Image Source: Humanevents.com Disaster always seeks answers - “bad things-good people” answers - especially when children are involved as in the destruction of the Moore, OK elementary schools. Trying to explain who and why is always hard, but hurting people want answers and sincere questions deserve them, or at least the attempt to answer the questioner.
The meaning of the word “answer” is literally “a solution to a problem,” and only the Bible has all the answers; all the solutions to every problem, all the wisdom, knowledge, understanding and most important, comfort relative to such things as natural disasters and the death, destruction and heartbreak they cause. Why do I trust the Bible? It is the Old Testament (Jesus concealed) and the New Testament (Jesus revealed) and within its Holy Spirit inspired (God “breathed) pages lives an understanding of God; how He thinks and acts. But how do we go about “rightly dividing” that Word in the light of events like an F5 tornado leveling a city, destroying lives, leaving years of rebuilding and recovery and sorrow in its wake? How do we answer those who sincerely want answers?
“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job,” says the Bible. The first chapter of Job characterizes who Job was: blameless and upright, one who shunned evil and feared God. It then tells us what Job had: seven sons and three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, a “very large” household. The Bible says Job was the “greatest man in the East.” This guy was well off! He definitely meets the definition of a good man and a rich man. There was a meeting in heaven and the angels showed up, including Satan who abides on earth according to his own testimony in Job I.
Next God bragged on Job, “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil?’ Job 1:8.
Satan had a “whatever” kind of response, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” Job 1: 9b-11.
God accepted Satan’s challenge and lifted that hedge, a little at a time, three times, but excluded Job’s body. Two separate raiders killed Job’s livestock and “fire from God” fell from heaven and destroyed the remainder. While receiving the bad news, a “strong wind” (we might call a tornado) hit the house where his children were having dinner. The house collapsed, killing all ten of them in an instant, much like Oklahoma City, suddenly and without warning.
Most scholars believe the Book of Job predates the Old Testament, so Job had no way of knowing it was Satan he was battling, but God did allow the test. Some might even say God initiated the test since He mentioned Job first. “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Note in Satan’s reply, he, Satan, knew all about the hedges and they were impossible to get through!)
Satan knew exactly who and where Job was! Satan had been after Job long before this exchange with God! We are either drawn closer to God or pushed away from God in the tests He ALLOWS. God’s love is never withheld nor does it change, even when we face disasters of F5 proportions. God is a good God and loves us with an everlasting love.
As we continue to read in Job, there is yet another meeting with the angels and Satan is again present. “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job….and still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.’
Satan answered, ‘Skin for skin! …lift Your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” Job 2:3-5.
Satan gives Job sore boils, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, and while the poor man is sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his skin with a piece of broken pottery, along comes the one person in this world who is supposed to stand with him no matter what, his wife, and she encouraged Job to “Curse God and die.”
What better next than three “friends” to explain all his shortcomings and why he has lost everything? None of them had a clue about God or Satan but they kept on talking! Job had sinned! He had offended God!
Job needed to repent! He was a fool! He was suffering because of his own wickedness and unrighteousness! The list goes on and on as Job hangs in there praying for and forgiving his friends while building an even better relationship with God.
Eventually, God restores everything to Job in double portions. God even restores Job’s family with seven more sons and three more daughters whom the Bible says were the “fairest in the land.” Notice, however, God’s restoration does not come to Job until after their conversation and Job reveals his peanut brain in comparison to God’s counsel. Job 38:1.
At no time does God explain why Job suffered. There are things involved in human suffering that are far above our ability to understand. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8.
We are so self-centered we assume we are the only ones involved in God’s plans. Most of the time when we don’t understand, yet question God’s omniscience, we need to do what Job did, “repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42: 6b
There is only one answer and the answer is a WHO. Job could not answer the “why” of God’s actions. “Where were you,” God asks Job, “when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) because humans can’t answer that. The answer is Jesus. There are competing kingdoms here on earth. One is good and the other is evil. Jesus came to give us life and life more abundant with unconditional love and grace. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy; he delivers death to our physical life, our relationships, and our belongings. Satan will try to convince us, in the face of tragedies like the destruction of Moore, OK, that God does not care for us, that Jesus is a myth and did not come into the world for our salvation.
Notice God cared enough to personally come to Job and answer Job’s “Why, God?” questions. Jesus comes to us for the same reason, to be our Answer and comforter (Holy Spirit) in the midst of “Why, God?” times. We need to change our attitude from what we have “lost” to what we have “returned.”
If all good gifts come from the Father, then should He ask us to surrender them back to Him it is always for something better, even if Satan is doing the destroying. Everything in this world is either mortal or breakable, so prepare yourself ahead of time that the person or the object could be gone in an instant and is merely being returned to the creator, who gave it to us in the first place. This also includes our lives.
“No man is a fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose,” said one martyred missionary. Lost loved ones will be reunited with families one day in heaven, if both are resting in Jesus’ salvation. For houses and belongings, believers can claim Exodus 22:7 and Satan will have to restore double, just as Job’s family and fortune was repaid.
If you don’t know the promises in the Word then you can’t take advantage of the benefits. Draw close to Jesus, spend time in the Word, so that no test can separate you from the One who did “lay the foundations of the earth,” the Creator.
The meaning of the word “answer” is literally “a solution to a problem,” and only the Bible has all the answers; all the solutions to every problem, all the wisdom, knowledge, understanding and most important, comfort relative to such things as natural disasters and the death, destruction and heartbreak they cause. Why do I trust the Bible? It is the Old Testament (Jesus concealed) and the New Testament (Jesus revealed) and within its Holy Spirit inspired (God “breathed) pages lives an understanding of God; how He thinks and acts. But how do we go about “rightly dividing” that Word in the light of events like an F5 tornado leveling a city, destroying lives, leaving years of rebuilding and recovery and sorrow in its wake? How do we answer those who sincerely want answers?
“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job,” says the Bible. The first chapter of Job characterizes who Job was: blameless and upright, one who shunned evil and feared God. It then tells us what Job had: seven sons and three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, a “very large” household. The Bible says Job was the “greatest man in the East.” This guy was well off! He definitely meets the definition of a good man and a rich man. There was a meeting in heaven and the angels showed up, including Satan who abides on earth according to his own testimony in Job I.
Next God bragged on Job, “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil?’ Job 1:8.
Satan had a “whatever” kind of response, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” Job 1: 9b-11.
God accepted Satan’s challenge and lifted that hedge, a little at a time, three times, but excluded Job’s body. Two separate raiders killed Job’s livestock and “fire from God” fell from heaven and destroyed the remainder. While receiving the bad news, a “strong wind” (we might call a tornado) hit the house where his children were having dinner. The house collapsed, killing all ten of them in an instant, much like Oklahoma City, suddenly and without warning.
Most scholars believe the Book of Job predates the Old Testament, so Job had no way of knowing it was Satan he was battling, but God did allow the test. Some might even say God initiated the test since He mentioned Job first. “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Note in Satan’s reply, he, Satan, knew all about the hedges and they were impossible to get through!)
Satan knew exactly who and where Job was! Satan had been after Job long before this exchange with God! We are either drawn closer to God or pushed away from God in the tests He ALLOWS. God’s love is never withheld nor does it change, even when we face disasters of F5 proportions. God is a good God and loves us with an everlasting love.
As we continue to read in Job, there is yet another meeting with the angels and Satan is again present. “Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job….and still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.’
Satan answered, ‘Skin for skin! …lift Your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face.” Job 2:3-5.
Satan gives Job sore boils, from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head, and while the poor man is sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his skin with a piece of broken pottery, along comes the one person in this world who is supposed to stand with him no matter what, his wife, and she encouraged Job to “Curse God and die.”
What better next than three “friends” to explain all his shortcomings and why he has lost everything? None of them had a clue about God or Satan but they kept on talking! Job had sinned! He had offended God!
Job needed to repent! He was a fool! He was suffering because of his own wickedness and unrighteousness! The list goes on and on as Job hangs in there praying for and forgiving his friends while building an even better relationship with God.
Eventually, God restores everything to Job in double portions. God even restores Job’s family with seven more sons and three more daughters whom the Bible says were the “fairest in the land.” Notice, however, God’s restoration does not come to Job until after their conversation and Job reveals his peanut brain in comparison to God’s counsel. Job 38:1.
At no time does God explain why Job suffered. There are things involved in human suffering that are far above our ability to understand. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8.
We are so self-centered we assume we are the only ones involved in God’s plans. Most of the time when we don’t understand, yet question God’s omniscience, we need to do what Job did, “repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42: 6b
There is only one answer and the answer is a WHO. Job could not answer the “why” of God’s actions. “Where were you,” God asks Job, “when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) because humans can’t answer that. The answer is Jesus. There are competing kingdoms here on earth. One is good and the other is evil. Jesus came to give us life and life more abundant with unconditional love and grace. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy; he delivers death to our physical life, our relationships, and our belongings. Satan will try to convince us, in the face of tragedies like the destruction of Moore, OK, that God does not care for us, that Jesus is a myth and did not come into the world for our salvation.
Notice God cared enough to personally come to Job and answer Job’s “Why, God?” questions. Jesus comes to us for the same reason, to be our Answer and comforter (Holy Spirit) in the midst of “Why, God?” times. We need to change our attitude from what we have “lost” to what we have “returned.”
If all good gifts come from the Father, then should He ask us to surrender them back to Him it is always for something better, even if Satan is doing the destroying. Everything in this world is either mortal or breakable, so prepare yourself ahead of time that the person or the object could be gone in an instant and is merely being returned to the creator, who gave it to us in the first place. This also includes our lives.
“No man is a fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose,” said one martyred missionary. Lost loved ones will be reunited with families one day in heaven, if both are resting in Jesus’ salvation. For houses and belongings, believers can claim Exodus 22:7 and Satan will have to restore double, just as Job’s family and fortune was repaid.
If you don’t know the promises in the Word then you can’t take advantage of the benefits. Draw close to Jesus, spend time in the Word, so that no test can separate you from the One who did “lay the foundations of the earth,” the Creator.
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