A lot of people have asked me "If God is so great, why do bad things happen?" often with more obceneties, but we'll leave them out for now. its not an easy question, and the answer may not be easy to swallow, especialy for some. so ill get straight to it...with exposition. I was driving back from an amazing week at music camp, enjoying the two hour drive back home, and i was listening to Steven Curtis Chapmans "Beauty Will Rise" album. For those of you who did not know, three years ago Steven Curtis Chapman lost his daughter to a tragic accident at his home. His album, Beauty Will Rise, shows him coming to terms with his loss. Remembering his daughter, asking, begging God why he would take her so soon, struggling with his conclusion, then coming to a sense of peace and acceptance. In his songs he asked God why, why he would take her, why him, why he would let this happen to anyone. I came to an answer. God allowed this to happen to a man with such a passion and love for God because it happens. It happens alot, and God knew he would overcome the tragedy, because God would make Steven Curtis Chapman an example to the world, an example of how to truly love God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind.
That's my answer for mister Chapman, but what about the greater question? Why does God let these tragides happen at all? Why would he let it happen to ANYONE if he truly loves us like he says he does? I'll put it like the Bible puts it. Gold, its beautiful right? Shiny, pretty, it used to be the standard for our very currency in the United States, its worth a lot and has stood for royalty, beauty, love and many great things through history. Has anyone seen gold in its raw form? its not pretty, its quite ugly, its raw, jagged, and hard to extract.
so how to you take this:
and make it this:
well, the Gold is cruched, grinded, airated, cleaned, chemically treated, and melted down at 2912 degrees farenheight. once the gold is pure, it is reformed into something beautiful or valueable. We are not gold, far from it, however the process is still the same. we have to go through trials and tribulations, we must be put through the refiners fire because that is how we become something beautiful. There is another reason though, and it is the same reason i give when people ask why God gave us free will. Ecclesiastes was written by the great king Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, and one of the greatest kings of Israel, he wrote this book to determine the meaning of life, and came to this conclusion at the end of the book:Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says this:
There's no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you're no good for anything else. The last and final word is this:
Fear God.
Do what he tells you.
14 And that's it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it's good or evil. (The Message)
Everything we do should be to praise and worship God. and our praise and worship is meaningless if we have no choice in the matter. God wants to earn our praise and worship, and he has. BY FAR he has. He gave us free will, and he lets tragides befall us so that our worship has meaning, he lets this happen so that we can praise him in our storms, so that he can cast our sin as far away from us as the east is from the west. God loves us so much that he gave us the choice to love him back. but remember that that choice has concequences. and you may not reap the concequences here, but you will. one day. for better or for worse.
so that's it. the meaning of life, God and the universe. everything boiled down to a blog post. glean from it what you will.
i leave you with the conclusion that Steven Curtis Chapman made, for all of you who are in the refiners fire now, remember, Spring is Coming.
Steven Curtis Chapman- Spring Is Coming (Lyrics)‏ - YouTube
That's my answer for mister Chapman, but what about the greater question? Why does God let these tragides happen at all? Why would he let it happen to ANYONE if he truly loves us like he says he does? I'll put it like the Bible puts it. Gold, its beautiful right? Shiny, pretty, it used to be the standard for our very currency in the United States, its worth a lot and has stood for royalty, beauty, love and many great things through history. Has anyone seen gold in its raw form? its not pretty, its quite ugly, its raw, jagged, and hard to extract.
so how to you take this:
and make it this:
well, the Gold is cruched, grinded, airated, cleaned, chemically treated, and melted down at 2912 degrees farenheight. once the gold is pure, it is reformed into something beautiful or valueable. We are not gold, far from it, however the process is still the same. we have to go through trials and tribulations, we must be put through the refiners fire because that is how we become something beautiful. There is another reason though, and it is the same reason i give when people ask why God gave us free will. Ecclesiastes was written by the great king Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, and one of the greatest kings of Israel, he wrote this book to determine the meaning of life, and came to this conclusion at the end of the book:Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says this:
There's no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you're no good for anything else. The last and final word is this:
Fear God.
Do what he tells you.
14 And that's it. Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it's good or evil. (The Message)
Everything we do should be to praise and worship God. and our praise and worship is meaningless if we have no choice in the matter. God wants to earn our praise and worship, and he has. BY FAR he has. He gave us free will, and he lets tragides befall us so that our worship has meaning, he lets this happen so that we can praise him in our storms, so that he can cast our sin as far away from us as the east is from the west. God loves us so much that he gave us the choice to love him back. but remember that that choice has concequences. and you may not reap the concequences here, but you will. one day. for better or for worse.
so that's it. the meaning of life, God and the universe. everything boiled down to a blog post. glean from it what you will.
i leave you with the conclusion that Steven Curtis Chapman made, for all of you who are in the refiners fire now, remember, Spring is Coming.
Steven Curtis Chapman- Spring Is Coming (Lyrics)‏ - YouTube
