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Thursday, July 25, 2019

Your Dying Spouse 650 - If You Love Me, God, Then Why..? {FMF}

Gordon Lightfoot said it best, and most poignantly, in The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald:

Does any man know
where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Indeed.

If we're the children of a loving God, then how in blazes can He allow shipwrecks and cancers and genocide and the trafficking of children?

Does He really care?

Is He even there?

It's tempting to say that the question's unanswerable, and that you've just got to have faith in a purpose you can't see, but that's a cheap way out.

So here goes, with my version...

For our place in Creation to be meaningful, God had to include free will; the choice of Adam and Eve, and the choice we all face every day, for good or evil, for faith or apostasy.

Without free will, we're puppets. Not children of God.

But with free will, we can go seriously off the rails, hurting ourselves...and hurting others.

And that free will carries over into nature, beause through it, death by things like cancer entered the world.

I suspect God strongly wants to rescue us from this, but if He does, He negates His own purpose in creating us...back to being a puppeteer. 

He has, in a sense, tied His own hands...and the only thing He can do is be there for us. The trials that come from free will can be awful, but He is still bigger than they are, and He offers that 'bigness' to us.

We may not survive, but we will not perish, if we but take His hand.

You say, God, that you love me,
and I'm the apple of Your eye.
Then why did you craft this destiny
for which I have to die?
Don't get me wrong, I know the score;
death cometh from the Fall,
but what did I do to earn much more
pain, before your homeward call?
It seems You are the mighty hammer
and I, the humble nail
who cannot but reply in stammer
from this cancer's durance vile.
Came God's reply, so loud and kind,

"Like my Son who died, you are Mine."

Now, I'll bet that at this point you're expecting to see the The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald as the musical theme...

...but this has been a heavy post, so let's have some fun with The Ramones, and I Don't Wanna Grow Up. (It's the closing credits song from Shazam!, a really wonderful movie that portrays Christian faith as normal.)


Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.


Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.










14 comments:

  1. Your words speak volumes. Thank you for writing each one.
    We talked about this in Bible study tonight, the aspect of our free will and God's endurance with us. He is still there. He is with us.
    Num 6:24 ¶ The LORD bless you, and keep you;
    Num 6:25 ¶ The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
    Num 6:26 ¶ The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.'

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    1. Vicki, thank you so very, very much for this, from the bottom of my heart.

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  2. If not for free will, we wouldn't know the absolute grace and love He has for us when we finally let Him into our hearts. Our choice... to ask Him to please save us from ourselves. I can hardly wait to say thank you to Him in person!

    But the "why???" for everything that happens... the bad decisions, the cancers, the loss of a child before the parent... He says He will make that all clear to us when we get there. In the meantime, we wonder... and trust Him.

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    1. Diana, you nailed it...we need Him to save us from...well, US.

      I suspect that the 'whys' that most tear at our heart will be far more glorious and compassionate when He explains them than we can ever imagine here.

      And while He does not owe an explanation, I imagine that it will be His pleasure, to let us see, perched at last on His shoulders.

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  3. This is exactly how I've always felt. It isn't the cruelty of an unloving God, it is a consequence. If our life events were only ripple affects of our choices, than our salvation would also have to be based on our actions.
    Good words, Andrew!

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    1. Misty, I'm so glad this resonated with you, and so grateful for your presence here.

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  4. Great thoughts here! I agree, we need to have free will if we are really to love God. It is comforting to know he is with us even when that has awful consequences, but also to know how the story ends and that we can know a future free from pain and suffering through Him.

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    1. Lesley, yes...knowing that the end is bright, and with Him, is the ultimate comfort.

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  5. Great post riddled with truth all through it.

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  6. I just came across your blog. I won't go into detail but to say I am a nurse and have taken care of thousands of people who suffer greatly .. I have been a Christian for 2 decades and my husband has terminal cancer. I am not a book reader but at a low point a friend sent me a book and I was compelled to read it. Let me just say it spoke to the questions of why not act. Why not diminish suffering. It's called trusting God by Jerry bridges. I hope if your able and feel compelled to read it that He speaks to your soul and provides you with a deeper more intimate connection as you walk this indescribable journey

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    1. Thank you so much for the book suggestion...I will definitely read 'Trusting God'. I'm grateful for your comment, and for your presence here.

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  7. Yes, it is excellent! I read it years ago and am actually re-reading it now. Published 1988 by Navpress. The full title is "Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts". It's kind of neat to see what I underlined or highlighted on the first reading.

    Andrew, still praying for grace in your pain & suffering. Even if you're not up to reading a book, it would be very helpful for Barb at some point. Love & prayers for you both,

    Kathryn in SC

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    1. Kathryn, it's definitely on both of our to-do lists (readings a bit tough now for me, but I'll manage).

      We thank you so much for your prayers!

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