He watched what sinful man chose to do and was grieved
By NiteOwlDave
niteowldave@gmail.com
When we are struck by a tragedy, we often hear non-Christians and Christians raise the age-old question, "Why would a caring God allow that to happen?"
For example, we hear grumblings that God could have forced the Islamic terrorists of Sept. 11, 2001, to miss the Pentagon in Washington, The World Trade Center buildings in New York, and prevent the plane crash in rural Pennsylvania, but He didn't. The net result was 3,000 innocent deaths. Why didn't He intervene?
God chose not to intervene because God gives us freewill. That freewill allows us to help or kill one another. It allows for cruelty to the maximum degree. It allowed us to crucify our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that God is grieved when they happen. It is not what He wants for us.
Although saddened, God seldom interferes with what fallen man conspires.
There are several times in the Bible when God expressed sadness and anger over the conduct of His creation.
1.He was grieved to have brought on the great flood which drowned all but Noah and his family who were saved by the ark he built.
Genesis 6:5-10 is sobering: "When the Lord God saw the extent of human wickedness, and that the trend and direction of men's lives were only toward evil, he was sorry he had made them.” It broke His heart.
"And he said, 'I will blot out from the face of the earth all mankind that I created. Yes, and the animals too, and the reptiles and the birds. For I am sorry I made them.'
"But Noah was a pleasure to the Lord. He was the only righteous man living on the earth at that time."
2. God was grieved about the whining Israelites after He led them out of slavery in Egypt to Canaan (Israel) with Moses at the helm. Psalms 95:10-11 states, "For forty years I watched them in disgust. They were a nation whose thoughts and heart were far away from me. They refused to accept my laws."
3. God became upset with the holy-Joe Pharisees as told in Mark 3:5. Jesus is talking: "Looking around at them angrily, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need..."
4. Jesus was despaired in the Garden of Gethsemane before his betrayal and crucifixion as Matthew 26:37 notes, "He took Peter with Him and Zebedee's two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair."
5. Jesus was vexed over Jerusalem. Luke 13:34 reports Jesus as lamenting, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city that murders the prophets. The city that stones those sent to help her. How often I have wanted to gather your children together even as a hen protects her brood under her wings, but you would not let me."
6. When Jesus saw the wailing at the news of the death of Lazarus and seeing that Mary nor the Jewish leaders exhibited no hope that Jesus could (but did) bring him back to life, "Jesus wept." That, the shortest verse in the Bible, is found in John 11:35.
7. God became fed up with the sinfulness of Sodom and, in this case, took direct action and destroyed the city by fire. Genesis 18:19 says, "Their sin is very grievous."
Anne Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham and a renowned author/speaker, offered the following thoughtful insight about God and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a TV interview.
"I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of government and to get out of our lives," Graham said.
"And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"
Essentially, we have only ourselves to blame for this because we have many times ordered God out of our lives, thus leaving a vacuum for Satan and his followers to sweep in.We have demeaned God to an "X", as in Xmas.
The following are observations that have been circulated widely amongst Christians on the Internet. The writer is not named.
“We (the US) watched in the 1960s as atheist Madeline O'Hare successfully had prayer banned in public-funded schools.
“Next, the Bible was excluded from the classroom.
“Then we went along when Dr. Benjamin Spock who said we shouldn't spank children for misbehaving because we might damage their self- esteem. (Spock's son committed suicide, by the way.)
“Some parents said teachers and principals shouldn't discipline their children when they misbehave. The action wasn't spawned because of abuses. Still, we said okay.
“Then someone suggested that pregnant students be allowed to have abortions and their parents need not be informed. We went along with it.
“Free condoms became available at schools in confidants. Parents shrugged. We bought the argument that pornography is simply appreciation of the female body.
“Hollywood began to serve up more and more TV programs and movies where casual sex and use of illegal drugs are exploited to the point where we are no longer alarmed.
“Rap and rock lyrics praise Satan, applaud drugs, rape, murder, and suicide. We put up with it.
“And we wonder why many kids—and adults—today kill their classmates and strangers for no apparent good reason.”
The Bible is bang on when it states that, "We reap what we sow." We have indeed sold out.
If a student today were to ask God why He didn't save the child shot in a classroom, God would be justified in replying, "Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God."
Bizarre, isn’t it? Apply the logic of cause and effect, and this we-get-what-we-chose scenario computes nicely.
It's odd that we trash God and then wonder why the world is going to Hell. It's strange why we believe what TV and the newspapers say, but deeply question what the Bible says.
It is odd thinking how everyone wants to go to Heaven provided we do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says.
It's ridiculous how someone can say, "I believe in God", but follows Satan who, by the way, also "believes" in God but is going to Hell.
It’s strange that we forward thousands of jokes to e-mail acquaintances, but hesitate about passing along thoughtful messages regarding God.
We trade Christmas cards which call for "Peace on earth," failing to include the preface to that verse which, in full, reads, "Glory to God in the highest", then "peace on Earth and good will toward men."
It makes no sense that we will not forward stories like this because we are concerned that friends might think we're sensational. It seems we are more worried about what people will think of us than what God will think of us.
We would rather sit back and continue complaining about the bad shape the world is in and wonder why no one is standing up for the truth?
We must not forget that God cares for us despite what we cause in this sin-ridden, God-rejecting world. He paid our sin debt with His blood and rose from the dead. He provides the only Way to Heaven. He gives us free choice where we will spent eternity.
