If we're honest, these are questions we've all asked ourselves at one point or another. Maybe you're sailing smooth today and you don't have a care in the world. Then rejoice in the good Father who's given you so much good. But for those of you who, for some reason, can't figure out why or how things got so bad, Good Friday is especially for you.
My guess is that probably the main question pressing on you today underneath all the others is "Why?" Understanding reasons why seems to be the one big thing that presses on you in trials and temptations. It just doesn't make sense, it's just not fair, and you can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. You reason that if you could just figure out why God is doing what He is doing, then things will be at least a bit better.
But the reality is that we don't always get answers. God doesn't always come down off His throne and say, "Brian, this is why you are going through X today, so that Y will result." And I think we honestly know deep inside that life doesn't always give us all the answers we want. Moses reminds us that "the secret things belong to the Lord our God" (Deut. 29:29). It isn't our right to know everything, to understand why, and to see the whole tapestry of our lives coming together. That's God's prerogative.
But the reality is that we don't need any kind of explanation for anything God does in our lives. The reality is that He's already given us one: the cross. You might have a lot of questions today. But because of Good Friday, there's one question you CANT have anymore, and that is "is God for me?" Of course He's for you! Of course He loves you! He sent His only Son Jesus to take your place on a cross, to pay for your sins, to liberate you from the powers of sin and hell, to bring you resurrection life, and to make you a prince/princess of the King.
Any unanswered questions we have of God melt away in light of the cross. Because every time we are asking God "why," what we are really asking is "God, are you for me? Don't you love me?" And oh boy does He love us, if we are in Jesus! Isn't that what Paul says?
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Rom. 8:31-32).
Living in that reality won't fix all of your problems, but it will allow a weary soul to rest in the arms of a loving Father.
And then we can see that Friday really is good. We would do well to remember that.
*Credits to Brian Habig, Sinclair Ferguson, and John Piper
No comments:
Post a Comment