God's Will . . . or is it?
In thumbing through my Sunday School lesson book, I ran across something that caught my attention. First, let me say that our lessons of late have been spot on with the times in which we live. Coincidence? I think not. God does not deal in coincidences. Nor, is everything that happens "God's will".
We are often times guilty of using the expression "God's will" to explain away tragedies or crises. Such a flippant expression reduces God's will to fate. "It overlooks God's gift to humans of a free will as well as the consequences of human choices," according to the author. He continues, "Because God gave humans the responsibility to choose their actions, we can say that all consequences of bad choices are God's will only in the sense that He permitted them. That is not the same, however, as saying God desired the bad choices or caused them."
The Bible tells us that God wants the best for us. His will is for us to recognize Him as Lord and to follow His guidance in our everyday living.
In my opinion, this is very evident in the situation we have today. In" bids to keep up with (or have bigger and better than) the Joneses", some took a bite from the apple dangled by the banks and those that forced them to make bad loans. They knew in their hearts that they would never have qualified for those loans under "real" circumstances, yet the temptation was so great, they chose to take the loans anyway. Now, because of the those bad choices, there are consequences to be paid, i.e. foreclosure. It's a sad situation but one that never should have had to have happened. And those consequences have snowballed and taken many innocents with them.
I've said it before, perhaps too often, but I have to say it again. God gave us the administration we deserved. His will? I think so. We've been given opportunity after opportunity to turn around; to become a nation of principles and values once again. We've snubbed our noses and moved further and further in the opposite direction. We're a nation of much weakness and sickness of our own doing. Corruption is acceptable. Immorality is okay as long as it's okay with the one committing it and as long as the rest of us look the other way.
I've heard it asked many times "Why doesn't God stop the child abuse? The murders? The hurt and suffering?" At the time the questions were asked I didn't have a good answer and still may not. But it occured to me that He will, one day soon. Much sooner than we expect, too. God will put an end to all the evil, all the bad choices. But until that day comes, Satan is alive and well and walks around in sheep's clothing, and we still have a free will to make choices. Some will make bad choices; catastrophic choices. Until we give our will over to God we will be faced with choices and those of others and perhaps face the consequences of all.
The current state of our republic may be our last chance to take a good close look at our condition. It may be a last chance to look at what is really important in our lives. It might be a blessing in disguise. We have an opportunity to step out and help our families and neighbors instead of having them depend on the government, the way it used to be done. We have the opportunity to be families again, to wrap our lives around each other's; to be responsible for and to each other. Will we take advantage of the chance to get things right? I worry that we won't. We've become too comfortable in ourselves, by ourselves, for ourselves.
It's easy to sit back and point fingers and blame this person or that, but I believe we're all responsible for the state of the nation. Through our choices, in the election or in our spending habits or just our "I don't care" attitude, we're responsible. That's not to say I won't continue to hammer on this administration, because I feel they're out of control, but I also accept my responsibility for my apathy.
Most everyone who knows me knows I am not a bail-out fan. A helping hand is great. But sometimes we have to fail to succeed, know what I'm sayin'? When we fail, most times it means we tried. We pick ourselves back up and go about it another way; a better way. We know the path to failure. Let's try another path. It may be a bit rougher, but if the end of the path is what we're striving for, a little discomfort and downsizing would be worth it, wouldn't it?
We are created equal. We are not guaranteed equal outcome.
K
We are often times guilty of using the expression "God's will" to explain away tragedies or crises. Such a flippant expression reduces God's will to fate. "It overlooks God's gift to humans of a free will as well as the consequences of human choices," according to the author. He continues, "Because God gave humans the responsibility to choose their actions, we can say that all consequences of bad choices are God's will only in the sense that He permitted them. That is not the same, however, as saying God desired the bad choices or caused them."
The Bible tells us that God wants the best for us. His will is for us to recognize Him as Lord and to follow His guidance in our everyday living.
In my opinion, this is very evident in the situation we have today. In" bids to keep up with (or have bigger and better than) the Joneses", some took a bite from the apple dangled by the banks and those that forced them to make bad loans. They knew in their hearts that they would never have qualified for those loans under "real" circumstances, yet the temptation was so great, they chose to take the loans anyway. Now, because of the those bad choices, there are consequences to be paid, i.e. foreclosure. It's a sad situation but one that never should have had to have happened. And those consequences have snowballed and taken many innocents with them.
I've said it before, perhaps too often, but I have to say it again. God gave us the administration we deserved. His will? I think so. We've been given opportunity after opportunity to turn around; to become a nation of principles and values once again. We've snubbed our noses and moved further and further in the opposite direction. We're a nation of much weakness and sickness of our own doing. Corruption is acceptable. Immorality is okay as long as it's okay with the one committing it and as long as the rest of us look the other way.
I've heard it asked many times "Why doesn't God stop the child abuse? The murders? The hurt and suffering?" At the time the questions were asked I didn't have a good answer and still may not. But it occured to me that He will, one day soon. Much sooner than we expect, too. God will put an end to all the evil, all the bad choices. But until that day comes, Satan is alive and well and walks around in sheep's clothing, and we still have a free will to make choices. Some will make bad choices; catastrophic choices. Until we give our will over to God we will be faced with choices and those of others and perhaps face the consequences of all.
The current state of our republic may be our last chance to take a good close look at our condition. It may be a last chance to look at what is really important in our lives. It might be a blessing in disguise. We have an opportunity to step out and help our families and neighbors instead of having them depend on the government, the way it used to be done. We have the opportunity to be families again, to wrap our lives around each other's; to be responsible for and to each other. Will we take advantage of the chance to get things right? I worry that we won't. We've become too comfortable in ourselves, by ourselves, for ourselves.
It's easy to sit back and point fingers and blame this person or that, but I believe we're all responsible for the state of the nation. Through our choices, in the election or in our spending habits or just our "I don't care" attitude, we're responsible. That's not to say I won't continue to hammer on this administration, because I feel they're out of control, but I also accept my responsibility for my apathy.
Most everyone who knows me knows I am not a bail-out fan. A helping hand is great. But sometimes we have to fail to succeed, know what I'm sayin'? When we fail, most times it means we tried. We pick ourselves back up and go about it another way; a better way. We know the path to failure. Let's try another path. It may be a bit rougher, but if the end of the path is what we're striving for, a little discomfort and downsizing would be worth it, wouldn't it?
We are created equal. We are not guaranteed equal outcome.
K
Doubtful that it's God's will or that we got the administration we deserve. God may know all and see all, but it seems unlikely that he "wills" us to get what we deserve, deserving of it though we may be. It seems more likely to me that He simply knows the outcome of our rash decisions. I've never been a fan of Destiny or God's will; were I a believer of either, I'd be on welfare.
ReplyDeleteThat said, something that is completely out of our control, a tragic event like the death of a loved one, attribution to God's will can be soothing. One must be careful, however, that blaming God doesn't follow. One must also take care that what you are attributing to God's will is completely out of your control and I do mean completely. Having a vote, no matter how insignificant it may seem, means you have control no matter how frustratingly insignificant that may be.
Keep up the fight,
David
"Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western Civilization as it commits suicide." Jerry Pournelle