God Leading

Seeing Whether           G. S. Kohler I open my eyes wide To forecast the whether There are children crying In a desert, sighing Wishing for some water The freshest tsunami Quenching, from the shore Flushing out agony Flushing out hungry Thirst for all of life’s more Why would you allow this? Or do you? Or do I? Cain probed his shallowness, While I fake callowness, As you ask, with ground’s cry I serve without hurting Offer time at my pleasure Follow without leaving Provide without receiving Break my heart. Make me pure.

April 10

In the old movie (1988) “Dominickand Eugene,” Dominick Luciano, as he considers a crucifix, grows angry and heturns on his friend, the priest, and says, “If I was God, I wouldn’t let that happen to my boy.” It is apoignant moment that touches anyone’s search to explain the tragedy and traumaof our world. We want God to show us how it fits into a plan or scheme. We wantto know… why would you allow this?

          The Biblecontains one of the oldest stories on the planet, “Job.” In it a man goesthrough severe suffering and, as it begins, he shares his basic theology, “TheLord gives and the Lord takes away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Whatwe don’t put together is that by the end of the book, when Job comes into God’spresence to share his complaint, he realizes he was wrong about God. Afundamental lesson from Job’s encounter is that God doesn’t control things, butthat God is in charge. That’s very different. God uses whatever destruction that happens to shape the future hedesigns.

         We have promoted the sad, original theology of Job, instead of learning his lesson. A famous preacher asked a young woman how she first met God and she shared it was when she was very ill. He commented that this was often the case with God. “He makes us ill so that we have time to think about him.” This suggests a God who is behind the destruction that happens in the world. And we’ve seen famous Christians publicly claiming that God sent disease, hurricanes and earthquakes to damage people so they would turn toward him.  What if God’s not like this?  What if God’s not some over-sized human being, but truly God.  If God knows all, God doesn’t need a plan.

         Where the Pharisees condemned people, knowing that God hated people for not living up to the Pharisees’ standards, Jesus taught that God wasn’t allowing, creating or manufacturing damage in retribution. Jesus shows us that God’s love is repairing the destruction we’ve heaped on ourselves, so we can better understand God. God is like a shepherd, leading into the future out of the trauma and devastation that grows from a sin-separated world.

Read all theseScriptures today. Then read one a day for three times during that day onThursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and on this Tuesday, read all threeagain. And on Sunday, give yourself a break and share a meal with others.

Genesis 4 Psalm 23 John 9 Ephesians 5:8-10