A couple months ago, while at Azusa Now, I heard a song called Pieces by Amanda Cook. These lyrics resonate so deeply in my heart with how I identify with God in my life. Read these and examine your heart to see if this is true in your relationship with Him.
Your love's not fractured
It's not a troubled mind
It isn't anxious
It's not the restless kind
Your love's not passive
It's never disengaged
It's always present
It hangs on every word we say
Love keeps its promises
It keep its word
It honors what's sacred
'Cause its vows are good
Your love's not broken
It's not insecure
Your love's not selfish
Your love is pure
You don't give Your heart in pieces
You don't hide Yourself to tease us
Lately, and I think this is a generational thing for some reason, I've seen posts and blogs about life's unfortunate circumstances being God's doing whether it be death, failed relationships, so on and so forth. I grew up being taught that God is a GOOD Father who wants good things for His children. I still believe this wholeheartedly to be true. I have had multiple conversations with friends about situations they were facing and quite a few of them decided that "maybe God caused this to happen" in order to get "this certain result" out of it.
In Psalm 145:9 it states:
The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.
Now, to me, I see all over scripture how GOOD God is to His people. I cannot fathom the God of the old testament to be present in today's culture. Once Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, He took the old law with Him which released us to be unbound to those laws. We are now able to walk in freedom knowing that God isn't going to smite us for lying to our boss, going over the speed limit, or cheating on a non-cheat day.(Even though we probably should stick to the right way to do all of the above anyways.) As a Bible believing Christian, putting myself in the mindset that God would CAUSE a bad thing to happen in my life, I do not think I could come to the conclusion that God was still good. Just applying that mindset to tragedies in my life, I find myself leaning towards being so upset and hurt with God, so much so, that I would turn from Him because there would be no point in following and having a relationship with a God who CAUSED pain and hurt. In talking with friends who have this mindset, they seem to have negative feelings towards God and sometimes, these feelings cause them to fully turn away from Him and give up their faith. This is so heartbreaking to me because I know that that is the exact opposite of what God wants for them through their times of difficulty. This isn't just some hypothetical thing to me, and before you wonder what my view on a tragedy is, let me give you a verse and then explain my view.
A verse we know all to well, Romans 8:28 says:
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
This, to me, is a perfect example of what I was talking about above. Now, just because I believe God doesn't CAUSE bad things to happen, "cause" being the key word, does not mean I don't think bad things happen and that God can bring good out of them. After the fall, sin entered the world and consequently, bad things started to happen. God causing something to happen and Him willing it to happen are two very different things. I strongly believe when people die, businesses fail, finances get messed up, and relationships end, that it was not God that caused it BUT He will surely bring so much good out of it. God knowing all and seeing all, is and will always be fully aware of the tragedies that we will experience here on Earth. He weeps when we weep and rejoices in our times of rejoicing. One day we won't have to worry at all about any tragedy. When we reach out eternal home we will be so entrapped in the glory of God and be free from all of the effects of sin. For now though, we can be sure that He is a GOOD Father. Take heart in that. Now, I'm sure I will have people who disagree with me but i'm going to keep living with the mindset that God wants what's best for His precious daughter and when tragedy strikes, I will put my trust in Him knowing full well that He will bring beauty from ashes.
Your love's not fractured
It's not a troubled mind
It isn't anxious
It's not the restless kind
Your love's not passive
It's never disengaged
It's always present
It hangs on every word we say
Love keeps its promises
It keep its word
It honors what's sacred
'Cause its vows are good
Your love's not broken
It's not insecure
Your love's not selfish
Your love is pure
You don't give Your heart in pieces
You don't hide Yourself to tease us
Lately, and I think this is a generational thing for some reason, I've seen posts and blogs about life's unfortunate circumstances being God's doing whether it be death, failed relationships, so on and so forth. I grew up being taught that God is a GOOD Father who wants good things for His children. I still believe this wholeheartedly to be true. I have had multiple conversations with friends about situations they were facing and quite a few of them decided that "maybe God caused this to happen" in order to get "this certain result" out of it.
In Psalm 145:9 it states:
The LORD is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.
Now, to me, I see all over scripture how GOOD God is to His people. I cannot fathom the God of the old testament to be present in today's culture. Once Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, He took the old law with Him which released us to be unbound to those laws. We are now able to walk in freedom knowing that God isn't going to smite us for lying to our boss, going over the speed limit, or cheating on a non-cheat day.(Even though we probably should stick to the right way to do all of the above anyways.) As a Bible believing Christian, putting myself in the mindset that God would CAUSE a bad thing to happen in my life, I do not think I could come to the conclusion that God was still good. Just applying that mindset to tragedies in my life, I find myself leaning towards being so upset and hurt with God, so much so, that I would turn from Him because there would be no point in following and having a relationship with a God who CAUSED pain and hurt. In talking with friends who have this mindset, they seem to have negative feelings towards God and sometimes, these feelings cause them to fully turn away from Him and give up their faith. This is so heartbreaking to me because I know that that is the exact opposite of what God wants for them through their times of difficulty. This isn't just some hypothetical thing to me, and before you wonder what my view on a tragedy is, let me give you a verse and then explain my view.
A verse we know all to well, Romans 8:28 says:
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
This, to me, is a perfect example of what I was talking about above. Now, just because I believe God doesn't CAUSE bad things to happen, "cause" being the key word, does not mean I don't think bad things happen and that God can bring good out of them. After the fall, sin entered the world and consequently, bad things started to happen. God causing something to happen and Him willing it to happen are two very different things. I strongly believe when people die, businesses fail, finances get messed up, and relationships end, that it was not God that caused it BUT He will surely bring so much good out of it. God knowing all and seeing all, is and will always be fully aware of the tragedies that we will experience here on Earth. He weeps when we weep and rejoices in our times of rejoicing. One day we won't have to worry at all about any tragedy. When we reach out eternal home we will be so entrapped in the glory of God and be free from all of the effects of sin. For now though, we can be sure that He is a GOOD Father. Take heart in that. Now, I'm sure I will have people who disagree with me but i'm going to keep living with the mindset that God wants what's best for His precious daughter and when tragedy strikes, I will put my trust in Him knowing full well that He will bring beauty from ashes.