A Force More Powerful Than Death
A FORCE MORE POWERFUL THAN DEATH
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 36 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39
Somewhere today the world has seen great tragedy.
Some terrible thing has come into lives and touched them in a way that will change them forever.
Four members of my wife's extended family has recently gone through such an event. In an instant something so tragic happened it's effect will continue for years.
Just after taking off, their small plane it crashed. One of their children died. The second one was unbelievably burned. The father who was piloting the plane has had to have major reconstructive surgery to his face. He too was horribly burned. The mother had third degree burns to over half her body and as a result has had both her legs amputated. A young woman who was a passenger in the plane also was injured terribly.
In a moment the life of a child was over and those who survived will suffer every day for the rest of their lives.
In the days following such events we ask hard questions«..
Many said prayers for the little one who died and for the ones who live on with unimaginable memories. Families and friends of the victims also know so much pain. I am sure they and everyone who has heard of it ask "Why?´
Today I feel such a desire to comfort all their hearts and to try and touch others who walk through tragedy with the grace that has helped me in those same times.
I desire to answer a few important questions.
I desire to help us know how to respond.
I desire to help us to find God's heart for all who suffer.
WHY?
If God is all powerful and loving how can people go through things like this?
The question has led many to not believe in God at all.
We know from the Bible that God is all powerful.
And especially from the life of Jesus that He is loving.
But we also know another very important truth that we often miss.
He gave human beings the chance to choose for or against Him in a real way that affects even the innocent.
Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
Genesis 2:16-17
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.' " 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. 8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" 10 He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Genesis 3:1-12
The result of that first rejection of God was all human pain and suffering. We all suffer as a result our forebear's choice to not follow God's plan. Not just those who themselves reject Him suffer. Everyone whose life they touch or grows out of them, though completely innocent suffer as well.
One look at the life of Jesus tells us it is so. His pain and suffering was completely as a result of the wrong doing of others.
Another example is in cases of violence victims often suffer even more than the one hurting them.
To try and understand this it is extremely important to remember that God gave human beings authority over all the works of His hands.
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Genesis 1:26
What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? 5Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! 6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
Psalm 8:4-6
God gave the rule over the earth to human beings.
He cannot lie.
. . . in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
Titus 1:2
. . . so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
Hebrews 6:18
With these two understandings of God and people we can begin to answer to the why of pain and suffering.
They are a direct consequence of living in a world no longer under God's will which resulted in the loss of His power and protection.
All pain and suffering is a result of sin. Sin is rejecting God's plan for our lives.
Evil exists because God desired and continues to desire for human beings to freely choose and love Him.
Evil is the act and the fruit of rejecting God in the human heart.
Pain and suffering for even innocent people are the consequences of doing so.
The second aspect of the question is answered that God does not cause these kinds of things to happen.
He cannot stop them except through the ones he gave the authority of the world to.
Us.
God did not decide last month that a child would die and four others would suffer so extremely in a plane crash.
God did everything possible to stop it. and still be faithful to His Word.
The event came as a result of the chaos that fills our world since humans first stepped outside of God's plan for them.
It might have been a true accident not the direct result of anyone's wrongdoing.
The crash did not have God as its place of origin.
Had Adam and Eve followed God no tragedy would have ever happened.
Pain and suffering's real source began before humans were ever created in the heart of Satan.
"You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you.
Ezekiel 28:14
And that evil moved from Satan into the hearts of humans beings.
Every tragedy since the dawn of time began as a result of satan's pride and the choices people have made to follow him.
All pain and suffering was born from a heart that choose its own wisdom above God's.
What is God's answer in the face of tragedy?
The only answer I have found is surrendering it to Jesus.
In the face of the most terrible things life can bring he will comfort us.
In some cases he does miracles to remove the pain.
It has been my observation in most cases he helps us bear it.
In all cases he wants us to give our pain to Him by helping others who have walked down a similar road.
If we let our hearts be filled with God's love for us we can face the worst.
This is the message of Jesus.
This is the hope that we celebrate as we consider his death on the cross.
He was so filled with faith in God his Father that he choose to follow His plan through unimaginable pain on the cross.
He was so filled with hope of a life beyond the grave that he choose to suffer death for everyone that has ever lived.
He was so filled with the love of God that he forgave those who were killing him.
We may not find all the answers to why tragedies happen in our lives.
But we are sure of one thing.
Knowing that Jesus cares about our situation will help us walk through them.
The greatest hope and comfort is that no tragedy is the end of the story.
Pain and suffering will not have the last word.
Death can only harm temporarily.
Because Jesus overcame death the consequences of tragic events will not go on forever.
A power greater than pain and suffering belongs to Jesus.
A power greater than death belongs to Jesus.
Love has a mighty advocate that will be victorious in the end.
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:51-54
In Memory of Myles Cavner
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