That It Might Go Well With You

I had a very telling and candid conversation with a lady in the park yesterday which exposed a common theological position that is held both in the Church in general and in the public. She was talking to me about when she lost her daughter to DCFS custody. Her comment implied that God took her daughter away from her, but in the midst of the conversation she explained that she had a drug problem at that time. I stopped her and told her God didn't take your daughter away, drugs took your daughter away.

I explained to her that God told us in the Bible how He wants us to live because if we live that way it will go well with us, we will prosper, have long life, etc. That is the consistent theme of Deuteronomy. He tells us that all of the commands that He commands are for our good (Deut. 10:13). God's intention is not to separate famlies, but giving ourselves to any area of disobedience opens the door for destruction. Her concept was if we do drugs it makes God really mad and then He takes our kids away. The continual exhortation in scripture is that God wants us to honor and fear Him by observing His instructions for life so that these judgments that are a result of disobedience are not released upon us. Otherwise stated, "There are consequences for sin."

Similar to what the Ante-Nicene Fathers wrote, the implication of the scripture is that when we live outside of God's will (Statutes, regulations, commands) we open ourselves up to the control of other forces and they are not in this thing for our good! The command to honor our parents carried with it the blessing of long life and that things would go well with us. It seems there should be forming honor your parents clubs, so that kids can have good lives. It just bothers me to see people walking around believing that every bad thing that happens in their lives is God looking to inflict harm on them. Rather than, God has given us a way to live so that in this world it may go well for us.

Here is the revelation of God in the scriptures. The glory falls in Solomon's temple and everyone starts saying He is good. Moses asks to see His glory and God says I will make all My goodness pass before you. Peter summarizes Jesus' life by saying you know of Jesus of Nazareth Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him. God is offering a rescue from ourselves, our sin, and the god of this world, who keeps us in darkness.

On another note, President Obama's speech in Cairo has elicited a variety of responses. My main concern is his policy toward Israel and although he reaffirmed our commitment to Israel the rest of his words seemed to betray that position. The statement about no new settlements in Israel is the equivalent of saying, we (in the U.S.) can no longer build in the suburbs of New York because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is committed to destroying the U.S. needs to set up a community there. Things are being set in place to issue in the return of the Lord. When there is such talk of peace, such as let's all live together in Jerusalem Jews, Muslims and Christians, it will seem like we are against peace to say, you know, God gave that land to the Jews for them to inhabit. It's really up to them to decide who lives there and under what conditions. Pray in accord with Zechariah 12 when it declares that the eyes of the Jews will be opened and they will look upon "Me" (the Lord Himself) whom they have pierced. May they see their Messiah soon. Revelation of Yeshua to Israel will bring life to the world, an incredible revival to the Church. (See Romans 11:12, 15)