When I was a child I would pray for the trees, the pond with the fish, the sky, my dad and my mom. I didn’t pray anything specific but I just wanted to talk to God. I wanted God to be good to me and to never let anything bad happen. As I got older I started to realize that God didn’t hold up his side of the bargain. At least this is what I thought. God let bad things happen to me. God actually let bad things happen to everyone that I knew. Time and a larger vocabulary helped me to realize that this bad stuff was a result of sin. The Adam and Eve that I heard about at vacation bible school brought this curse when they ate of the forbidden fruit.
My parents told me as I grew up that I should always treasure my youth because it would be the best time I would ever have in life. I have heard other people say similar things… I never understood why. Why should youth be so great and adulthood be so bad? I think it has to do with the fallen state of mankind. When we are children we don’t understand much at all and can live a life of faith. Faith is what we were meant for. Humans all have faith in something. When we are children we have faith in out parents, our teachers, Santa Clause ect. Children pray for trees and clouds and dolphins. In a child’s mind, God is good and he will let nothing bad happen to us. As the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Adults have a lack of joy because they have had time to realize that God didn’t keep his side of the bargain. At least that’s what they think. What they don’t realize is that it was not God but us who didn’t keep the bargain because we ate the fruit.
The simple faith of a heathen child (myself) was enough to let me live in ignorant bliss. False happiness. I was mad when my false happiness was cruelly striped from my heart as I witnessed the sin in the world. I was mad until I realized that it was my own fault. I am a human. Humans ate the forbidden fruit. Every bad thing that I experienced was a result /foreshadowing of the death that the curse would bring. The wages of sin is death after all.
I see hurting people on a daily basis… People who are depressed or worried or overwhelmed…. People who have everything and yet have nothing. Humans all over this globe experience real pain, emotionally and physically. This pain is enough to make me weep as I fall asleep at night.
Friends, God is not evil. God is not out to cause you pain. Know that just because God has allowed bad things to happen to you he has not forsaken you. God is faithful, just and loving beyond what we realize. Don’t be angry when the false joy of your youth has been striped away. Instead seek true joy in Christ! Though we ate of the fruit, God has grace on us through the blood of Christ Jesus. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 comment:
nicely put Richie. Been thinking about similar things lately. We rejoice in the blessing and think God is just so wonderful... but question, reject and pronounce "no good" to the things that hurt. Only, our God says that it is all good, because it is a part of HIS plan for us. So often the most spiritual growth comes during/after the times of such pain and challenge. And yet, He is merciful and kind. what a privilege and a hope.
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