Why Calamities?

January 19, 2013

“I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)

When we have economic downturns and other challenges if we are spiritually oriented people we cannot help but ask ourselves the question: “Where is God in all this?” Most people have no doubts about God being the Source of prosperity and good times.  But when hard times happen few of us consider the hard reality that God could be the Source of our challenging circumstances.

God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that He is the Source of our calamities — sometimes.  A man who was considered in his day to be the wisest man who ever lived wrote: “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

There are many Scriptures that tell us God does His most effective mentoring when we are challenged by hard times.  My favorite is in Chapter Fifteen of the Gospel of John where Jesus tells us He is a Vine and we are His branches.  When we are fruitful branches because we are aligned with Him, His Father, Who is the divine Vine Dresser, cuts us back, or prunes us, that we might bring forth better quality and quantity of fruit.

Therefore, what often seems like a setback is the cutback of a loving heavenly Father who is pruning us so we will be more fruitful.  Jesus told the apostles in the Upper Room that He wanted them to be more fruitful so their joy would be full (John 15:11). More fruit, ultimately more joy. That can be why God is the Source of our calamities—sometimes.

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Posted by Dick Woodward

Preparing Us for Heaven

May 29, 2012

“When your body suffers, sin loses its power.”  (1 Peter 4:1 LB)

As you and I grow closer to God, one of two things happens: God burns out of us everything contrary to the essence of His spiritual and holy nature, or our resistance to this process puts our relationship with God in a spiritual “deep freeze.”

Years ago I visited a man who had just experienced a five-artery bypass operation after suffering a massive heart attack.  Involved in much sexual immorality before he became a follower of Christ, he had sought my counsel frequently regarding his continuous battle with a sexually impure thought-life.  When I arrived at his room in the hospital, he extended his hand to me from his oxygen tent and said, “I haven’t had a sexual thought since I entered this hospital!”

What he said reminded me of that part of the verse quoted above by the Apostle Peter, which tells us that sin can sometimes lose its power when we are suffering.  If people were transparent, many would acknowledge the reality that their loving heavenly Father has kept them from much sin by permitting many shades and grades of suffering and limitations.  According to the book of Hebrews (12: 29), and the first letter of the Apostle Peter, God sometimes uses suffering to diminish sin and increase the share of His holy nature with His children.

If a large block of ice and a blowtorch came together slowly one of two things happens: the blowtorch can melt the ice or the ice can extinguish the blowtorch.  God knows His business is to prepare us for heaven.  He is a consuming fire that sometimes uses suffering to do that business.

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Posted by Dick Woodward