‘VICTIM’ OF DIVINE PURPOSE ************************* “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, KJV). In a classical example of the correlation between the righteous and the kind of suffering we sometimes go through, Jesus took His disciples through a bit of schooling in spiritual matters with a scenario that happened along the way. It was about a man who was blind from birth; they wanted to know whether his own sins or the sins of his parents might have been the cause for his condition. 3 Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. (John 9:3, NKJV) I am aware of various attempts by various preachers, who find it quite difficult to strike a balance between trials and temptations as part of the Christian walk and our ability to come out victorious, to twist the meaning of this scenario and speak as though it meant something else. I am very much passionate about a balanced preaching of the realities of the Gospel. In fact the bible warns that ‘…a false balance is an abomination to the Lord.’ (Proverbs 11:1). There are always two extreme positions to the message of the Gospel; those who preach that it means all must be rosy without any hiccups with the believer and those who also say Christianity is a simple life of poverty, lack and just enough to cater for oneself and family alone. I consider both as terrible and blatant falsehood. I am using the word ‘victim’ as part of my title in this discourse advisedly to portray a certain truth about how God makes use of all circumstances , though unbeknownst to us to accomplish His will for our lives. Jesus gives the disciples a very practical answer to disabuse their minds of their traditional belief, as Jews that suffering could be due to one’s sins from his previous life or his parents’ sins. They believed so because they believed in reincarnation, which is an Anti-Christian belief. The bible describes the man’s malady as a disease from birth. The difficulty with this scenario is that people find it difficult to accept Jesus’ words as true because they see the God we serve as so loving that He wouldn’t allow any such mishap to happen to one of His own before He shows up to deliver them for His own glory. One thing we sometimes fail to understand is that the suffering of a child of God is in no way meant to cause his downfall but to prove the might of God in us. The Apostle Paul clearly illustrates this point in his epistle to the Corinthians when he talks about the perishing of the outward man and its effect on strengthening the inward man. In fact he goes further to assure us that our present sufferings cannot be compared to the glory that awaits us in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). I do not seek by this medium to claim that suffering is godly or the ultimate, but to re-echo to the child of God that once in this cosmos or world system which is dominated by evil; we will have to overcome the marauding forces and wiles of the enemy to receive our crown of glory. The writer of the book of Hebrews does not mince words at all but admonishes us to run with endurance the Christian race that is set before us by putting aside every sin and every weight that may easily ensnare us (Hebrews 12:1-2). He reminds us of our responsibility to finish the race by shaking off all the obstacles. The journey does not promise us a perfectly smooth passage. With the blind beggar still as our major illustration for this journey, we realize that he had only become a ‘victim’ of divine purpose. It may sound quite difficult for some but the reality is that God has used several people in scripture to accomplish His agenda without malice or evil intent but for them to manifest His glory. We can see how God used Samson to seek an occasion with the Philistines without the knowledge of even his parents (Judges 14:4), the use of Pharaoh to prove a point (Romans 9:17), Joseph’s relocation to Egypt to fulfill the prophecy to Abraham about the formation of the nation of Israel in slavery (Genesis 12:2; 15:13,14), Judas Iscariot (John 17:12). It is rather unfortunate, that some of these people could not see the divine hand in their situations and died without seeing the glory that was to be revealed in them. In fact one theologian jokingly said that Judas Iscariot couldn’t seek for forgiveness and committed suicide because he wasn’t around for the particular lecture in which Jesus taught about forgiveness and restoration. The opening scripture makes it quite lucid that ALL THINGS (the good, the bad, the ugly) WORK TOGETHER (coordinate perfectly) FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD (the benefit of the mature in Christ) TO THEM WHO ARE THE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE (the chosen ones, the elect according to God’s own agenda and callings). The bible is replete with various examples of trials, including that of Job, whose faith and integrity was being argued about by God and Satan without his knowledge. The Apostle Paul had his share of trials. Jesus suffered the worst form of humiliation on the cross. The beauty of Gold is only seen when it is purified by fire. The Lord’s intent for our trials is not to punish us, but to make His glory revealed in us. He has said that the path of the righteous man is ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23) and in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us (Romans 8:37). Our trials and temporary sufferings are not signs of lack of faith on our part as some teach. I cannot agree more with one writer who puts it quite beautifully this way: “We may not be able to read the meaning of our tears on this side of heaven, but once with Him, who never causes any child of His one unnecessary tear, we shall understand His wise and good reasons for permitted trials. Then we shall Bless the hand that guided And the heart that planned. Shalom!!!-------------------Allen Bennah speaks
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 08:27:29 +0000