THE GRAND ILLUSION, SEDUCTION, AND REALITY

The Grand Illusion today is that those who thumb their nose at God, ignore his injunctions, and go after what they want, any way they want it, are the real winners in life.  Often they are the beautiful, gifted people who enjoy life’s privileged pleasures – all with seemingly painless ease.  And I, this struggling pilgrim of Christ, sweat it out making house payments, staying out of sin, raising my kids biblically, and living a life of integrity before God in my business affairs.  In a word, I try to color inside the lines. And often, I do it with little appreciation, recognition, or reward.  Asap, the Psalmist observes these seemingly free spirits, who appear to soar above us mortals:

·         “They seem to live such a painless life; their bodies are so healthy and strong.

·         They aren't troubled like other people or plagued with problems like everyone else.

·         They wear pride like a jeweled necklace, and their clothing is woven of cruelty.

·         These fat cats have everything their hearts could ever wish for!

·         They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.

·         They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth…Look at these arrogant people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.”  (Psa. 73:4-9,12 NLT)

 The Grand Seduction:  I have to admit that there are times when I am a bit envious of them!  Asap continues:

·         “Does God realize what is going on…Is the Most High even aware of what is happening?

·         Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure and kept myself from doing wrong? All I get is trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.

• But as for me, I came so close to the edge of the cliff!  My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
• Then I realized how bitter I had become, how pained I had been by all I had seen. I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.”  (Psa. 73:2,3, 21,22 NLT
  

The Grand Reality:  Asap concludes by putting it all in perspective:

• They are under God’s judgment: “So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is! Then one day I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I thought about the destiny of the wicked. Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, swept away by terrors. Their present life is only a dream that is gone when they awake. When you arise, O Lord, you will make them vanish from this life…But those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.”   (Psa. 73:16-20,27 NLT

• God will lovingly guide me through my earthly sojourn: “Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand. You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever…But as for me, how good it is to be near God!  I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.”  (Psa. 73:23-26, 28 NLT)

PRAYER:  “Lord, amidst the crushing seductions and pressures of the world that would sweep me away into the mainstream of self-indulgence, grant me the grace to maintain your eternal perspective in order to remain true to you and the God-given convictions you have impressed upon my heart.  Whatever the cost.  Amen. “

My prayer is that you are having a great week!

R. Dwight Hill

Why does God allow pain?

By Rick Warren

Pastor, I bet if there’s one question you get more than any others, particularly when you’re ministering to people in times of crisis, it’s “Why does God allow pain?” I can’t count the times I’ve been asked that question. So when you’re asked that question, here are four answers you can give people.

1. God has given us free will.
   
   In Genesis we learn that we were made in the image of God. But how so? God gave us choice. We can choose to do what’s good or what’s evil, to accept God or reject him. Why did God give us that choice? He didn’t want a bunch of puppets. He didn’t have to do that. He could have forced us to worship, serve, and love him. But he wanted us to love him voluntarily. You can’t say you love somebody unless you have the opportunity to not love him.
   
   Free will isn’t only a blessing. Sometimes it’s a burden. Sometimes we make dumb choices. Those choices have all kinds of painful consequences in our lives. I can choose to experiment with drugs. If I get addicted, that’s my fault. I can choose to be sexually promiscuous. If I get a disease, that’s my fault. God doesn’t want us to have this kind of pain, but he allows us to face the consequences of our choices.
   
   Not only do we have free will, but everyone else does as well. Sometimes we get hurt because of other people’s bad choices. We’ve all been hurt by someone else at some point in life. You’ve probably asked yourself, “Why didn’t God prevent it?” He could have. He just would have needed to take away that person’s free will. But here’s the dilemma. He would have needed to take away yours as well!
   
   
2. God uses pain to get our attention.
   
   Pain is a warning light. It tells us something is wrong. Pain isn’t your problem. It’s a symptom. It’s God’s megaphone. As you’ve heard before, God whispers to us in our pleasure, but he shouts to us in our pain. Proverbs 20:30 says, “Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways.”
   
   A number of years ago I had a pair of shoes that I loved. They were made out of deerskin and were real soft and smooth. They were great! But after awhile, I got holes in the soles. Yet they still looked good on top. So I wore them anyway. I just had to be sure that when I sat on stage, I kept my feet on the ground. I wasn’t motivated to buy new shoes until there were seven days of rain in a row, and I had to put up with soggy shoes several days in a row. My wet feet motivated me to changed! Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:9, “I am glad not because it hurts you, but because the pain turns you to God.” Sometimes it takes pain to get us to do what God wants us to do.
   
   Remember the story of Jonah? Jonah was going one way and God said, “I want you to go the other way.” So he provided a typical Mediterranean cruise for him – a whale! And, at the bottom of the ocean, Jonah said, “When I had lost all hope I once again turned my thoughts to the Lord.” God uses pain to get our attention.
   
   
3. God uses pain to teach us to depend on him.
   
   You don’t know that God is all you need until God’s all you got. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (TLB): “We were crushed and overwhelmed and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves but that was good for then we put everything into the hands of God who could save us and he did help us.”
   
   If you never had a problem, you’d never know God could solve it. God allows pain to teach you to depend on him. The Bible says in Psalm 119:71: “It was the best thing that could have happened to me for it taught me to pay attention to your laws.” The truth is, some things we only learn through pain. Depending on God is one of those things.
   
   
4. God allows pain to give me a ministry to others.
   
   Pain prepares you to serve. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT), “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” Everybody needs recovery of some type. Nobody’s perfect. Who can better help an alcoholic than somebody who has struggled with alcoholism? Who can better help somebody dealing with the pain of abuse than someone who was abused themselves? God wants to use and recycle the pain in our lives to help others, but we’ve got to be open and honest about it.
   
   God did this with Kay and me. The first three years of our marriage were really bad. I understand the guy who says he is miserable and wants out of marriage. I understand because I’ve been there! But through the help of a Christian counselor, Kay and I worked through those problems and now have a great marriage. A few years ago I did a Sunday morning sermon series on marriage where I talked about a different problem we worked through each week. It was a 12-week series, but it could have been 50. God uses your pain to help other people.

Imagine the army of ministers you could train in your congregation if you helped people use their past pain as an opportunity for ministry. God never wastes a hurt!