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| (Sometimes when it rains it pours) |
which to me is a welcome break from the normal televangelists or pastors I catch on the tube (nothing against them inherently, they are just not my cup of tea). But Stanley I can listen to no matter what he's talking on and I always learn something.
This week he was talking about suffering, or in general anything from illness to the terrible things that come into our lives creating havoc. The use of Scripture, his exposition, and everything he said was spot on. Pastor Stanley was encouraging and was giving great insights for those who are suffering. He focused on the only thing we can change amidst trying circumstances, which is our attitude and how we handle ourselves - do we get upset, treat others poorly, complain, give in, or do we maintain our character, perhaps even build character.
It was a great sermon. The theme being when something terrible is in your life, take heart, because when this is the case you know for sure "God is up to something good."
I completely agree with what Stanley said, and I love his theme because, as I am sure he does, I believe God is always up to something good in our lives. My one gripe on this subject, and in fairness I did miss some of the sermon, is that as Christians we often imply from our belief system and theology that God in fact is responsible for the evil in our lives.
This always gives me pause. It makes me think of the verses in Mark 3 when Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of the prince of demons. As Jesus responds he makes a statement about blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which in my experience has always intrigued and confused readers. If we interpret this to mean that when we see God working, such as Jesus exorcising demons, and yet say instead that it is evil, we are committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - an unforgivable sin (perhaps the only unforgivable sin as I have found in the Bible). It seems God (Jesus and the Holy Spirit) does not like being accused of doing evil.
Why does so much of our theology, especially when we really delve deep into it and play it all the way out, insist upon making God the author of evil? Why does God have to be in control of everything? And what does this say about the nature of God in this world where evil is so abundant?
As one of my favorite professors taught me, let us use the story of Joseph being sold into slavery (as a better option than killing him) by his own brothers found in Genesis 37. Having two brothers of my own, I can only think of how terrible this story truly is, especially when I stop to imagine two of us plotting to kill and then instead selling our other brother into slavery. What a disparaging story!?
But, do not fret, for any good pastor will tell us loudly, "This is not the end of the story." Or if we were in Joseph's place we could recall to mind Stanley's comment for comfort even while being sold into slavery, "God is up to something good." When we see in the end that God saves the entire people of Israel from an intense famine through Joseph, and the high position he has attained in the Egyptian government, we can then perceive correctly God was in control all along. What a relief because for a minute there I thought perhaps God was snoozing while Joseph's brothers were up to no good. But instead of being asleep somewhere, just not caring, or perhaps some other explanation, worse yet most of the time our theology goes beyond this and actually implicates God as a moving force behind what the brothers did! When we see what happens in the end we can clearly see it was not evil, but part of God's plan. Come on, that's just ridiculous.
It's always been difficult trying to balance everything that I know and believe about God with all of the suffering and evil that exists in this world. I've read books devoted to the subject, sat through seminary courses entirely focused on this one topic, and have of course heard a wide ranging set of opinions on the matter from ordained ministers and well informed friends. And some of these conversations get quite hot because of course we are all saying something quite significant at times about our own, or adopted, interpretation of Scripture, or even God.
I'll admit I floundered through this conversation looking for something I felt actually worked for quite some time. It was not until I met Dr. John Claypool and listened to his take on theodicy, that I finally heard a theology that when taken all the way to its end does not make God the author of evil (feel free to delve in yourself for a fuller explanation of this thoughts in his book God The Ingenious Alchemist: Transforming Tragedy into Blessing).
Instead of blaspheming God and placing God in control of Joseph's brothers so that later God could save an entire nation, God instead is the One who works through a willing and faithful servant in the most dire of circumstances. Instead of saying that Joseph was sold into slavery as part of God being up to something good, I had finally found a way to say that when we are up to no good God is always there and waiting, if we will let God, to come in and transform sin or evil into something good.
I do not know what theology you ascribe to or how you think about God in relation to evil, but in the most heartfelt way I can say, please do all you can to ensure so that you never tell anyone that God is the reason for evil or the effects of sin in their life. Yes God teaches us and is always moving us to become more like Christ, which can be difficult, but this is not the same as the powers of evil and sin at work in our lives.
God is good. God is love. I will do my best to never see evil at work and call it God. Likewise I will do my best to never see God's amazing work and call it evil.
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