From Adam to Christ

Before our rebellion, it appears we were spiritually ²neutral. As image bearers we had the capacity, unlike any other creature, to fellowship with God and did i.e. we could willingly receive and return His love. But we weren't ²inclined toward or away from God. You could say we were a blank slate.

However, we were also finite. And because of our limits we had no way of verifying on our own, with ⁶absolute certainty who was truthful and trustworthy, God or the serpent. 

Ultimately, it came down to trust. Our ¹trust in God hadn't yet been tested or confirmed. We had no reason to question God prior to that conversation with the serpent. The serpent's suggestions put into Adam and Eves mind doubt about God and His love for them for the first time. 

This is also why there were 2 special trees in Eden. (And not just anywhere in the garden but at its center). 

⁴We were given two contradictory claims or "promises" from two distinct sources and had to choose which one we believed. In God's original instructions, "do not eat..." it is clear God wanted them to have a choice. 

When humanity's trust was tested, we chose (and continue to choose) to trust ourselves and not God. We believed we could - and can - decide what was (and is) best for us without God, and know ²good and evil without looking to or depending on God for input. We set ourselves up as the final arbitrator of what is good or evil. And act of rebellion towards God as the Creator of all things and also a lie which was contrary to our design. This is the present modus operandi for all humanity to this day. 

Ever since our rebellion, we are naturally inclined towards distrust of others, God first, as well as each other. 

We went from being neutral to being bent away from God, and we remain that way to this day. We (and humanity as a whole) are now broken, fragmented, and continue to come "unglued" as we seek to find life and make it work without God. 

Without God's help, all our actions are rooted in self-trust and distrust of God. Every time we make choices without looking to God for input, we are saying God is not necessary to live life at the highest level. 

The solution?

The second Adam compared to the first. 

The Spirit led Christ into the wilderness after His baptism (where the Father said He was well pleased with His Son), and thus Christ's formal ministry began. 

Christ's trust in the Father was tested 3 times in the wilderness; as was Adam's. Unlike Adam, Christ passed each time. 

Christ's trust was also tested throughout his incarnation, and culminated in Gethsemane right before his betrayal and crucifixion, when he said "...let this cup pass from me...but not my will, but yours be done..." and also on the cross "...My God, why have you forsaken me?" 

Being placed into Christ vs remaining in Adam. 

Christ's passing of these tests of trust was for us, not him. His passing them can now be assigned to us as if we passed them when we didn't and haven't. Where Adam failed, Christ succeeded!

But we are asked to trust God - like Adam - one more time to receive this offer. It is not forced on us. Yes, we can refuse to trust, but we are left to bear the consequences of our rebellious distrust (as Adam was) and the harm it causes ³God, others, and ourselves. 

For a further discussion on the initial rebellion of man - i.e. "the fall" - click here. 

__________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:

¹As finite beings, we cannot operate without trust. To do so would require us to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present. Only God is infinite and has these attributes; we do not. 

During Christ's incarnation, he was not all-knowing. This was part of his emptying himself (the kenosis). He said many times there were things he did not know in his present human form. This is also why Christ, as a man, operated by faith, like we do and must.

²knowing good and evil was basically knowing right from wrong. Apparently, in their original state and before their rebellion, they needed to confide in God when presented with a choice between right and wrong. The serpent suggested they (we) could be "free" from this seeming shackle if we ate from the forbidden tree. However, we made our choice by ignoring God's instructions to not eat of the forbidden tree and have reaped the consequences ever since, i.e., pain, suffering, and death. 

³we can not harm God personally. God needs no one or nothing outside of Himself and nothing from us. But we can bring dishonor to Him by our thoughts, words, and deeds, resulting on our hindering others from seeing Him as He truly is, ultimately leading to their harm. 

For us to speak and act as if God is not worthy of honor is leading others to do the same i.e. away from God. But He alone is worthy of all honor and glory because He is the Source of life, love, and all things. To Him all glory is deserved and should be given.

Our rejection of our dependence on God was contrary to who we are - creatures dependent on our Creator - and who is as the giver of life, love, and all things. Going contrary to this reality brings real harm and destruction to ourselves, others as well as dishonors God for who He truly is. Diminishing God in the eyes of others by our words and actions draws them away from God which leads them to harm and destruction. 

Christ honored His Father in all he said and did but was treated exactly the opposite of this. And now the Father offers to credit Christ's ⁵faithfulness to you as if this is how you now live. If we are in Christ, the Father only sees the Son's perfect faithfulness as if it was our own and He is well pleased with us, as He is with the Son.

⁴Adam and Eve represented us, not in the sense of acting on our behalf but in the sense that given the same set of circumstances we would have made the exact same choice they did. 

We prove that daily by making similar kinds of choices now i.e., we prefer being our own god and being independent of God instead of dependent on God. We are not accountable for Adam and Eves choice but our own with one exception. We have a chance to choose God again and totally reverse the legal consequences of our distrust of God - and also the practical consequences in eternity as well - because God provided a way to be restored if we accept His offer.

⁵Keep in mind that Christ's faithfulness was not a walk in the park. He was faithful in the face of all the adversity Christ endured and all the riches He set aside to become a man so he could suffer and die, that we would not have to. 

⁶though the evidence was clearly in God's favor since Adam experienced 1st hand the creation of Eve while he saw no such demonstration of power by the serpent. 

The joy of generosity

Generosity ¹seems to be a ¹primary part of who God is and what makes Him tick, i.e. how he operates. He delights in giving. God so loved... He gave...

As His image bearers, we are designed the same way, but with a major difference. Only God has unlimited resources - i.e. He is the Source of all things. He is an endless overflowing fountain of love. We are not. 

Why? Because God is a community of infinite, endless love within and among Himself as Father and Son who continually gives and receives love in, by, and through the Spirit. God is love, and He is Spirit.

As bearers of God's image, we also find joy in giving. But we are not an unlimited, endless, overflowing fountain. Only God is a ⁵community of love and calls us to be a part of (plug in to) that community, so we will overflow with love in the same way He does. 

If we get love from another image bearer as a result of our giving them love (such as to a spouse or in other relationships), we may be able to maintain this kind of giving for a long time. But if we find ourselves giving more than we get, we become exhausted and the relationship withers and ⁶eventually dies.  

However, when we ²plug into and reconnect with God, we become a conduit connected to that unlimited, overflowing fountain of infinite love again. 

This enables us to love others ³without receiving from them anything in return because ⁴God is our source of love, not others. i.e. other bearers of God's image.

Without being reconnected to the source of love and life, we run out of gas (love and life, etc.). 

But when we are connected and plugged into the Source of love, life, and all things, we can become an unlimited resource or conduit of love because we are plugged into the unlimited supply i.e. God - the only Source of endless love.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich...

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (who gives out of joy, not duty).

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work..." 2 Cor 8:9, 9:6-8

For a more in-depth look into 2 Cor 8:9, 9:6-8 click here.

Related articles:

For more on how God is relationship, click here.  

For more on whether God is dependent or independent click here. 

For more on the life, love, and the Spirit of God click here.  

For more on how God is perpetual love click here

Are love and value the same? For a discussion, click here. 

___________________________________

Footnotes:

¹I say "seems" only because we can't put God in a box and reduce him to something far less than he is. We are only scratching the surface of just one aspect of his character, though I believe a very central and foundational one. Maybe the most significant aspect of who God is.

We should approach God - at a minimum - with the same awe and mystery we approach the universe itself in all its infinite vastness. Not as some sort of object we can dissect to see how it ticks, but as a person and dynamic being of infinite beauty and depth, we will never reach the bottom or end of. God is an infinitely glorious being, who we will go through all eternity discovering more of, and should therefore be in total awe of. 

We can know different aspects about God only because - and when - He reveals them to us. And because God is infinite - and we are not - there is still mystery about what He is like and who He is that we will continually plumb the depths of throughout eternity with ever-increasing awe and joy! What we now know is only the beginning and a tiny speck of the depth, breadth, and width of the beauty and wonder of God.

Not because he's trying to hide from us, but because we are not humble enough for him to reveal himself more fully. We only see God clearly to the extent we humbly trust Him. 

The key to seeing more of His infinite beauty and mystery is humility. Without humility, we will never see Him clearly. 

Humility is a central part of the very character of God Himself.  How much more should this be true of us who are finite?

Because of arrogance - i.e. thinking we can be our own god and can make life work better without Him than with Him - we are blinded to seeing Him well, if at all. It takes a humble disposition (ours) to recognize a humble disposition (God's).

As finite beings, we can never fully plumb the depths of His being or His heart. We will spend all eternity increasingly discovering more about God and His infinite beauty and love. We will never be bored but increasingly enthralled the more we see and know Him.

²As bearers of God's image, we were originally designed to be in perfect union with our Creator. Through, by, and out of this union, everything else is meant to flow. When we rebelled and turned away to be our own god, we cut ourselves off from our infinite Creator, the only Source of life, love, and all things. We no longer partook of God, the endless fountain of love. Without Him, we are empty and left longing for love. It is this longing that creates all our problems because we go to anything and everything other than God - the true Source of all things - to fill that longing. 

³Unlike us, God is an endless source of love and does not need to get anything from us in order to give. He is perpetual giving because he is perpetual receiving within and between the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit.

Whereas we may give short-term but can't sustain giving unless we get an equal amount or more love than we give... or at least feel like we are getting as much or more. 

⁴This is also why only a godly marriage is most fulfilling, successful, and flourishing. God is the center and source of love for each partner, vs each other.  

In fact, a successful and flourishing marriage is a picture of the community of our triune God as a relational being. 

⁵God is a community of perpetual love as Father, Son, and Spirit. We thrive in a loving relationship because we are designed for love i.e. we are Godlike, who Himself is infinite love. 

We cannot operate outside of love any more than God does. God is love. We are designed for love because we are like God - in His image. To assume we can operate properly without being in union with the Source of life, love, and all things is trying be someone that even God isn't i.e. the Father, Son, and Spirit do not operate independent of each other. They are interconnected and "interdependent."

⁶The exception would be a loving parent and their child. 

God wants us to want Him, not force us to

God wants us to pursue Him only if we want to. God never forces us to but helps us see the importance and necessity of our pursuit through our mistakes, failures, struggles, and pain, as well as our successes. 

Whenever we pursue things other than (or outside of) God, we find they leave us empty and create problems. 

They also causes us to feel distant from God, resulting in us missing and longing for more of his presence. This drives us to return and pursue Him more faithfully so we might experience him and his infinite love again more fully. 

As we partake of his presence, we long for it more and when it's absent, this increases our desire to avoid whatever alienates us from Him and creates a sense of His absence.

The saying goes that you can lead a horse to water but cannot make it drink. While God never forces us to pursue him He knows the best way to help us see the need for him. To continue with the analogy, He doesn't make us drink but he does know how to salt our oats. 

We may not always know why we suffer or the specific benefit we will gain from it at that time - i.e. if we will ever see any immediate or long term circumstantial benefit, or gain anything at all in this life - but we know the general reason is so we might draw closer to and partake of Him more and who He is as the source of life, love, and all things. This may or may not result in a change of circumstances but it always results in a change of disposition. It brings us to a place of greater joy, contentment, and rest in Him.

We are told that "eye has not yet seen or ear yet heard..." what God has for us in eternity and what exactly being fully glorified and like Christ will look like. But this may be the primary reason we are given to encourage us ¹in our struggles i.e. to make us more Christlike. If and when we trust God, knowing this is sufficient.

The rub is what we gain eternally is often not obvious and has no immediate benefit to us now but a gain we have to accept by faith.    To us an analogy by Tim Keller, we don't have a video explanation of the value we receive from our struggles but an audio one. It is one we are given by words (promises) not by sight - at least not yet. Words we must believe but promises we have not actually seen firsthand with their own eyes or fully experienced. It is this very faith God is seeking to stretch and increase. So we do have some idea -- audio -- why we should remain faithful in our pursue of God but not the complete idea - video i.e. we are not yet face-to-face with Jesus.

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

It is our believing while not seeing that God is looking to stretch and expand. 

¹Actually there is another very significant reason for our suffering. It is so we will understand Christ's suffering on our behalf more fully.  The more we understand his suffering -- which usually doesn't occur until we go through our own -- the more we see His love and in turn grow in our love for him and what he did for us. For a further discussion on this click here. 

Another reason may simply be that we become more compassionate for the suffering of others which enables us to better love our neighbor as ourselves. This too is a present benefit.

But note, none of these benefits necessarily improve our circumstances but they do give us hope and enable us to persevere in our challenges with joy. 

The essence of relationships

What is the essence of relationships?

All relationships consist of giving and receiving love (value).

However, different types of relationships occur in a variety of ways between various parties.

What makes them unique is the form or manner in which love and value are expressed or exchanged, i.e., what kind of relationship it is and who the persons with whom love and value are shared. 

Is it between God our Creator and His image bearers (you and I), husband and wife, parent and child, siblings, friends, extended family, business partners or associates, fellow believers, etc.?

Each kind of ¹relationship has unique characteristics that the others do not have - i.e., a unique way of showing love and value - while also the same, in that they all share love and value in some form with the other person or object of our love. 

For example, physical intimacy between a husband and wife is unique to that relationship. Love expressed in this way is only legitimately expressed between them and not others or other kinds of relationships.

Physical intimacy makes the marriage union the ²most complete human relationship. Marriage embodies the expression of giving and receiving love in all forms - friendship, companionship, partnership, and physical intimacy - within a single relationship.

Each kind of relationship is valuable and designed by God to reveal something about Him (and us) that the other types of relationships don't. The nature and vastness of God are too great to be fully displayed by any one kind of relationship alone.

How does God fit into all this? 

God himself is relationship as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit, and the basis for all relationships. All relationships reflect something of who He is and what He is like.

Therefore, we find the most joy in relationships with persons other than God when we understand and recognize that ultimately they are all gifts from God designed to reveal something about who He is and what He's like, not only to us but to each other. This adds to and aids our understanding of God and helps us appreciate Him more. This also adds greater fullness and meaning to all ³secondary relationships outside of Him, i.e., they are expressions of His love for us.

The highest form of love (and therefore relationship) is God's love. Why? It is the only love that does not require love to be given in return. It is a kind of love that flows out of the fullness of who God is, not out of something needed or missing within God. It is unique and the highest kind of love. It is giving, never taking.

Because God ⁴is love, relationship for God is the "natural" - i.e. organic - outcome of who He is; a being of relationship between the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This triune relationship has always been from all eternity past. There has never been a time when God was not in a relationship of giving and receiving love. 

God never requires our love ⁵in order to give us His. His love is overflowing and sacrificial, i.e., always giving (and receiving), never taking. And this is because He doesn't need our love, therefore neither requires it - at least not for His sake. 

One of the most well-known passages in scripture says, "God so loved the world he gave... " What (who) He gave is not something trivial. He gave the most valuable and significant "thing" He could give - the eternal Son of his infinite affection. 

God's love only and always gives and never takes. Not because God doesn't want or enjoy our love in return, He simply doesn't need it (though it is always welcomed and delightfully received when given by us).

Though we occasionally show sacrificial love ourselves - often in "fits and starts" - God always operates this way. He always operates out of fullness, never out of need. He is always overflowing in love and always has from all eternity past between the Father and Son in and through the Spirit, long before we ever came into the picture.

" ...For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich." - 2 Cor 8:9

" ...because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!" - Eph 1:4-5

"...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. - Rom 5:8‭-‬10

For related discussions, the following links are offered:

Man...saint or sinner

Man's dilemma

God is relationship

AND

God is nonstop love beauty and glory

Is the wrath of God unfair? Click here.

Why are relationships important? Click here

The giving and receiving of glory/love click here.

_________________________________
Footnotes:

¹Relationships are so much a necessary part of who we are that adults who choose to remain single will often have pets to be in a relationship with another being - even if only on a simple and limited level with a pet. While pets are wonderful gifts from God and provide a kind of companionship, they come nowhere near the level of a God-centered, vibrant, and healthy human relationship.

²Because of this form of love, marriage is the only relationship that produces offspring i.e. another bearer of God's image. This makes marriage the highest form of relationship - closest to the union of Father, Son, and Spirit - and why the fruit of its union - children - is sacred.

³The best marriage or best relationship between a child and parent or siblings is one that is exercised by the love and forgiveness of God.

⁴Love is central to or the core of God's being.

⁵The Father accepts and totally embraces Christ's love on our behalf i.e. as if it were our own love. 

God also poured out the consequences of our rejection of Him and His love onto Christ, as if Christ rejected the Father. 

All this is offered and given as a gift when we place our trust in Christ and what He did on our behalf. 

The only question is, do you believe and receive what Christ did for you? You will never experience the transforming benefit He offers to you otherwise.

Seeing God's love in our pain

"that I may know him (Christ) and the fellowship of his suffering's…" - Phil 3:10

What is the "fellowship" of Christ's sufferings that Paul desires to take part in - and we, by his example, are also invited to partake in? 

Whatever it is, we must participate in (experience) the "fellowship of his sufferings" to have a deeper understanding of Christ, i.e., who he is, what he did, and why he did it. This is directly connected to knowing him better, as indicated by the above opening comment "...that I may know him..."

What about our suffering? Does our suffering help us to see and know Christ better? How?

Stated simply, if we are to know and appreciate Christ more fully and the depth of His love, we must see and enter into Christ's suffering through our own, i.e. we share in (fellowship with) His pain through ours. The more we suffer the greater opportunity we have to understand and appreciate Christ's suffering.

But how are our pain and experiencing Christ's love connected?

Our pain helps us to more fully understand, appreciate, and sympathize with Christ's pain. The greater our pain, the greater our potential understanding of Christ's, i.e. we can relate to Christ's pain better because of our own. 

Whenever we are in pain, we should reflect on Christ's ³struggles and all the spiritual, emotional, and physical pain he went through for us. The more pain we experience the more deeply we can "enter into" and partake of His - if we choose to and let it.

The more we see and enter into His pain through our own, the more we can also see the depth of his love that moved Christ to suffer on our behalf. 

Seeing the depths of his love in turn causes us to love him more.  

If you wish to love him more, be grateful for your pain, if only because of how it can reveal to you Christ and the immense depth of His love for you more fully. How? By his embracing the pain you and I deserved - that He did not deserve - so we might see and experience His immense love even more.

To expand this further, the more we see His pain, (ultimately caused by us choosing to be our own "god" when we are not) the more fully and deeply we see the ¹greatness of His love that moved Him to embrace our pain (and the consequences of the pain we cause others) so He might free us from condemnation rightfully due us for the harm/pain we cause others. 

Grasping the depth of Christ's pain rarely happens without us first going through our own pain. The greater ²our pain, the more fully - and the greater the opportunity for us to appreciate ²His i.e. we are better able to understand and "fellowship" with Him in His sufferings through our own suffering, and thereby also more fully enter His love. 

Pain is a two-way street for both Christ and us

We are also reminded that because of his pain, he understands and appreciates ours better as well. He can better fellowship with us in our pain because of His own i.e. We are united with Christ in and through our mutual suffering. 

Amazingly, Christ chose to identify with us in this way! We will have this in common with Him throughout eternity and will be reminded of this - of His immense love for us - every time we look upon Him and behold the scars He carries and experienced for us.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:15-16

Pain can help produce two overriding positive outcomes if we let it. 

1. It can humble us by revealing the depths of our need and inability to cope with the pain alone, i.e., without God.

2. It can cause us to more fully appreciate the sufferings of Christ and the greatness of his love that moved him to suffer on our behalf.

These are two vital reasons we should never shrink back from pain and suffering, but instead be thankful for it. In doing so, this enables us to more fully see and take part in his great love.

If you want to know your level of trust in Christ and the strength of your love for Him, ask yourself how much pain are you willing to go through for His sake? 

This is a question Christ asked of himself while suffering for us, and he answered with a resounding "whatever it takes." His willingly going to the cross for you and me was the result of His saying yes to pain. 

How much pain am I willing to go through for His sake?... is a question we may wish to ask ourselves. One I ask myself often.     

Christ asked that question and answered by giving up his life, and allowing this to disrupt His eternal union with the Father. 

"“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.."

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

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.

____________________________________

¹When people question the goodness and love of God because of all the pain in the world (including their own) they miss the bigger picture and cannot see that Christ took on the pain of the world and let it kill him so he might ultimately free the world and us from it. Pain is not the final word regarding evil. Christ is!

 

The big question isn't why there is suffering and why God allows good people to suffer, but why God allowed Christ - the best and only perfect person - to suffer. 

And maybe a more important question... what is the Father saying to us and about us by allowing it? Hint...He loves us that much.

Until we answer these questions, we can never fully understand, accept, and willingly (gratefully) embrace our own pain and the world's pain. 

We are so jaded towards God that we forget that God so loved the world that he gave. The greatness of love is measured by the greatness of the gift and the sacrifice one is willing to make to give it, i.e. the more the gift costs, the greater the evidence of the givers love.

And what did God give? His very own Son (think of Abraham being asked and willing to sacrifice his son Isaac). The Son of his infinite and eternal affections. 

Christ's death was not barbaric; it was an expression of extreme love and a willingness to take on our suffering so we might be forever free from it... but only if we will accept His offer.

If we do not, there is no other solution!

The whole notion that the infinite and all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of everything would take on human form and even consider going through undeserved pain for our benefit is mind-boggling when we stop and reflect deeply on this. 

After reading this, I encourage you to do just that. Think deeply about these things often. Ask God to give you a fuller vision and understanding of His love for you through His and your pain. Let them seep deeply into your very being and transform you and your love for God. 

The Father and Son fully understand pain because they fully embraced and experienced it themselves. The Father embraced the pain of giving up the Son of His eternal affections and the Son embraced His greatest pain by allowing it to separate him from the eternal affection of His Father for a time. This "severing" of their relationship was a far greater pain than any physical suffering.

The only reason that people continue in pain after this life is that they refuse to see and receive God's remedy, which is Christ and all He suffered (willingly) at the hands of ungrateful and wicked men for our sake.

²Particularly for condemnation, persecution, and rejection.

³Has someone closest to you ever betrayed you? Have you ever had anyone twist your words, misrepresent you, speak ill of you, or not come through on their commitments or promises to you? Have you ever been unappreciated for sacrificial service to others? Have you ever had anybody forsake you in your greatest hour of need? Christ experienced these and far more with one big difference. He never complained and did nothing to deserve it. And He did all this for us so we wouldn't have to. And to also honor His Father. 

Evil helps us to more appreciate good

Though evil directly is bad, indirectly it is good. To say it more precisely, evil is a means by which God brings about our good because it ¹can be the means by which we discover more of God, who is our ultimate good. 

But it does so indirectly, by being contrasted with good, i.e. our appreciation for good is enhanced by experiencing evil - the absence of good. Experiencing bad enables us to better appreciate its opposite. 

To illustrate, we often cannot fully ³appreciate a gift until we experience its absence. Someone who has their sight restored after going blind appreciates it more than the one who never lost it - or had it. Losing their sight was bad, but it became the means by which they experienced the greater good and a greater appreciation for it.

The appreciation of the goodness of God in eternity will no longer require the ¹presence of evil because we will experience the goodness of God unabated. At that time, that which evil is intended to help us see more fully will be fully seen and experienced - i.e. God in all his infinite goodness. We will no longer need help to see it (Him) because we will be in God's immediate presence and seeing it - He who is perfect love and goodness - fully. 

Pain is ²only experienced and needed now because we are still broken and in a broken world, in need of restoration. We therefore presently see through a glass darkly. But when we are in eternity, we will see Him face to face. At that time evil will no longer be present.

But we will have a reminder of the destructiveness of evil throughout eternity in the scars of Christ's hands, feet, and side.

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 of how big is God click here

_________________________________

¹However, pain will continue to exist for those who experience total separation from God and His creation. Though it will not be the personal experience of those who trust God's provision to restore us - i.e. Christ - it may be a continual reminder throughout eternity - to those who trust Him - of what we avoided.

Allowing the possibility of evil to occur meant there was a chance that some would not benefit from it. This was obviously a *"chance" God was willing to take because it also allowed those who turned from it to appreciate good all the more, i.e. What was gained by allowing evil was greater than what was lost. 

*Technically there are no chances with God. He knows everything that will happen before it does and all contingencies and outcomes. There are no surprises for God.

²Actually there is another reason. It is experienced simply as the natural consequence of pulling away from the source of life and love i.e. Our creator God.

³ Paramahansa Yogananda  (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk.  I used his quote not because I subscribe to Hinduism, but because it shows the wisdom of observing life as it is even if one's worldview is not rooted in scripture. I believe all truth is God's truth and from Him, whether it is in scripture or from the wisdom gained by observing and experiencing life. To say it another way, all scripture is true but truth is not only found in scripture. 

I am not certain we can say evil was created as the quote says. I'm inclined to believe Scripture teaches that evil was allowed not created - unless you wish to say that evil was "created" by the absence of good, i.e. that the absence of good brought to our awareness and experience the existence of evil, in a similar way that the absence of light makes us aware of the existence of darkness. In that sense, I would agree. But I'm willing to consider any "pushback" by those who disagree. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post. 

For a discussion on what happened at the rebellion of mankind in the Garden of Eden click here.

I would add this blog is titled "Thoughts about God" vs Thoughts from God. I do believe the thoughts I share on this blog are rooted in Scripture (which rightly understood are His thoughts i.e. His words) and in various degrees also stirred by His Spirit (at least that is my hope, desire, and intention) but I am merely a finite human trying to grasp and communicate the Infinite and in my attempt, no doubt I will fall very short.

The greatest lesson from Job?

Why is the book of Job in the Bible? After all, it appears God never answers Jobs' most pressing question of why he ⁵suffered. At least not directly. So what is the point of the book?

Could it be that Job encountered and wrestled with all his pain so his story could be told ¹primarily for the benefit of others? Is God, through Job's example, seeking to reveal to the rest of us (as well as to Job) how deeply our distrust of God runs when things are hard; how distrust is our most basic problem and trust is our greatest need and not deliverance from pain and suffering? This is where the book of Job eventually takes us through Job's example i.e. that God is God. He knows all things and what is best, we do not. That He is worthy of our total trust and ultimately calls the shots, not us.

Not exactly what we want to hear when we are in the throws of great anguish, is it? 

When we think we're wise we realize we still know very little. At least this is what Job finally recognized. It is a humbling process to realize that God is God and we aren't. That he knows what is best for us and we don't. This is the reversal of the lie Adam bought into. That we can be our own god and don't need God for life - when in fact we are dependent on God for our very breath as well as everything else. This is a hard pill to swallow for most. 

Revealing to us our deeply buried distrust may be the greatest lesson and key takeaway God seeks to reveal through Job to anyone willing to listen. 

Job is us and we are Job. When we are in our deepest pain and wrestling with our greatest doubts, we are all the same. When pressed beyond our limits we discover we don't trust God's wisdom, power, or goodness. 

Do we see any indication elsewhere in scripture that distrust - not pain - might be our biggest issue?

Paul cites Job

We get a hint of this when Paul cites Job at the end of Romans 11 in verses 34-36. 

By Paul using key excerpts from Job we may be getting further indication of a primary purpose of why Job went through all his suffering - maybe the main purpose.

Paul had just spent 3 entire chapters (Rom 9-11) addressing the thorny issue of ²Israel's national turning away from and rejection of their promised Messiah. What an absolute tragedy and apparent failure this must have seemed to many within and outside of Israel. Had God failed His promise to ⁷deliver Israel from their Roman oppressors? 

Interestingly, Paul ends these 3 chapters (chapters 9-11) in Romans, citing the same key truths ²Job came to realize in order to address what was a significant area of doubt for national Israel at that time.

The seeming failure of God to deliver Israel from their physical and political slavery was a major stumbling block to Israel's embracing Christ (even after His resurrection, his disciples still wondered when Christ would set up his earthly kingdom to ⁶free Israel from Rome's oppressive rule. They wanted physical deliverance, more than spiritual deliverance. But God had a better and more necessary plan. 

Paul uses the same truths revealed to Job to address national Israel's distrust and why God can and should be trusted. In doing so, Paul seeks to show how God - through Jobs' suffering and doubt then and in Israel's doubt and rejection of Christ at the time of his letter - is in total control and knows exactly what he was doing when it appears otherwise, i.e. we all are called to trust God when circumstances seem to say just the opposite i.e. that God cares about us, knows what He's doing even when there is *no relief from our pain. Our pain may actually be an indication that God is working most on our behalf.

If not for Job's suffering being recorded along with the key lessons Job learned, Paul would not have Job's example to point to when we (or Israel) wrestle with our own suffering and doubts about God. Observing Job's suffering (and ultimately his turning back to God in deeper trust) is for all our benefit, not just Job's. 

What are the key takeaways from Job that Paul summarizes at the end of Rom 11?

“For

* who (Job 15:8) has known the mind of the Lord, or

* who (Job 36:22-23) has been his counselor?” “Or

* who (Job 35:7; 41:11) has given a gift to God that he might be repaid?”

For from him, through him, and to him are all things (even the hard things). To him be glory forever. Amen. - Rom 11:34‭-‬36

The following are the passages from Job that Paul appears to be pointing back to by asking these 3 questions at the end of Romans 11 regarding God:

* "Have you listened in (on) the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?" - Job 15:8 i.e. is your wisdom true and the only wisdom there is? Who might have greater wisdom than you, only a mere creature? How about the all-wise, all-powerful, everywhere present Creator!?

* "Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?"  - Job 36:22‭-‬23. God alone rightly determines what is good and evil because He alone created all things, knows all things, and sustains all things, including your very breath and existence. 

* "If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? " - Job 35:7.‭ "Who has first given to me (God), that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." - Job 41:11 ESV i.e. you can't give to me what I already have and rightfully own.

The answer to each rhetorical "who" Paul asks is no one except God, i.e., God is God and knows what is best, i.e., only He is all-wise. By definition, this is foundational to what it means to be God. He also doesn't owe Job - or you and I - anything, including an explanation of why He does what he does the way he does it (hence God never directly answers Job's most pressing questions). 

Through Job, God is telling us (and Paul is reminding Israel via Job) that only He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly just (righteous) in all He does. It was Job's, Israel's, and our own arrogance that demanded God tell him (us) more. 

To ask God why we suffer is completely legitimate. He invites us to pour out our cares to Him. But to demand an explanation is not. He does not hear our demands any more than he heard Job's or Israel's (give us a sign i.e. proof you are the Messiah) at the time of Christ. God tells us what we need to hear, not what we demand to hear - or think we should. Mere creatures can certainly ask God questions, but can not legitimately demand anything from the Creator. 

This is not the answer we want or ³like. It grates on us and exposes our deep-seated distrust of God and arrogant trust in our own understanding - wisdom - logic. It exposes how our primary objective is relief, not truth. 

For us to acknowledge the full extent of our distrust requires humility... not only for Job but for us as well. Job is simply a primary example and illustration of this fundamental problem we ⁴all have - a deep-seated,  ongoing, and arrogant distrust of the only true, infinite, and all-wise God. 

We think we know better than the all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving God regarding what is best for us. When we consider all it takes and means to be God, it exposes how absurd this notion is and how arrogant and rebellious we truly are.

This is a central issue - and truth - addressed not only in Job but throughout scripture. Job happens to be the most dramatic recorded example of this. 

We see this distrust at the very outset of humanity's existence with the first lie we bought into in Eden. The lie that we can be our own god - i.e. all-wise and no longer in need of the one true God. That we can determine what is right and wrong without God's input or direction. Exposing this arrogant distrust and calling us to turn from it is the key takeaway from the book of Job.

What about our suffering? How should we handle it?

Not only is it true that Job and all he suffered isn't just about Job. The lessons he learned aren't only for his benefit, but for all of ours. In Job, we observe our own struggles and doubts in suffering and the overall issue we all wrestle with...distrust.

What else can we learn from Job's example? 

As Job is an example to us of how to trust God in suffering, we are reminded that we too can be an example of humility and trust in God for others who observe us in our suffering, the same way we observed Job in his.

By observing how God addressed Job and how Job ultimately responded, we are given an example of humility and trust that we too, can be for others in the face of our own suffering. This may also be a primary reason any of us suffer i.e. for others to see how we trust God in spite of it. 

Those closest to us may tell us to curse God and die, as Job's wife did. But our trust in God says to others that God is life itself and more important than relief from suffering. 

Our trust and submission to God in our suffering says to them He is also worthy of their trust. It is a call to those who observe our trust in God during our greatest pain that they also can trust Him in their own suffering.

Do we whine and complain in our suffering or do we submit to God, thereby displaying to others God is worthy of our trust and therefore also worthy of theirs?   

God doesn't candy coat or hide Jobs' anguish and struggle but lays it out for everyone willing to see. In the end, after all of Job's complaining and questioning of God's fairness and justice, he shows how Job, to his credit, ultimately 

humbled himself before God and put his full trust in Him again. 

Job's trust in God made a major leap forward through his suffering, and because it was recorded, we were allowed to observe it and all Job went through to get there. 

Usually, we only see how our immediate, temporary, and personal suffering affects us (as I suspect Job did also), not how our faithful handling of suffering can be an example and potentially have a positive eternal effect on others. In our suffering, we have an opportunity to show how, ultimately, the best, wisest, and most perfect perspective belongs to God, not us. Therefore, He is worthy of our trust and worthy of yours also.

Through our suffering, we too can be an example for others (as Job is for us) on why they should also trust God. 

Our acting accordingly in our suffering can be a key example of trust for others to consider in the same way we do Jobs' example. Our suffering is an opportunity to show others that God is life Himself and trustworthy. Our trust is an encouragement and invitation for them to trust Him also. 

And Job illustrates this even more than any human (outside of Christ). Was this not also what Christ did? Is Job actually a picture of Christ in a most significant way?

Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate example of faithfulness in the face of the greatest suffering. 

Christ trusted the Father perfectly (even though he wrestled with the prospect of impending pain while in Gethsemane - "if possible take this cup from me" - and also on the cross - "why have you forsaken me"). And he did so as an example for us of perfect trust in the face of ultimate suffering far greater than anything Job, you, or I will ever go through. He did this to restore us to God, not just as an example of faith.

Christ is the ultimate ⁴example of trust in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering. In so doing, He invites us to trust His Father as He did, demonstrating the Father's trustworthiness.

Two potential effects Christ's suffering has on us.

*Humility - as we too come to trust God, as exemplified by Job and ultimately by Christ.

Or

*Anger, fear, anxiety - because Christ's example of complete trust rebukes us and exposes our distrust when we face our own suffering. When slapped in the face, Christ turned the other cheek, prayed for his enemies, and even asked the Father to forgive them for killing him in the most painful way. Christ trusted the Father when and where we do not. 

To realize all this can either be upsetting or humbling. It all comes down to what we believe and who we trust to best "have our backs," God or ourselves.

In addition to all this, Christ offers to legally assign His trust of the Father to us and gives us credit for it as if it was our own. If we accept His offer we are fully received and embraced by God and can now be treated by the Father as if we are perfectly trusting when we are still deeply distrusting.

For a discussion on why God allows evil and suffering to continue, click here.

For a discussion on how our suffering can aid us in seeing God's love better click here.
_______________

¹At least our immediate pain. Christ took on the painful consequences of our rebellious distrust so that we ultimately will be delivered from it for all eternity. 

⁴Starting with Adam.

¹That's not to say Job didn't benefit from his suffering, but he was (and we are) never given a direct answer or explanation for why God allowed him to go through all he did (this article is an attempt to explain why). God exposes Job's distrust and how Job turned from it and back to God in the end. This is why addressing distrust appears to be the main point of the book. 

² Isn't the primary purpose of Job to illustrate the importance of faith when faced with the most difficult questions of life and possibly this very specific and difficult question of national Israel's falling away from their messiah? This would certainly explain why God never directly answers Jobs' questions. From the conclusion of the book, we get a clear indication God had other reasons for including it as part of His divinely inspired writ.

³No more than Israel liked hearing that Christ came to deliver them spiritually and not circumstantially i.e. physically or politically.

⁴and because of His trust in the face of the greatest suffering of any man, we are invited to come to him without hesitation when faced with our own suffering. 

⁵and why Job went through all he did i.e. the loss of everything of greatest earthly importance except his wife. And ironically the one person that we hope would be a support in our time of greatest need was just the opposite. She encouraged him to abandon God.

⁶The irony is that Christ did deliver Israel but from spiritual oppression, not circumstantial oppression. Because Israel was looking for the wrong kind of deliverance, they missed the most important kind of deliverance - i.e. the spiritual and eternal kind. A need they never recognized or acknowledged.   

⁷The primary point Paul was making in Romans 9 through 11 was God had not failed but in fact did bring deliverance not only to them but all nations through Israel by Christ their Messiah. Paul was explaining how the promised deliverance was spiritual. Which ultimately would result in His physical reign and deliverance for all who place their trust in Him - but not until eternity. Paul cites Job at the end of these three chapters to drive this home. 

The bottom line? God knows exactly what He's doing and always has. For us individually, for Israel, and for the world as a whole. His ways are higher (greater and wiser) than ours! He calls us through Job to trust Him in the same way Job finally did!