Does serving God guarantee prosperity? Not so much.

Does serving God guarantee prosperity? Habakkuk didn't think so.

There are other Biblical cases that show that there us no guarantee that things will go "our way."

See Job, who lost all that he had, including his children. True, he got replacements for all of these, including the children, but he wasn't prosperous for a period in his life, and, by God's own testimony, Job was following God at the time. Other passages include Christ's warnings about earthly treasure, His own poverty, Paul's recitation of adversities in his life, and the amazing record of the anonymous heroes of faith who suffered for the sake of God's Kingdom.

Matthew 6:19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 20  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 21  for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Jesus speaking.)

Matthew 8:9 A scribe came, and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Mark 10:24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! 25  It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”

2 Corinthians 11:23b I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often. 24 Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. 26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; 27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

Hebrews 11:35b Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. 39 These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise, 40 God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

All quotations are from the World English Bible, public domain. Thanks for reading.

Why is there evil in the world?

Why is there evil in the world?

The classic Christian answer is this: When God created people, He gave them the power to choose. If the power to choose was real, then people could choose bad things, with bad consequences. The first, and most profound, bad choice was when Adam and Eve disobeyed God about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, whatever may have happened then. That choice resulted in a fallen creation, with human death, necessity to work, diseases, extinctions, parasites, hurricanes, earthquakes, pollution, wars, exploitation of other people, and of animals, other types of sin, and violence of all kinds.

God’s answer to bad human choice (sin) is Himself. Christ, who was God and man, paid the price for our sin by personally suffering on the cross, a voluntary, sinless sacrifice. (The resurrection shows that the sacrifice was acceptable.)

There will come a time when human suffering, for those who have chosen to accept Christ’s sacrifice, and accept Him as Lord, will be over. Our bodies will be restored to the state God planned for them in the first place, free from aches and pains, aging and death. The earth will also be restored to the state God planned for it.

God doesn’t send anyone to hell, a place of eternal suffering. People choose to go there, and God honors that choice.

Suffering builds character. We can’t achieve salvation by suffering, but undergoing suffering may help us serve God better.

“I ended my first book with the words no answer. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?” – Orual, the main character of Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis.

The book of Job is largely about the previous paragraph. Bad things happened to Job. They weren't his fault. He blamed God. (See here, for example.) But, in the end, Job realized that God was infinitely more wise, and good, than he was. (See here.) God also allowed Job to live a long time, restored his health, and replaced the possessions and children that he had lost. (However, there is no promise of that sort of earthly recompense for the suffering of all of God's followers. See Hebrews 11.)

Thanks for reading. Bad things will happen. The most important result of them is what my response will be.

Snippets from the book of Job

9:10 He does great things past finding out;
    yes, marvelous things without number.

10:10 Haven’t you poured me out like milk,
    and curdled me like cheese?
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh,
    and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12:13 With God is wisdom and might.
    He has counsel and understanding. 

Christians generally believe that Job's trials were so that God could show His greatness, and that He had a loyal servant, who was loyal in spite of circumstances. In other words, Job's trials were a great example to us. But, as far as we know, Job was never told that. He went through great trial, and had a revelation from God at the end of it, but he didn't know the reason for his trials.

Did Job re-marry, or did he have ten more children with his first wife, the one who told him to curse God and die?

How did Job make all the money it must have taken to build up his herds and flocks to twice their original numbers? Clearly, God blessed him.

Elihu spoke to Job, and to Job's friends. The last part of Elihu's speech was about how powerful and wise God is, based on observing nature. Then God spoke, and He followed the same theme -- "OK, Job, look at natural phenomena. Can you do that?"

It's not a parallel passage, but this section of the Faith Chapter of Hebrews seems instructive: 11:35b Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 11:38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. 11:39 These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise
Following God is no guarantee of health or prosperity. It is a guarantee of God's love and care.

As Orual said in Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis: "I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?"  

God's plan is more important than my comfort.

Thanks for reading.

God and political victory

David Brat recently beat U. S. House majority leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary in Virginia. Brat, at his victory celebration, made no secret of his belief that God made this possible. See here for an audio of less than a minute of his speech, backed by photo. If you want to see more of that speech, search for something like "Brat victory speech video" or "Brat victory God video," and there will be plenty of choices, including some mocking Brat, and perhaps, some mocking God -- I haven't seen them all!

Mr. Brat was right to thank God. If there is an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God in the universe (or outside the universe) then He either directed this election result, or allowed it. 

But did God direct this election result, because it's a critical part of His purpose for the US, or the world at large, or did He just allow it? We don't know, but it was probably the latter.

Why say that? I live in South Carolina. There were a number of candidates for office, in the Republican primary that was held on the same day as the Virginia primary, that seem to have held political views very much like those of Mr. Brat. These candidates also made clear that they believed in God during their campaigns. But they didn't win. It would seem that God is not very interested in helping Tea Party politicians win. He's probably no more interested in doing that than, say, in helping politicians who are strong supporters of labor unions, or than helping Mr. Cantor to win. He is much more interested in making you and me, and Mr. Brat, and Mr. Cantor, more like Christ:

Christ says "Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked--the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours." C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity: What One Must Believe to Be a Christian. New York: Macmillan, 1952. p. 167.

Bad things happen to good people. The book of Job reminds us of that. Job was a good man -- God said so. But he lost his children, his possessions, most of his servants, and his good health. This was not because he had sinned, even though his comforters spent several chapters trying to convince Job that it was. It was a demonstration of God's power and love, and of Job's faithfulness under severe trial. (The Bible doesn't actually say that God ever explained that he was a demonstration of this type to Job, by the way.)

There's also Hebrews 11, which describes the heroes and heroines of faith:
35b Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth. (World English Bible, public domain) People can follow God, and have things go horribly wrong, as the world measures success and happiness. Most of the people in the verses above probably didn't get back their possessions, and have replacement children, as Job did. They just suffered and died.

Good people lose elections. Good people win elections, or gain power by other means, and turn bad, yielding to various temptations of power and adulation. Bad people also win elections, or take over by other means. Sometimes, no doubt, God advances certain political leaders (Maybe not always those of good character!). He did that in the case of King David. Perhaps He did it in the case of President Washington, or President Lincoln, or, for all we know, in the original election of Eric Cantor, or even in the primary victory of David Brat or in the election of Brat's Democratic opponent. But most of the time, God has more important plans. Win or lose, God is good, and we should thank Him for His love and care.

It must be really painful to spend your time, your money, and your emotions, trying to win an election, and to end up losing, and, perhaps, have had your character publicly condemned by your opponent(s), and your family's privacy violated. We should be grateful for politicians willing to run, whether they win or lose, whether we agree with their views or not.

Thanks for reading.