 |
| Michael slays the dragon. Raphael |
God uses
our enemies to accomplish His will. In Judges we learn that God would
use the nations around Israel to test them. Whenever Israel fell into
sin, God allowed an enemy to chastise them. When they cried out to
God, they were delivered by a champion. One of those champions,
Samson, was self-centered and cavorted with the women of Israel's
oppressors. Yet, God used him to accomplish His will, despite
Samson's lack of cooperation.
The
Jews' exile to Babylon was a sad event for Israel but it put Jewish
houses of worship in places where the gospel would one day be
preached. The Roman empire provided safe roads and a common language
(Greek) to help spread the gospel. The expulsion of the Christians
from Jerusalem increased the speed at which the gospel spread.
Not all
things are good but the Bible assures us that “all things work
together for good for those that love God.” (Romans
8:28)
In every
church you will find destructive people who have an agenda driven by
something other than the gospel. These are the weeds that Jesus said
the enemy sows among the wheat (Matthew
13:24-30), the goats that will one day be separated from the
sheep (Matthew
25:31-46). In his book, “Well-Intentioned
Dragons” Marshall Shelley writes:
“Within
the church, they are often sincere, well-meaning saints, but they
leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their
wake. They don’t consider themselves difficult people. They don’t
sit up nights thinking of ways to be nasty. Often they are pillars of
the community – talented, strong personalities, deservingly
respected – but for some reason, they undermine the ministry of the
church. They are not naturally rebellious or pathological; they are
loyal church members, convinced they’re serving God, but they wind
up doing more harm than good.”
People
wonder why bad things happen to good people and why good things
happen to bad people. There is no answer to this except that God
allows things to happen to accomplish his perfect will.
After
Job had lost everything in a test of this faith, he declared:
“Naked
I came from my mother’s womb,
And
naked shall I return there.
The
Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed
be the name of the Lord.”
No comments:
Post a Comment