In a quiet moment, I began to think about God’s image. Who has seen God? The bible describes him as pure light, having no darkness in him. Other verses speak of God as light. I stopped and pondered, looking for a treasure.
Why is it mainly in troubled times that individuals, or even the world at large, consider God to be the author?
Many people believe God is the author of these perilous times, that He’s bringing judgment on people and nations. However, the word of God tells us he poured out all his wrath on Jesus when he died on the cross to pay for the disobedience of mankind. If he poured it all out, then he has none left to give.
John 3: 17 -21 tells us, “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it! So now there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe in him, but the unbeliever already lives under condemnation because they do not believe in the name of God’s beloved Son. And here is the basis for their judgment: The Light of God has now come into the world, but the hearts of people love their darkness more than the Light because they want the darkness to conceal their evil. So the wicked hate the Light and try to hide from it, for their lives are fully exposed in the Light. But those who love the truth will come out into the Light and welcome its exposure, for the Light will reveal that their fruitful works were produced by God.”
Darkness produces places to hide and is a place to conceal evil deeds. Most people don’t commit crimes in the broad daylight, nor do people openly share what they do in secret. Evil and disobedience love to be concealed with a cover of darkness.
The light shows what is hidden. Crimes are investigated to bring the wrongdoing to light, for the truth to be exposed and justice served. Truth is powerful. We need to realize who God is. God is light! God loves the truth. The word of God says no darkness is in him.
God is not seeking to hurt us. In Psalms, it says, “You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me.”
Ephesians tells us, “And he chose us to be his very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.”
We are loved by God. He gave us free will to choose him. He knows what the enemy, our adversary, has planned and unleashed around us. God provides salvation from every curse and broken situation and his answer is Jesus. This is why we need to be near The Lord, know him, trust him, and learn the depth of God’s promises for us.
We make our own choices. In my life, I have made choices that affected me in positive and negative ways. Growing up in church, I choose to ignore that God will let me make my own choices even when I ignored his warnings. In my college years, I avoided his warnings and choose to do my own thing. The truth is I was responsible for the consequences. During this season, the darkness was creeping in and my heart was hardening. There were a few crucial times that I blamed God. “God, how could you let that happen to me?” “God, why did you let them do that to me? Those seasons were painful and honestly, I believed the lie. I believed God was responsible for hurting me and in that decision I pushed God farther away.
I am so thankful for God’s love and his continual pursuit of me. With time, I began to realize I blamed God for things he had not done. People made decisions to hurt me. I made stupid choices that hurt me. Christians who didn’t know, and who lacked understanding made selfish decisions that hurt me, not God. I began to realize I had the wrong picture of God.
Not all the hardships in my life have been from my personal choices, life will throw difficulty at you. I understand that God does not orchestrate those moments. We live in a broken and fallen world.
Hardships and struggles are not created or delivered by God to teach me a lesson, no, God sees them coming. God is working on our behalf. He will try to get our attention or give us a heads up but often because we are not in a personal relationship with him, we miss them. God will, however, use these challenging moments in life for my good when I humble myself and invite him into the situation to help me. It is from those moments of asking for his help he instructs me. My growth has come from lessons learned and an understanding to keep me from falling into those same traps again.
It is so important to know how much God loves you and that he is good all the time. God is not planning your next struggle or hardship. He is waiting for you to turn to him for your next victory!
God is LIGHT! God is GOOD! God loves you forever and always!
In this season of crisis, direct your frustration and blame in the right direction. We have an enemy who hates God and is against his prized creation, you and me. Satan is loving that people are sick, without jobs, fearful and stuck at home in darkness. But God says, do not fear for I am with you and will never leave you or forget about you! I will take care of you! When he comes with light, darkness flees! Invite The Lord into your life today, he is a treasure!
