Tag: God

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How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

If you or someone you love has questions on this issue (as most of us do!), I would encourage you to read Pastor Tim Keller’s New York Times Bestseller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I really can’t recommend this book highly enough.

In this post, I’d like to summarize what Keller says about this important question: how could a good God allow suffering?

Whether you are a believer or unbeliever, it’s a question you’ve likely asked at some point in your life, maybe often.

Keller says that there are two ways we can ask this question. The first is intellectual. How can we logically say that a good God could allow evil? The second is emotional. We get angry at a God who would allow such evil.

Let’s consider what Keller says about each in turn.

The Intellectual Issue
In regard to the intellectual question, Keller begins with the objection of a philosopher who states essentially: “because there is much unjustifiable, pointless evil in the world, the traditional good and powerful God could not exist” (23).

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We Need a Shepherd

The Bible and the ancient world continually compared leaders to shepherd and the their followers to a shepherd and his sheep. Why? Because this was something that most people would see in their daily lives. When people wanted a visual of leadership, they would think of a shepherd and his sheep.

This teaches us something very profound about human existence. First, we are people who need a shepherd. We come into this world needing guidance and leadership. We do not know where we came from, how we got here, what to do while we are here, or where we are going. We need guidance and help.

Second, we often to tend to look to the wrong shepherd. While people and things can give us help in this world, they cannot really serve as the shepherd. They make mistakes. They are limited. Yet we keep looking for that shepherd. We look for it in our parents, our family, our spouse, our children, our church, our business, our nation, our political group, or whatever else. These things become the leading force in our lives, our shepherd.

Third, some of this is self-conscious but much of it is not. How do we decide who will be our shepherd? We often just do what everybody else is doing. We move forward with the herd. We go where the herd leads us. This can be helpful sometime, but it also limits us and can lead us in a completely wrong direction. We are like sheep, so we need a shepherd.

The psalmist had no problem recognizing his sheep-like nature. He knew He needed guidance and leadership. He knew he needed a help and a refuge in times of trouble. And where did he find it? “The Lord is my shepherd.”

This meant that in spite of the trials of life, which are evident in this Psalm, He had a reference point that gave Him an unfailing hope. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” That’s the confident expression of hope that we can have when we have the Lord God as our shepherd. He is the right shepherd. He is the one who will lead us.

One amazing thing about this is that a man came into this world who claimed to be that type of shepherd. He claimed to be God Himself. “I and the Father are one.” He said. He made this claim on the heels of saying, “I am the good shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. . . . I give them eternal life, and they will never perish” (John 10). Now, if anyone else claimed this, it would seem crazy or dangerous. Yet, in Jesus, who had such an exalted character that even His enemies admitted it, it does not seem crazy or dangerous. It seems right. And those are really the only two options. He was either crazy or right. He certainly wasn’t the former, so He must be the latter. He is the good shepherd. From now on, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the shepherd that we must follow to find the way of true blessedness in this life and a life that is everlasting and defeats death.

So, who are you following today? What is the driving force of your life? Who is your shepherd? Have you even thought about it? If you have said “yes” to this shepherd, can you renew your resolution? “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”

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The Joyful Fellowship of God and Man (1 John 1:1-4)


[Listen to an audio version here]

Humans are made to connect with God and other people. We need this fellowship, and it is hugely important.

If there is one thing that we have learned from this past year it is that people need fellowship. It’s easy to take it for granted. But when we lack it, we can really feel it. Last year, I went to the Billy Graham Training Center in October with my wife. Several people had not been in a public worship setting since March. They said, we didn’t realize how much we missed it, how good it is to be in fellowship with other people.

We need people, and we need to experience them face to face. It is fine to make calls and write letters and texts when we need to, but it is that face to face fellowship that is especially crucial and important.

The Proclamation of God Come in the Flesh
That’s the sort of fellowship that John had with Jesus. He proclaimed Jesus who was the one “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (1 John 1:1). When I hear this, I am reminded of Jesus sitting with John at the last supper. At the last supper, John was reclining right next to Jesus. In the Middle East, people often eat sitting or reclining on the floor. John was right next to Jesus eating with him. That’s how real Jesus was and is. He says, “we have heard . . . we have seen . . . we have looked at and . . . have touched.” Jesus was and is a real human being.

The most amazing thing is that they believed that this Jesus was something much more than a mere man. He existed from the beginning. They believed that this Jesus whom they touched, saw, and heard had existed long before He ever became a human being. He had always been there. Before He became a human being, Jesus was “with the Father.” He did not begin to exist when He was born, but the one who already existed “appeared” in time and became a human that people could see, touch, and hear.

John has two words that He uses to describe Him here. The first is the “Word” or the logos. For many of the ancient philosophers, logos was the eternal principle of reason in the divine mind that every person shared in to a degree. It was the principle of creation. It was the pattern of everything. The Jews also used this word and had a similar concept. They saw the logos principle in that God spoke and creation came into being. So, when the early Christians looked for a way to think about who Jesus was, they realized that logos or “the Word” could be one helpful term to explain who Jesus is.

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Our First Priority: What Loving God Looks Like (Dt. 6:4–9, part 4)

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Whenever we love anything, it comes to our mind readily. Theologian Thomas Watson said well, “He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object.” Think of how many songs and poems have been written about love. Love captivates the heart and leads us to song.

If we think about that, it should not be too hard for us to think about what it looks like when someone loves God. However, Moses does not leave it to our imagination. He fleshes out here what it means to love God. We know God through creation, but we also know God through His Word. What we do with His Word is an indicator of our love for God. God makes it about His Word. First, we want to see what the presence of the Word should be in our lives. Then, we’ll try to understand the connection between the Word and our Love. Third, we will see that our love is indicated by the proclamation of the Word out of love.

The Presence of the Word in Our Lives
Immediately after Moses had commanded the people to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and strength, he said this, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts” (Dt. 6:6). What this means is that the Word of God should not only be something we hear, but it should go down deep into our hearts. This is one of the most important ways we show our love for God.

Now, how does this happen? First, we have to hear the commandments of God. The commandments will not be on our hearts if we don’t listen to them. In our case, we can also read them. In those days, they did not all have a copy of the Word of God, but we do. There is no excuse for not reading or listening to the Word of God on a regular basis, at least daily! We have it in great abundance. We have apps to remind us. We have cheap copies of the Word of God. If we don’t like to read, there are innumerable ways to listen to the Bible each day.

Here is what God says, if you love me, you need to have my commandments on your hearts. How can you say that you love Him, if you make no effort to know what He is saying to the world?

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Our First Priority: Seeing God (Deut. 6:4–9, Part 2)

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How does love grow up in our hearts? We “see” the object of love as desirable and loveable. Now, note very carefully that this does not mean that we literally see these things with our eyes. We can have these objects in our mind. For example, we may love the place where we grew up, but we may not be there or even see it in pictures. We simply have it in our memory and those memories awaken love in us. We may love our children, but we do not always have them with us. Our hearts can yearn for them even when they are not with us. The point is that it is how we see with our minds that will determine what and whom we will love.

It’s not surprising, then, that when Moses tells the people that they are to love God, he begins by teaching them to “see” God. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Why did Moses begin by saying “Hear”?
They needed to stop what they were doing and listen. An image in our mind begins with hearing properly. They would hear God’s Word and that would enable them to think about and meditate on God. They may have had many things in their mind. They needed to give attention to God in order to know Him.

We cannot do this on our own. We can know things about God. He has not left Himself without witness. However, to really see God in the way we should, God needs to show Himself to us. When we get ready to listen to God, we should pray. We should pray for God to open up our eyes to see Him in His glory like Moses did. This is what will move our hearts to seek Him.

Second, we have to get some margin for thoughtful meditation. Our society is a go, go, go society. We are always on the move, always doing something. We need to take time and think and pray. We have to find margin to do so. We think that it will be a waste of time. Our fear of lack of activity is out of all proportion to reality. We’ve got to sit in the quiet. This is what will actually fill us with joy and happiness. Simply glossing over our anxiety by keeping ourselves busy will never enable us to develop the happiness we truly desire.

So, how does listening to this phrase help us to know God? We want to consider the three things this phrase tells us. What did Moses mean by “the LORD”? What did he mean by “our God”? And what did he mean by saying that “the LORD is one” (Dt. 6:4–9).

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The God Who Sees Me (Gen. 16, Part 4)

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This passage is about two women struggling with significance. Do they matter at all? Sarah struggles with it because she has borne her husband no children. Hagar struggles with it because she is a slave. Today, I want to look at Hagar a little more closely. Through Hagar, we will see God’s solution to our struggle with insignificance and, by extension, the anxieties of life and our pride that tries to solve them on our own.

We have been considering how the Bible teaches that sin is a wrong response to our anxieties about life. We have anxiety over our prestige, position, and provision. We respond to this sinfully when we try to solve it on our own without reference to God. We try to make ourselves bigger or retreat into a smaller world where we can be in control. This is the pride solution. The result of wrongly calibrating our position in this world through pride is that it disrupts our relations with others and leads to injustice. How do we get out of this? Instead of trying to solve our problems on our own, we submit to God’s solution and trust Him.

The Bible teaches us the solution to sin, but it also teaches us about sin. It does this so that we can repent of our sin and turn from it to find grace, healing, and restoration in Christ. That healing is the primary focus of our message today.

Hagar Unseen
Hagar believed that she was not seen. She was invisible. She didn’t matter.

I remember visiting the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. Anna, David, and I took a tour of the home. They described the situation. While the people ate dinner, a black slave would fan the diners so that they could be cool. If someone came and waved a fan by you, you would probably think it a little awkward. However, after a while, you would get used to it. Eventually, the person would be virtually invisible.

A slave is not “seen.” They rarely get the respect and honor of human beings. That’s no doubt how Hagar felt. She was not seen. She was invisible. She was just a cog in the household machinery.

Then, something changed. She was chosen by Sarah to bear a child for her master. She probably looked up to Abraham as a significant man and a leader. It seems like she would have been deeply moved to be chosen for this special role. Now, she would be seen.

Then, she got pregnant. Now, for sure, she must have thought, she will be seen! I am significant! She began to like this new role. She began to think that she was seen. In fact, this dramatic shift began to go to her head, and she started to look down on Sarah.

Well, Sarah did not like that very much. In fact, she was furious at the situation and relieved her anxiety first by taking it out on Abraham.

Think about things from this perspective. Hagar was now noticed. She was no longer invisible. She was seen by Abraham. Then, Sarah brought her complaint to Abraham. How did Abraham respond? “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best” (Gen. 16:6). He only saw Sarah. He did not see Hagar. She was unseen again.

Sarah then mistreated Hagar. Then, Hagar fled into the wilderness.

Hagar Seen
However, someone did see Hagar. Someone noticed her and cared about her. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. . . . “And he said, ‘Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?'” (Gen. 16:7—8). Someone took an interest in Hagar and what she was doing. The “angel of the Lord” wanted to know about her. She was seen!

Let me say something here about “the angel of the Lord.” Sometimes in the Bible, an angel refers to a spiritual being that is intelligent and powerful that performs the work of the Lord. Some of these angels turned from the Lord and are often called “demons.” Angels and demons play an active part in the history of this world.

However, “the Angel of the Lord” is sometimes an appearance of God Himself, as it is in Gen. 18, for example. In Exodus 23, the Lord says, “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him” (vv. 20–21). This Angel of the Lord was none other than God Himself. He speaks of Himself as God, is worshipped as God, and is obeyed as God. I believe this is actually the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, Jesus taking on a human or other form before His incarnation. We call this a Christophany, an appearance of Christ before the incarnation.

I believe the Angel of the Lord here is God Himself, though, even if it is an angel, I still think the passage works. I think it makes more sense, though, to see it as a Christophany.

At any rate, God saw this slave woman and took an interest in her. She responded, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai” (Gen. 16:8).

God told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her” (Gen. 16:9). How can she do this when Sarah treated her so badly? The answer is that God would be with her and bless her. Her significance was not in what Sarah or Abraham thought of her but in what God thought of her. In addition, God had a big plan for her and the child in her womb, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count” (Gen. 16:9).

Notice that the Lord was not unaware of the challenge of her predicament. He said, “You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery” (Gen. 16:11). Ishmael means “God hears.” Her challenges and difficulties were not unnoticed. God hears. God sees. God sees and hears Hagar.

Hagar was deeply moved by all of this. She finally knew that she was seen. She responded with a deep acknowledgement of this blessing. She “named” or “praised” the Lord: “You are the God who sees me.” “I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). She knew she was significant. Others may not have seen her, but the Lord, her Creator, saw her and believed that she was significant.

After this, Hagar returned. How did she get the strength to show respect and honor even when it was hard? She saw the God who saw her. She found her significance in the fact that God valued her.

Conclusion
And that, my friends, is the way out of the disruption and dissolution of the pride solution. God shows up, and we see Him. That means more than mere intellectual awareness. We actually see Him, believe Him, and trust Him. We find the solution to the basic challenges of life in Him. That is the trust solution that overcomes the pride solution to anxiety. We trust God with our anxiety because above the problems we see the God who sees us.

When we see the problems of life that cause us so much anxiety but also see the Lord who is above them, we can experience a peace and joy that transcends those problems. This faith-filled vision of reality enables us to re-engage in our families, communities, and churches in a way that brings healing and restoration rather than disruption and dissolution.

Like Hagar, we can go back to our daily lives in confidence because we know the One who rules over all things and has all problems in His hand, and we know that He sees us and values us. I see the God who sees me. Amen.