or nature determines His will/desires, as does ours.

 For a fuller discussion, click here.

⁴To see truly, the Spirit of God must reside in us and reveal to us God's true character. And that only occurs after we've been "born again," i.e., after we are spiritually regenerated. 

"Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (1st) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” " John 3:30

Before we are born again, we are blind to spiritual things - i.e., we can not see the things pertaining to God's kingdom. The Bible says we are dead to God. Last I checked, dead people don't see very well 😉! 

⁵Why does our feelings and desire for significance, importance, and value matter? 

We are like God, who is significant, important, and valuable. We must be like Him so we can appreciate and enjoy these qualities in Him. Those persons or beings most like God are most able to appreciate and enjoy Him as He is.

God's significance, importance, and value (glory) are the foundation for (and Source of) ours. Our recognizing this about God is essential to experiencing our own true value (glory). The more we see his glory, the more we experience our glory in and through Him. 

⁶Rewards may be in this life but ultimately and mainly are in the next. Our primarily reward is God Himself revealed to us in the fullness of His glory in eternity. We only see him now by faith - i.e. through a "glass darkly." In eternity we will see Him face to face for the first time! And then we will be like him (i.e. all glorious) for we will see Him as He is i.e. in the fullness of His glory!!! We can't yet because we are not fully glorified. To see God in our present unglorified state would kill us.

⁷there is nothing wrong with creation and all the gifts that come to us through it. It is good to enjoy the good things God gives us as long as we don't make them the highest things i.e. They don't become our gods that we value above the one and only true God.

Suffering... has God abandon us?

"Thus says the Lord: 

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength (whether that be trust in another or in oneself) , whose heart turns away from the Lord. ("...who by their ⁴unrighteousness suppresses the truth..." - Rom 1:18) 

He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 

He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? - Jer 17:5-9 ESV i.e. how subtly and deeply our distrust of God runs and how quickly we turn away from God - where our trust should be and needs to be - and place our trust in something other than God, 

Why do pain and suffering remain? 

Pain and suffering are the natural (organic) results of our ongoing disconnect from God. 

Our disconnect is due to our ongoing distrust of Him. 

God does not curse us. Our disconnection from God is our curse.

Pain is the fruit of our distrust which God uses to reveal and expose the depth of our rebellious distrust. 

Why does suffering remain? So we might more clearly and fully see the destructiveness of our distrust and the need to have it purged from our hearts and lives. 

Why? So we might turn back to God and find true life in Him and more fully partake of His love as He designed us to. 

We come into this world in a state of rebellious distrust. We are absent our original connection/union with ¹God we were designed for. God seeks to restore this connection we broke when we turned away so we might return and be restored to a relationship with Him again.

God is love and therefore life itself - and we are in His image, i.e., created to receive and give love. His absence - due to our rebellious distrust - creates an emptiness we desperately seek to fill. 

Because of our rebellious distrust of God we seek to fill His absence with anything other than Him who alone can fill us. We look to anything we have access to or can "get our hands on" to fill the void of God's absence. In short, we trust in ourselves to fill the void instead of God  - "...we make flesh our strength..." 

Pain is such a common part of life that we rarely consider it exists because of ²God's absence, much less because of our rebellious distrust of Him. So we trudge along, clinging to our current rebellion in painful emptiness, desperately trying to make the best of things without God. 

We rarely consider how deeply we distrust God and how this impacts everything we do. ³We refuse to see that we - and everything else - depends on the Creator for its very existence. 

Suggesting this is our true condition is mocked and ridiculed. Accepting this is fiercely resisted and denied individually and collectively. The world system is build on distrust in God and living independently from Him i.e. making life work without Him; trying to prove God is not necessary for true life.

Occasionally, our pain and suffering become so acute and our ability to handle it so inadequate that we see and finally acknowledge our true condition and turn back to Him in total trust. This is how "desperately wicked" our heart and true condition is.

Life is an ongoing journey through the wilderness of this broken world to test whether we will continue to choose rebellious independence from God - as Adam and Eve did - or unconditional trust in God - as Christ did and displayed while on earth. 

Does suffering mean that God has abandoned us? Quite the opposite.

Suffering exists so that we might recognize we are not created to be our own God and return to Him -- who is Love itself and the Source of life, and all things -- in trust and humility. Our struggles are the means by which we learn to grow deep roots into Him. But only if and when we trust Him. 

Every time we experience the loss of something we look to for life - whether that be wealth, fame, natural gifts or talents, our health, a loved one, through substance abuse, etc. - it's an opportunity for us to turn to Him and discover He alone IS life. 

Christ asked what do we profit if we gain the whole world and loose our very souls. But the opposite is also true. If losing the world results in gaining our souls we profit infinitely as well as eternally. 

The Father sent Christ as proof of His love and His desire to pour it out on you. He did for you what you can not do - trust God without conditions - and offers to credit you with His righteousness. Do you trust Him?

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FOOTNOTES: 

¹in whose image we were created 

²if we acknowledge God at all, it is usually to blame Him for our pain instead of acknowledging our rebellious distrust, which results in pain due to His absence. 

³I'm referring to our objective dependence, not a conscious (subjective) dependence. Everything that exists is because God sustains it as well as brought it into existence. This is the objective reality of our world and our existence. Our subjective denial of this is our problem. 

⁴God does not curse us. Our rebellious distrust of Him does. 

What is unrighteousness: ἀδικίᾳ (adikia)? - sometimes translated as wickedness. Where does it come from? It is the outward fruit of our inward rebellious distrust of God that results in... 

wickedness 

Strong's 93: 

Injustice, unrighteousness, hurt. 

From adikos; injustice; morally, wrongfulness.

There are two elements to unrighteousness. The outward manifestation - our conduct - of an inward disposition of distrust. The former is the fruit of the latter. 

All "sinful" conduct - no matter what outward *form it takes - springs forth  from distrust in God. Distrust is the energy, passion, and drive behind bad (unrighteous) actions. At the heart of sinful behavior is distrust - unbelief i.e. distrust of God - unbelief - is the essence of all sinful behavior. 

*they are "...works of the flesh..."

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: 

sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Being takers and God's solution.

What is the solution to being a ¹taker vs a giver - and all the consequences and fallout from this approach to life? Someone else bearing the consequences of a life of taking while also being the perfect (complete) giver, and giving us credit for it - if and when we choose to receive this. 

This results in the just consequences of our taking being borne by another, while at the same time having their life of giving totally credited to us as if we did it, i.e., as if we were the giver. 

Unless we are in union with God, we are all naturally inclined to be takers. To be a total giver is supernatural. It is Godlike. 

We are created to be in union with the Source of life, love, and all things. He is the ultimate giver. Yet being separated from Him makes us all takers because we are not plugged into God who is love and life.  

Why? Because of the void in us as a result of our rejecting the Source of all good things as our ultimate Provider and Sustainer. 

This results in us not being able to give as we were originally created to. Being absent a connection and relationship with the Source of life, love, and all things, is like being a well-decorated Christmas tree sitting in a dark room unplugged. 

The acknowledgement of this is the beginning of how we reunite and "plug-in" to the Source and are empowered to be the giver we were originally created to be - not as the Source but as a conduit of the Source. 

Giving to get is not giving to give. Giving to give only occurs by our being plugged into the Source of unlimited resources. Only God is that Source. 

The day we bought into the lie that we could be our own source (god) is the day we cut ourselves off from that Source and died.

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FOOTNOTES: 

¹To put another's needs before mine is to be a giver. To put my needs before yours is being a taker. This is the opposite of loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Pain, humility, and knowing God

Is there any connection between knowing God, humility, and pain? At first we may not think so. 

Let's take a closer look. 

Since humility is key to knowing, seeing, and experiencing God, we should embrace and receive, with thanks, anything that helps humble us, including and maybe especially pain and suffering.  

Instead of bristling at pain and pursuing ¹whatever we can find to distract or relieve us from it, we should embrace struggles and be grateful for them. They are a vital means of drawing us nearer to God. 

Knowing God is far more significant and beneficial than short-term relief from our struggles (though it usually doesn't feel that way at the moment). Seeing and knowing this enables us to receive suffering with gratitude.

In short, the reason we are to be thankful for our struggles (vs complaining about them) is they ²can be - and usually are - a primary means of strengthening our understanding and relationship with God who is the source of life, love, and all things i.e. pain ²can be a very unpleasant means to the greatest and most desirable and pleasant end - our increased union with God and the joy and happiness we find in Him. So while the loss of things we rely on for comfort or pleasure are painful, they become the very means by which we are drawn closer to God, the Source of life, love, and all things. 

Thankfulness is the best indicator of humility. Humility is the key to seeing and knowing God in all His infinite love and glory.

How do we discover God's love in our pain? click here

For a further discussion on the primary role of pain click here

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

For a discussion on the necessity of humility click here

For a discussion on the fallacy of the health and wealth gospel Click here

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Footnotes:

¹drugs, alcohol, and sex are some of the more obvious and most common diversions. But diversions can also be more socially acceptable pursuits, such as recreation, career, entertainment, material possessions, food, power, control, fame, or anything else that will help give us sense of value or distract us or relieve us from pain. Boredom is also a form of low-grade pain. 

This is not because created things we use to bring us pleasure are bad. God created us for pleasure but in, by, and through Him. Having a sense of value, meaning purpose, or comfort are all pleasurable experiences. But when comfort or pleasure in itself (the opposite of pain) becomes a higher pursuit than God, it is contrary to our design of finding greatest happiness in God and what He provides. 

The issue isn't having or experiencing these but when they become substitutes we use to give us what only God can ultimately fulfill. 

²Actually pain and struggle is a primary means to our increasing maturity and greater union with God when received with thanksgiving. I say "can" because it depends on us trusting that God is using our pain for our ultimate good (even the pain caused by our failures or the failures and offenses of others). Otherwise, suffering will only make us angry and embitter us. 

"See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;" - Heb 12:15. No one likes being around a bitter and angry person - except maybe others who are the same way... "birds of a feather flock together..." as the saying goes.  

It should be mentioned that the author of Hebrews was writing to people going through intense persecution and suffering at the hands of others.

Hebrews 12:6-8 ESV

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons... 

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

¹¹For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 

Other passages that directly or indirectly address this vital truth... 

James 1:2-4 ESV

²Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  

Ephesians 5:20

"...giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"  

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 

Colossians 3:17

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." 

Philippians 4:6

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." 

This last passage is particularly interesting because we often go to God in prayer for relief from difficulties, yet God says we should give thanks for those circumstances we find no relief from i.e. don't just seek God for relief, seek God himself and be grateful for everything that aids you in knowing Him better, especially difficulties. 

Romans 8:28-29 

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (Christ) might be the firstborn among many brothers."

The good that God is achieving in all things (vs 28) - both hard and comforting - is making us more like His Son (vs 29), not necessarily improved circumstances.