Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is Jeremiah 25, 45-46, Hebrews 1
Sometimes I don't understand how God works. Or why He does what He does.
I've been saying for weeks our nation is the nation talked about in the prophets and that we are going to come to ruin if we don't shape up.
Now I read today that God said He would use Babylon to exact judgement upon Judah. Could God do the same thing today? Could God use another nation to bring judgement upon our nation? Has He already?
Then I read that God will punish the nation of Babylon for obliterating Judah. Excuse me? Didn't He use them for His purpose? And now He is going to punish them for the very thing He called them to do. That hardly seems fair.
My 6 year old daughter has a favorite saying, "That's not fair!" She'll say it at times that lends me to believe she doesn't know what she's saying. I got tired of hearing it, so we looked up the meaning of 'fair'. Aside from the other obvious definitions, the one we were looking for, the one that made sense in the phrase goes as such "conforming with the established rules ". So now when she says that I ask her if what happened was against the rules. That causes pause and thought.
How can we look to God and ask Him what's fair? We as parents often know of cases where our children fight against our decisions simply because they do not understand, nor can they understand. I know there has to be times where God does things and we cry out 'That's not fair God!' And in our finite human minds, it's not fair. But we do not have the wisdom of God. We do not see things as He does. There are things we simply cannot understand.
Was God just allowing a natural progression of sin and evil in the Babylonians, but just directing it towards Judah? Would God have punished the Babylonians anyway for their sin even if they had not attacked Judah? I believe He would've. We are all judged for our actions. Perhaps God let them over to their sinful ways and just used it for His purposes.
I don't know for sure why God does some of the things He does. But this passage has taught me that while I can't know, I have to, I must trust Him. He ultimately has a purpose and I must believe He is not capricious.
And if you want to talk about fair, then we should all be obliterated and sent to eternal damnation. He was under no obligation to provide a way out for us. But He did. He sacrificed His son and His son sacrificed His life. Now that's not fair. Not at all. Rather, that's love and grace and mercy. Praise be to God!
Tomorrow's passage: Jeremiah 47-48, Hebrews 2
3 comments:
Amen!!
A former pastor once described "fair" in terms of baseball, which is quite similar to your suggestion of determining whether or not what happened was within the rules or not. Any ball hit is fair as long as it falls in between the first and third base lines. It can dribble down on the ground right in front of the batter or it can sail clear out of the ballpark, but if it's between those two lines, it's fair. Neither team might like or benefit from where it lands, but it's still fair.
Great post, Kathryn. I noticed the same things myself. Some things are pretty hard to reconcile, but I'm going with God is good ALL THE TIME - whether I know all the reasons why or not.
Those are both great ways to look at "fairness". Isn't it interesting that our opinion of what is fair is always slanted towards our best interests? And since when is being selfish being fair?
God is good. All the time. Amen.
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