Because of Man's Desire

If you don't thank God after every smile why do you blame Him after every tear?

          

              Everyone is so quick to blame God when something goes wrong. Lost a job? That person is cursing God. A loved one dies? “Why would you do that God?” But then when everything is going good for them, they seem to forget who God is and don’t thank Him for what He’s done in them. We should go to Him on all occasions and rejoice at all times.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your

gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Don not be anxious about anything,

but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

-Philippians 4:4-6

                Some people say that God is evil because He allows evil. But He only allows evil because that is what men who don’t give themselves up to the Lord have in their hearts. They block God and the Holy Spirit from entering their hearts. Therefore, not all bad comes from God, nor Satan; it comes from the hearts of men (although we can blame Satan because they allow Him to control their thoughts and actions.) God allows the bad to happen as the punishment to mankind for not accepting Him.

“He whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but he whose ways

are perverse will suddenly fall.”

-Proverbs 28:18

                If you look at the story of Noah and the ark, God did not cause the great flood for no reason. There was so much sin in the world and earthly desires in the hearts of men that He needed to bring the world back to order. In the story of Jonah and the big fish, Jonah did not end up in the world by God’s own decision. God had ordered Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. But instead, he tried to run from God and boarded a ship. The sea grew rough and he knew that the only way to help save the other men was to sacrifice himself so he had them throw him into the water. God allowed the fish to swallow him so that he would not drown and perish in the ocean.

                Jerusalem and Judah turned away from God; they became traitors. In return the Lord said that He will bring disaster and oppression to them because of their own wrongdoing (Isaiah 3:4-9). He will take both supply and support from them, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder, the captain and men of rank, the counselor, and the skilled craftsman (Isaiah 1-3). It wasn’t the Lord bringing unrighteous punishment. The Jews and the people of Judah brought it upon themselves by not allowing God’s will to be done and by not accepting Him as their god.

                God also allows bad to happen to test us. In the book of Job, God allows Satan to take everything in Job’s possession and give him sores all over his body. He does this to prove that Job was a faithful servant of the Lord. Job’s wife told him to curse God but Job replied, “Shall we accept good from God, and not troubles?”(Job 2:10) Three of Job’s friends kept putting down God but Job did not so in return, Job was made prosperous again and give him twice the blessings.

“God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will

be with you to keep you from sinning.”

-Exodus 20:20

“…to humble you and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”

-Deuteronomy 8:16

Letting Go of Your Pride

                First, I’d like to take a moment and talk about spiritual pride. Many who claim a faith in Jesus and God walk around like they don’t make mistakes or sin. That’s false and we can’t walk around like we’re Jesus back on Earth. We’re not; we are born as sinners. Christ was the only one to be born into the world free of sin. Romans 3:23 states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

“Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

-Psalm 51:5

                The bible says that to refrain from being spiritually proud we must confess our sins- confess them to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to God.

“He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever

confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

-Proverbs 28:13

                Now, I’m going to discuss pride in general. As humans, we often get caught up in the things that we do and pat ourselves on the back. We look to others constantly for praise. I know this is not all of us, but it is many of us. Sometimes we might not even realize it or we don’t realize it until after we’ve done it. But the Lord says that we should not be proud. Through pride we often forget where our source of accomplishment comes from: God. We often say, “Look what I did,” but instead we should say, “Look at what God helped me do.” You know what, we shouldn’t even have to say that. Instead, we should wait for others to see what we are doing or have done and if they give us praise we should say, “I thank God for giving me the ability to do this.”

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands

have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord

your God, for it is he who gives you the

ability to produce wealth.”

-Deuteronomy 8:17-18

                We must also do the works of the Lord without looking for praise from others. For example, in Matthew 6:1-4 it discusses the topic of giving to the needy. Normal people go running around and bragging about what they have done so that they could be praised and exalted. However, they gain no reward from God. We are supposed to bring glory and honor to His name alone.

“Then your Father, who has seen what is done

in secret, will reward you.”

-Matthew 6:4

                In Deuteronomy 8:10-14  it warns us that if we don’t remember God then when we have wealth and riches our “hearts will become proud” and we will forget the Lord our God. God does not like it when we are proud. If it weren’t for Him then we would not have the gifts and talents he ordained us with. Pride can destroy us; it can bring us to a true low point in our lives.

“This is why the Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

-James 4:6

“A man’s pride brings him low, but a man

of lowly spirit gains honor.”

-Proverbs 29:23

Homeless and Hungry

                We see them standing at street corners with cardboard signs, clothes that are torn and 3 sizes too big, and faces that haven’t been shaved in months. To introduce my next few topics I am choosing to point out the increase in unemployment and numbers of homeless people lining the streets. Why is our nation like this? We can't blame it ALL on the government. Sometimes it's because of those people themselves and what's in their hearts. Some homeless people are at that point because God wants to draw them closer to Him or use them to witness to others. How many people have you seen with signs that say God Bless You on the bottom! One woman, without even knowing my faith in Christ, said to me, “You just did what Jesus would do.” Others are brought there because of their failure to recognize God and repent of their sins. And then there are the homeless people who are actually people who were once well off, with faith in Christ, living a decent life with a family of their own. But instead, because of failure to recognize the Lord and thanking God for where they are, they are forced into a life of spending hours on their feet and rummaging through dumpsters looking for food. Their children don’t receive proper education or health care. Their pride is gone and they are made humble, just like Jesus made the Israelis when they were in the wilderness for forty years (Deuteronomy 8). They risk disease, dehydration, and starvation. 

              Have you ever truly looked into their eyes? There’s a look of defeat and pain, fear and sadness. And then when you approach them, there’s hope. There’s gratefulness. Some come to realize that God is putting us in their path to help them have a source of food and water (Matthew 6:24-34 states that he will provide us with all our food and clothes that we need if we have faith). That's what we need to do. Don't turn our backs to them but rather put ourselves in their shoes and do what we would want others to do for us. Sometimes it might be hard for us to give them money or buy them a meal, but remember, a giving person receives many blessings. However, I realize we cannot give everything we have if it means our survival. But remember, during the winter you can give a winter hat, a sweater, or a coat, maybe even a pair or shoes you don't wear much. During the summer you can give them water and even a bottle of sunscreen. Whatever is in your heart to give. But most importantly, give yourself unto the Lord so that you can be a light to these people. Give them a hope in the Lord.