Destruction by design
Dear saints, it’s good to be back with all of you and I hope that the Lord has been keeping you and blessing you. We’re all creatures of habit and like our routine and set patterns. We like going to the same restaurants, hanging out with our friends and do the things the way we’re comfortable. However, God’s ways don’t always fit our routine and the Lord has His Own agenda and shall accomplish His Will (Isaiah 55:11). What may appear chaotic and haphazard may in fact God’s genius of destruction by design.
Please turn with me to Acts 8:1-3. This is the passage of scripture that narrates how Saul (later the Apostle Paul) persecuted the Church which scattered the disciples. God Almighty doesn’t ordain such chaos but certainly uses it for constructive purposes (Romans 8:20). Please don’t get me wrong, this isn’t to say that Lord is chaotic for He is indeed a God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33). But sometimes God allows randomness and chaos to prevail so that something better may come out of it. That’s precisely why the Lord will destroy the current universe and create a new one (2 Peter 3:10-12). In this particular case the Apostles and the disciples had become so comfortable (Acts 2:26-27) that they had completely forgotten the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). In the initial stages the Lord instructed them to stay in Jerusalem until they were endowed with the Power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). However, the Church slowly slipped into complacency and forgot its greater mandate. Is that still happening today?
The Prophet Jeremiah had probably the most tumultuous and painful life second only to the Lord Jesus Himself. In Jeremiah 28:1-5 the narrative describes the false prophet Hananiah proclaiming peace and restoration while in fact God was prophesying punishment and exile through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28:5-17). The question that needs to be posed at this juncture is that why didn’t God simply forgive their sins and leave the Hebrews in their homeland? The answer (partly) maybe that sin deserves retribution and punishment. We as Christians are saved because the Lord Jesus paid the penalty on our behalf (John 1:29). However, sin can’t go unpunished as even God’s chosen man King David learnt (2 Samuel 12). David’s sin was forgiven (2 Samuel 12:13) but God’s justice also required punishment.
The chaos and tumult that exists in this world wasn’t supposed to be if Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned (Genesis 3). Why the all-knowing and penitent God (Genesis 6:6) would allow sin and chaos to enter this universe is beyond me. But we all know that to be a fact. I think (and any of you can jump into correct me) it was President Lincoln who famously remarked that if the Confederate States of America built wealth on the sin of slavery, then maybe the civil war was God’s rod of wrath destroying all that ill-gotten wealth. My point is this saints, chaos and tumult in this world are a given. But broken lives and tumultuous circumstances are not problems, but opportunities in disguise. If you’re going through such a phase in your life, then be of good cheer, because He’s been through hell (1 Peter 3:19; my interpretation of “prison” there is the prison of hell for the soul) and high-water and came out victorious 🙂.
I know that all of you are saved and sanctified saints, but should there be among you that haven’t received God’s grace then I pray that you do so today. “For all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Amen.