Why?

If you are anything like me, you have already asked God many times this simple one word question … Why?

Things intrude into our lives many times that we don't want anywhere near us; and when they do we have been known to ask God out of frustration … Why? Why me Lord? Why did this thing or that thing happen? Why after all the prayer Lord; why didn't we see a change? Why didn't you answer?

I want to address these questions that I've had myself. I'm going to start with something fundamental and basic; it's the foundation that I have built my faith on, and that is … the Truth of the Word of God … as I understand it.

If there is one statement about God that you can stand on, it is this …

Numbers 23:19 … "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

God alone determines what is truth and what is a lie. If it comes out of the mouth of God … it is truth … as He has declared it. If He said it, He will do it; if He has spoken it, He will make it good.

God never forgets His spoken word or that He has made a promise. He foresees all events, He is able to perform and keep all He has said about these events, and He is true to His word … He knows no other way to be. Therefore whatever is spoken by Him will never be altered, but will most certainly be fulfilled.

Look at these scriptures …

Jeremiah 1:12 … "I will hasten (watch over) my word to perform it."

1st Samuel 3:19 … "And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground."

What this is alluding to is that Samuel's words as a prophet were fulfilled; they didn't fall to the ground … such as an arrow falls to the ground before it reaches the intended mark, or a spear that falls to the ground short of its target. If God watched over Samuel's words to bring them to pass; is it unreasonable to believe that God will make sure His own words never fall to the ground short of their intended mark.

Isaiah 55:11 … "My word that goeth forth out of My mouth shall not return unto Me void, (without producing any effect, useless) but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

I started with this basic thought; if God said it, He will do it. You can trust … the nature of God … to never change. His nature will not allow Him to lie even if He wanted to. God's word is truth because God is truth. He is consistently the same. What He was yesterday, He is today, and will be tomorrow.

So how does all this tie in with our question … why didn't God answer?

I contend that God did answer in every case, simply because God has promised to answer when we call upon Him.

It sounds as if God gave one of those promises in Psalm 91:15 … "He (that's us) shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him."

This is the same God that watches over His word so it won't fall to the ground.

In the past, after praying for things I felt the Lord wanted me to pray about … like healing for example … when nothing happened or when the person died instead of being healed; I asked the Lord why, but I never liked the answer He gave me.

The answer was … "I want you to learn to trust Me." If I were to ask the Lord the same question again; because I know more about Him now, His nature, who He is; today He would just simply answer … "Trust Me."

That's what He always told me. So, I don't ask why anymore. I know what He will say. Trust Me. But I did ask Him this question a couple of times … "Why pray? It doesn't seem to do any good."

Do you know what He told me? "Pray because I ask you to. Don't worry about the answer; I will do what needs to be done. I want you to be obedient."

My daughter was asking God one day how she was supposed to pray about a certain problem and the Lord spoke these words to her … "Do not concern yourself with how to pray over this thing. It is not for you to tell Me what needs to be done. I already know. Just come to Me with a pleading spirit and need of My hand, and I will move. Do not burden yourself with the how."

God knows the problem and He already knows how to fix it. You can trust Him to do the right thing … even if it isn't always what we ask for.

You need to understand there is nothing you can do that will make Him do what you want Him to do. He is not obligated to us for anything. We receive everything through His grace, including His mercy. It's not even about our faithfulness to Him; we don't earn His faithfulness. He can't help being anything other than what He is … faithful.

We never know what God is going to do next; but we always know … what He is going to be like. He's always going to be the same faithful, loving, kind and merciful God who loves us. Who knows … the next time you pray for something … He just might give you exactly what you are praying for.

Be obedient … pray, trust God and go on. I know from experience … this is all we can really do anyway. The answer is up to Him.


Comments welcome.

Jesus Let Him Die

I'm speaking of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha that He loved so much. This family who lived about two miles from Jerusalem in the small town of Bethany received the Lord into their lives as if He was their own.

It would seem that Martha was the head of the house and it was she that received Jesus under her roof. (Luke 10:38-42) There are some who think perhaps she was a widow, and her brother Lazarus and younger sister Mary lived with her. If this was so, having the care and responsibility of the household, would also explain why she was so diligent about her domestic affairs.

But Lazarus falls sick. As a beloved friend, all of the Lord's human affections would naturally be concerned for him. Martha and Mary also know this and they send Him word in Jerusalem that their brother was sick … please come.

But Jesus stays where He is and doesn't come. Jesus let's him die.

The complete story can be found in John 11:1-46.

Mary and Martha know the sick can be healed … but they also know there is no remedy for death. All is over for Lazarus if he dies. Nothing remains after death but the judgment of God. They also know that someday there will be a resurrection from the dead. But these two things would be of no value to them right now in the presence of the death of their brother.

They know Jesus can heal, that's why they sent for Him; but the Lord does not heal this time; He doesn't come or even send His Word. He allows the natural evil of death to go on to the end. Death is the end of natural life, but resurrection is the end of death.

Death came before Jesus.

In the presence of death, many times faith is done away with. Sorry, but it's true … it's a fact of life. I don't know where faith goes, it just goes. The faith and hope of neither Mary nor Martha went any farther than … Jesus might have healed … had He been there.

Jesus comes … Martha goes to Jesus and says, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Martha then calls Mary who comes and falls down at His feet weeping, her heart melted under the sense of death in the presence of the One who had … life. Mary's weeping is an expression of need and sorrow. Her heart pours out its need at the feet of Jesus, where she had listened many times before.

Mary had sat at Christ's feet before to hear His word, and here we find her there once again needing more this time than just His words. She fell at His feet as one submitting to His will in what was done, and in what was now to be done.

Jesus knowing full well what He was going to do enters into her sorrow when He sees her weeping. He groans in His spirit and was troubled by this death … and also weeps with her.

Christ came to bring life to dead men. This was what He came for.

Martha believed, but she busied her heart with many things. She loved Jesus; she received Him into her house and the Lord loved her. But it was Mary who had listened to Him and fed upon those words of life from Him while Martha served. The good part, the words which she had received from Him would not be taken from her.

The four days of corruption in the grave was no hindrance to God. At the command of Jesus, Lazarus is raised. Death is no more … when Jesus arrives.

But He let him die … Jesus put His loved ones, perhaps the closest friends He had on earth through the pain and sorrow and loss that comes with death … and for what?

He gives two reasons why He delayed so long in going to him.

1.) "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there." If He had been there in time, He would have healed him and prevented his death; but His disciples would have seen nothing more than what they had seen before, consequently their faith would not have grown.

2.) "To the intent that you may believe." Now that He raised Lazarus from the dead, there were many that came to believe on Him who before did not.

In the natural, death has no remedy. Could there be a 3rd reason not mentioned in scripture? Was it to show that the one thing that looks so final … death … at least as far as this life is concerned is not really final?

Because we read in scripture of no one having ever died while Jesus was present, some suppose that death itself had no power around the one who had … life.

That sounds about right to me. "In Him was life … and the life was the light of men."


Comments welcome.

Coram Deo

In the 16th century a Latin phrase came out of the reformation that Martin Luther often used in his teaching. It was that the essence of the Christian life was to live … "Coram Deo." What it literally means is … "Before the face of God."

What Luther was saying is simply … "Live your life as if you are in the presence of God" … which in truth you are.

Many times Christians without realizing it behave and live their lives, not for God, but for those around us who are watching how we live. So ask yourself this question, when you are alone and in secret, do you live … differently … than when you are in public where most of us subconsciously seek the approval and acceptance of others?

What Martin Luther was saying is that we should not have two different lifestyles; one where we are alone and in secret, hidden where we behave differently than when we are being seen by others. But rather, we should live our lives openly in the presence of God, before the face of God, practicing a consciousness of God moment by moment.

Nicholas Herman was an old French Carmelite monk in the seventeenth century who called this type of lifestyle … "The Practice of the Presence of God."

According to his own words, to maintain a consciousness of God he said … "When wandering thoughts would invade my mind and take possession of the place of God; I proceeded straightway to expel them and return to my commune with God."

He went on to say … "We cannot always disregard the outward things that are around us. That is impossible."

Truthfully, none of us can live each moment of each day as if we are literally in a constant sense of God. Every action of our lives is not always done for His honor and glory. To put this into practice is not a simple thing to do.

We make promises to God with the intension of keeping them but usually we fall back into our old patterns where we live truthfully, in the absence of God, sometimes even in defiance of God.

So what does it mean to please God, living each moment in "Coram Deo" … before the face of God?

One way is not only to live our life in the presence of God, before the face of God, but also under the authority of God and to the honor and glory of God. That's what it's all about.

It is not simply to make a commitment to Him, but it will also be necessary to press on through those times when we fail to make any headway in our spiritual growth. Some of us give up as soon as we hit a roadblock, some obstacle that gets in our way of spiritual growth. Many times we fail and decide we have come as far as we will ever be able to go. Your mental attitude will determine how you respond to each situation. We must never give up; we must never quit. Press on through.

You may say … "I'm not called to do this or that; it's beyond my abilities." That may be true, but all of us are called to please God. (1st Thessalonians 4:1)

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 6:33 … "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Later in Matthew 11:12, Jesus says … "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

The violent may mean those who oppose God's kingdom, like the Roman army in His day, who used violence and force against it.

R.C. Sproul, one of my favorite teachers, looks at this phrase, "the violent take it by force" from another direction and believes what Jesus meant was … "Those who mean business about pleasing God, those who press in and press on through to the Kingdom of God cannot be nonchalant, casual, unconcerned, showing no effort in their pursuit of that kingdom. But rather they are like men of violence who storm the enemy in battle … until they break through."

Let me try and give an illustration of violent pursuit this way. My lovely wife is always misplacing something, many times by just carrying an item from room to room. Somehow it just disappears from her hand and she knows not where. The reason this happens … something distracted her from the goal she had in mind for that item.

Now the pursuit.

Every room, every closet, every cabinet and drawer is opened up and searched in her pursuit of the lost or misplaced item she is looking for. Her pursuit is scriptural because Jesus said that when you lose something of value, like a silver coin, you sweep the house until it is found. It may not always be a violent pursuit, but it always requires effort.

What pleases God is someone who signs up for the duration, someone who is not a quitter, someone who does not give up too easily; someone who is seeking first the Kingdom of God each day of his life. Seeking the Kingdom of God is not something non-believers do; but it should be the "first" business believers take care of.

It is a lifelong pursuit.

Can we live in the presence of God? Can we live … "Coram Deo" … before the face of God?

To answer yes to these two questions, R.C. Sproul says … "You may have to do violence to the enemy and storm through some obstacles" … like doubt and unbelief, including your own will as you press on through in the pursuit of your part in the Kingdom of God.

Violence and effort may be needed, but if you listen real close, you will hear the Lord whisper to your heart … "Don't worry, I'm with you."



Comments welcome.

Never Before

History shows the moral character of the people of Israel to be so sinful and evil, that one would have expected God to throw away or to cast off a people that had in effect, cast Him off and rejected Him. But, as evidence to the contrary, Israel was never so blessed with such a Godly prophet as when it was so plagued with such an evil king. Never before was a king so bold to sin as Ahab. Never before was a prophet so bold to reprove and threaten as Elijah.

There is no part of Old Testament history that shines brighter than the history of Elijah. Of all the prophets, only he had the same honor to be translated as the first prophet Enoch was; as well as the honor of standing with the great prophet Moses at the transfiguration of Jesus. Whereas other prophets, prophesied and wrote; he prophesied and acted … but wrote nothing.

The history of Elijah begins somewhat abruptly. Usually, when a prophet comes on the scene, we are told something about him; but Elijah (so to speak) just appears, as if like Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:3) he were without father, without mother, and without descent, which made some of the Jews believe that he was an angel sent from heaven.

But James 5:17-18 assures us that … "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."

To set the stage … (1st Kings 16:29-33)

In the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah, Ahab began to reign over Israel. He took Jezebel as his wife and went and worshiped Baal. He built an altar and a house for Baal, in Samaria. Ahab did evil in the sight of the LORD and did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

Because of the sinful reign of Ahab, Elijah prophesied of a famine from the lack of rain which would turn the normally fruitful Israel into a dry barren land. He went and told Ahab this but did not speak of it to the people. Ahab as king had the power to reform the land, and so to prevent the judgment, but he did not.

We can learn from this lesson in history just how important it is for a nation or a people to have a righteous leader over them who fears God and follows the Word of the Lord.

Are you listening America?

From what we read from James and the following scripture in 1st Kings, it looks as if the words of judgment came from Elijah himself since it is not recorded that God told Elijah what to say to King Ahab. But then again, the widow woman who fed Elijah during the coming famine does say to him later that … "the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth." So what do I know?

Did God leave the fate of Israel up to Elijah when he (Elijah) says … "there shall not be dew nor rain these years, according to my word."

What he was saying was this … "Expect none till you hear from me again."

The way James tells it, Elijah first … "prayed earnestly that it might not rain" (and then later) "he prayed again for rain" … leading me to believe that Elijah had to "faith in" both through prayer. God didn't just do it Himself, but as He still does today, chose to partner with man to fulfill His will on earth.

The following is an edited account of what proceeded to happen.

1st Kings 17:1-24 … And Elijah said unto Ahab … "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but (only) according to my word."

Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah and directed him to hide by the brook Cherith, which he did. For an unknown period of time, God fed Elijah by ravens bringing him flesh to eat until the brook dried up from the lack of rain, at which time the Lord directed him to move again to Zarephath, where a widow woman living there would sustain and keep him.

But as it turned out, when he arrived there and met the woman, she only had enough grain meal and oil for one last bit of food before both, her and her son died of starvation themselves.

But Elijah said to her … "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth."

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and both she and her son and Elijah did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke by Elijah.

Sometime later, the woman's son fell sick and died. Even after the miracle of the meal and oil that never ran out, she accuses Elijah, the man of God … that he came to call her sin to remembrance, and to slay her son.

Elijah takes her son, lays him on his own bed and prays three times while trying to humbly reason with God concerning the death of this child. He cries … "O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow by slaying her son? I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again."

Like Job, he sees this death as commissioned from God. Job 2:10 … "What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

This same thought is also affirmed in Amos 3:6 … "Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"

So I also ask … "Is there anything on this earth that God does not control … if He so chooses?"

Elijah earnestly begs God to restore the child to life again. Never before … do we read of anyone that was raised from the dead. But even so, from what we read in the Word, without being urged to do so by the Lord, Elijah on his own prays for the resurrection of this widow's child.

Even King David, a man after God's own heart did not expect God to do this; not even through fasting and prayer which he had done. David, speaking of his own dead son states in 2nd Samuel 12:23 … "But now he is dead … can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

The LORD heard the voice of Elijah and did as he asked; the soul of the child came back bringing life to him again. Elijah then took the child and gave him back to his mother and said to her … "See, thy son liveth."

And the woman said to Elijah … "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth."

It is just as important for us today that … the Word of the LORD … is in our mouth as it was in Elijah's. May we be as bold as he was.

Never Before … a recorded resurrection from the dead.


Comments welcome.