It's Still All God!

"Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this." Jeremiah 14:22b

It's Still All God!
By Rev. William Dohle

I have learned there are certain things you DON'T say in public or around certain people and they usually revolve around the two unmentionables: religion and politics.

I know, for instance, that to mention the "p" word in front of certain members of my family, will only court a disastrous conversation.  And to mention the "r" word, even suggesting sometimes that certain people in my family take that "r" word a little more seriously than they do...that too will cause a huge uproar in the family.

Why is that the case?  Why is it that, with those we are closest to, we are the most nervous to talk about what matters the most?  Why do we protect topics like this?  Is it perhaps that the truth is disturbing?  That if we sit down together in a reasonable conversation that BOTH of us might change our views?  Or do we need to protect our relationship and the reputations of those we speak of?  What are we afraid of?

I often wonder that when speaking of God, even in common Christian community.  There are certain things you DON'T say about God.  Certain things that, when suggested, cause an uproar of disagreement.  Like this one:

God is behind the "bad things" in your life.

Speak this even in common Christian company and you'll hear a variety of "defenses" for God.  Like:

God doesn't do anything bad.
It's not God.  It's our own free will.
It's sin at work among us!  God didn't do it!

Surprisingly, though the Bible agrees with the original statement.  God is somehow behind the "bad things" in your life.

Take the story of Joseph we've been following for instance.

Joseph had every right to deny God’s involvement in what had happened to him.  He could have said: “It was your fault, you nasty brothers of mine.  YOU did this to me!”  He could have played the blame game all day long.  And he would have been right.  For his brothers had, of their own free will, seized Joseph, taken his coat, thrown him into the cistern, and sold him to the slavers.  It had seemed to be sin at work, creating havoc and destroying families as it does.

But Joseph doesn’t say that.  He doesn’t blame their “free will” or even sin.  Instead, Joseph, three times, points to God.

• And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.(v5)

• But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.(v7)

• So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.(v8)

Three times, in the span of a few verses, Joseph points to God!  God was the one who sent Joseph there…not his brothers.  When all is said and done, it was God who did all of that to Joseph.

That viewpoint can only come through intensive forgiveness.  Joseph couldn’t have said that at first, I don’t think.  As the slavers were taking him away, I don’t think Joseph thought: “I’m so glad God’s doing this to me!”

But afterward he did.  Afterward, Joseph recognized the hand of God(or perhaps the boot of God kicking him in the pants).  He recognized that God was at work in all that happened, leading him to Egypt where he could help with what he’d been given.

Can you say that to God?  Can you praise him, not just for the good things that have gone right in your life, but for the bad too?  Can you see God’s hand at work in the words of your employer, urging you to find another job?  In the broken relationships you had before you found “the one”?  Can you see God at work in the broken roads and the broken promises and in all the things that went wrong in your life?  Can you say to those who have hurt you “This was God leading me here”?

There’s a country song that speaks of such things.  It speaks of God blessing the broken roads that led us to where we ought to go.  It goes something like this:

I set out on a narrow way, many years ago.

Hoping I would find true love along the broken road.

But I got lost a time or two, wiped myself, kept pushing through.

I couldn’t see how every sign pointed straight to you.

Every long lost dream led me to where you are.

Lovers who broke my heart, they were like northern stars.

Pointing me on my way, into your loving arms.

This much I know is true: That God blessed the broken roads

That led me straight to you.

That view can only come after forgiveness.  May God help you forgive so you can see His hand at work, even in the terrible tragedies that befall your life.

God of Mystery, you are present with us, everywhere we go, working all for good.  Teach us to trust you even when times are bad.  And help us see your hand, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.