Monday, May 17, 2010

Good and Bad

Our Faith Bible Institute recently did a "quick" study on the book of Job. There were a couple of points made by the instructor that were a blessing and I thought that I would share them with you.
"Theme: The contemplation of Israel's God's Sovereignty over Suffering. The theme of Job is not the suffering of Job (the secondary theme), but rather the sovereignty of God."
"The answer to the question, 'If God is all powerful, why didn't He crate a perfect world with no sin and suffering?' is He did. A perfect world, however, demands free will. No one wants to live in a world without freedom. God was not a heavenly tyrant who created a world of slaves and robots. He wanted us to love Him because we freely choose to do so."
"All suffering is ultimately the result of the entrance of sin into this world at the Fall."
"Though God could justly punish all men because of their inherent sinfulness, He does not. The real mystery is not, "Why do so many bad things happen to good people?', but rather, "Why do so many good things happen to bad people?'"
"Job, focused on the fact that God has given us all we have: life, health, wealth, family, ect. Thus, God has the perfect right to take these things and we have still been blessed to have had them for the period of time during which He blessed us with them."
"Scripture thus never forbids us to ask 'why?', for God will on occasion show us the answer, but it clearly forbids demanding an answer. In most instances of tragic suffering, we must accept that the 'why?' is beyond our understanding, but can always trust the God Who loves us and our loved ones even more thatn we do."
John Yates, Founder and President, Faith Bible Institute