For America and the World

By Jeffery S. Colter
GCC/Staff
Dec. 25, 2009

Greetings to all of you, and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  I hope in some way your lives are blessed during this festive time we all partake as Americans.

I want to first thank every one of you for your prayers and encouraging messages concerning the prayer request I sent out almost two weeks ago. 

Because of God’s mercies and faithfulness that request was answered.  The bank notified us a few days ago that they are willing to refinance our home so we can stay.  Again, on behalf of my wife and I, our many thanks.

As you know many have come upon hard financial times; unemployment, the loss of earnings and savings, perhaps even the loss of a home or the threat of losing a home.  Some have even had the recent loss of loved ones. 

After my last weekly FOOD FOR THOUGHT message I received an email from a friend telling me that because of the loss of their spouse due to cancer they did not know if they could believe in God the same way I do. 

This person said they have become more cynical, and believes God does turn a blind eye to suffering and hardship; that God does give us more than we can bear contrary to what Scripture says.

My heart sank.  I had no words.  No advice.  My mind wandered for two days seeking God’s guidance in how to answer my friend’s email.  After much thought and prayer I finally was able to sit down and write to this person. 

 

This is what I wrote back:

 

Dear (anonymous)

First of all, I want to give you my sincere, heartfelt condolences for the loss of your spouse. That is something that no one can understand unless one has gone through it themselves. You will be in my prayers.

From what you say I sense a great deal of hurt and perhaps anger towards God which is legitimate and proper.

I will not offer any platitudes, clichés, or try to preach to you, I promise. But I do want you to consider just a couple points which I want to say as words of encouragement and “food for thought”.

It is easy and natural to be cynical about God and not understand the relationship God has with us when something of this magnitude happens in our lives.

So I hope I am able to explain myself in such a way that will not be offensive or preachy.

There is a difference between God allowing things to happen and causing things to happen. This dichotomy is confusing because if God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, why would He not stop tragedies from happening?

Why would He not intervene when asked to do so? If He knows something is going to happen before it happens why does He stand back and allow it? These questions, my friend, have been asked through the ages by great theological scholars and people like you and I.

The answer simply is, I don’t know. And if anyone does claim to know the answers they are fooling themselves. To know the mind of God is impossible.

We can catch glimpses of it and understand His relationship to man by reading Scripture, but there are always going to be more questions than answers.

Even as a Christian, which I am, I ask these questions often. I ask the questions you ask, “What possible good can come from this?”; “Plan?

What the hell kind of plan is this you promised me, God?”; “Why would You hurt me like this?” Often times there is simply no answer. But this doesn’t mean God doesn’t hear us.

It doesn’t mean God turns a blind eye to man’s suffering. What it means is we live in a fallen world as a fallen race. Because of man’s fall there will always be sorrow, suffering, hardship, pain, and yes, even disease and death.

Life simply sucks at times with no explanation why.

I want you to know this, my friend. It is okay to be angry towards God. He can take it, and He won’t love you any less. I don’t know your religious background, but if you have a Bible read the book of Job.

This is a man who was wealthy and blessed with a family. Yet, God allowed it all to be taken away and Job was not only angry towards God but he cursed God for his loss.

At the end Job was blessed more than he had before. Job asked the same questions I mentioned. The same questions you may be asking now.

It is okay to be a cynic. You can even give up on believing in God. But God will never give up on you. God has never given up on any of us.

That is why we celebrate Christmas. Next to Easter it is the greatest example of God’s love for us and how He wants us to come to Him just as we are, cynic or not.

God bless you, and I hope somehow these were words of encouragement and I hope we can continue to correspond. 

May God give you peace and strength during these difficult times.

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

What is amazing about Christmas to me is that God Himself actually came to us.  God in the flesh as the Son of Man, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Great I Am. 

We all search and desire peace, especially in hard times such as these we face in our nation.  I am here to tell you that there will never be true peace until we understand our relationship with the Almighty and His divine plan for each of our lives.

You see, peace is really an abstract and subjective term.  True peace comes from the Prince of Peace, the baby born in a manger, and that is how God desires us to come to Him, just as He came to us, as a baby. 

When we are open and humble, realizing the magnificent gifts He has given us at birth as described in Scripture and the Declaration of Independence then we can begin the journey to know and understand Him who created us.

First, life; formed in our mother’s womb by God’s very hand, He laid out the days of our lives even before our birth. We are made in God’s image and are His most precious and awesome creation. 

Second, liberty; the gift God has given us as free agents with free will to decide our own destinies. 

As we do not want man or government to force their will upon us, we can choose to live our lives as God intended or go our own way. God does not force His will upon us. 

Third and last, pursuit of happiness; the fact that each of us is unique and have been blessed by God with certain gifts, talents and abilities to be productive and creative for the good of our communities, nation, and most of all, for His Kingdom.

My friends, do not ever think that God does not hear your cry or think you do not matter to Him. 

He hears the cries of all.  That is why on this day that we call Christmas we can celebrate the answer to all of mankind’s cries.

Thank you.  God bless you all this Christmas. 

May God give you and your families that special peace that is eternal and life changing.

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com