God does love you but sometimes, if not most of the time, that does not make sense.
That God loves us seems to be thrown around loosely today by folks who want to believe that God accepts them despite their sin. That actually is not what it means when the Bible says that God loves you. He does indeed love you enough to die for you. He loves you so much that He wants you to have a full life in the sense of one that is in service to Him. The Bible is very clear that unless our lives our focused on Him with a willing desire to serve Him then our lives will fall short of what He had designed them to be.
This was a hard concept for me to understand. Yeah, I heard growing up that God loved me and that He created me in such a way that I am unique and special. I heard that He had special designs for my life. Even when those verses were read to me I found them hard to accept growing up and I always felt something was wrong, something was missing. I felt this because I saw a disconnect between what the Bible was saying about me and what was really happening.
I was fearfully and wonderfully made? God has thoughts for me of peace? These verses appeared to directly contradict what I was seeing around me as I ventured through life.
As a child, at a young age, I definitely knew right from wrong. I tended to choose the wrong whenever the opportunity was there. I blamed my dad and mom for this. I, like many rebellious children throughout the ages, would yell at them, “I did ask to be born”. I am not saying this lightly as I really did this and with much conviction. I was not happy at a young age with what I was supposedly allotted with in life by God. I do not recall ever being mad directly towards Him but I certainly was upset and discontent in the way I was created, there was no doubt about that.
I was born into a home of confusion. On one end was my mother who insisted we go to church every Sunday and read the Bible every night. I grew up understanding almost entirely what God’s word said about all things regarding life, the past, the present and the future. Although I fell short in grasping the concept of what it meant to truly be born again. The confusion in my childhood home may have lent to that.
As my mom was dealing the religious card my dad was lost in a world of violent alcoholism. This was the source of my confusion. I knew what God’s Word said but if He had these wonderful plans for me then why was I being subjected to such chaos? Why did I have to be thrown across the room by an angry dad who broke my hand as he grasped it tightly in his while doing so? The Bible talks about being in God’s hand and that He designed the family to be a picture of His work through us. What I was literally experiencing was nothing close to what was supposed to be. I was confused and angry.
As the result of my angry confusion I chose to take chances on my life. If the dare was crazy enough I did it. Everything from sliding on roofs of ice onto driveways to jumping ramps with my bmx bike. These ramps were ones that no one should be jumping if they truly valued life. The result was 21 plus broken bones and a lot of pain and suffering.
Pain and suffering seemed to be my curse in life. Even if I was not taking chances and actually following orders I found myself somehow getting injured. I was a combat medic in the Navy and through routine training and conditioning I ended up with three knee surgeries resulting in both my knees having to be reconstructed.
This trail of pain and suffering continued after the Navy as my left Achilles ruptured as well as one of bicep muscles on another occasion. To this day I never know what the next episode will be. A more recent example happened the other day when my hip popped for no apparent reason and I am in pain from this even to this day. There is a bulge now sticking out about one to two inches that the doctors are calling bursitis. What they do not know is why this would happen so suddenly. What is clear to me is that it really does hurt.
Every day I wake up I live with significant physical pain. My path of self pity ended some years ago when I came to the realization of what the Bible says in regards to all of this. I had it all wrong. I missed some very vital facts. These are Biblical truths that most people as well do not understand or refuse to consider in proper context.
1. God did create us through miraculous conditions.
2. God has thoughts for us towards peace and an expected end.
3. God has ordered our steps in life.
4. We live in a fallen world due to man’s decision to rebel against God (sin). This fallen world is filled with pain, suffering and death (see Job’s life or your own to confirm this...).
5. We were created to serve, worship and please God, not ourselves. When we choose the later then we will have chaos, pain and suffering that probably will not be understood.
6. There are consequences to sin such as pain and suffering, the final consequence being death.
7. Towers will fall and people will die (See Luke 13:3 and 5) but unless we repent we all will perish for eternity. This eternal death is the result of not fully surrendering to God which includes fully turning from our sins. Repentance does not resolve the requirement of consequences for our sins in the physical world but it does provide for us eternal life if done through Jesus Christ. At least the current sufferings and pain will make sense...
8. Unless we have a true reverence and awe of God such as did Job then none of the pain and suffering in this life will ever make sense.
9. As stated above, unless we fully submit our lives to God through complete and utter repentance we will perish for eternity. This means that without a life submitted and focused on God then we can only expect to get what we deserve and that is eternal punishment separated from our Creator.
This life will never be acceptable to you unless you turn completely to God. If you do not have a genuine desire to seek Him, if you are not in complete and utter awe of Him then you will never be satisfied and you will not finish strong. You will die in your sins, even if these sins are but a selfish dissatisfaction with yourself such as I once had. Realistically this is the very sin that caused Lucifer as well as Adam to fall. This is a desire to have more for ourselves apart from God.
Turn and submit to God and discover what God really meant when He said you were fearfully and wonderfully made and that He has a purpose for your life.
God does His greatest work through us who are weak.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! Psalm 139:14-17
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11
And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:2-5
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better Philippians 1:21-23
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. Job:25-27
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
...we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:7-10
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
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