WHO IS TO BLAME?

      Why are we so quick to blame God for everything that goes wrong in our lives or in society as a whole? Let us go back to the very beginning when God created the earth. He created a perfect garden, and every herb and tree was in the Garden of Eden. The Lord also created every kind of animal on the earth. The Lord provided everything man would need to sustain life. Last of all, the Lord created man, perfectly in His image, from the dust of the earth. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7). When there was no helper found for Adam among all the creatures which the Lord brought to Adam to name, God formed a woman from one of Adam’s ribs. It was God’s heart’s desire that mankind would live perfectly in the Garden of Eden and have constant fellowship with Himself. In the cool of the day God came and talked with Adam.

          The Lord gave Adam and Eve just ONE simple commandment to obey. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17). However, one day while in the garden, the serpent tempted Eve. “And he (the serpent) said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” (Genesis 3:2-3). After a bit more enticing by the serpent, Eve gave into the temptation and took of the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, and he ate. Adam and Eve directly disobeyed God. They had sinned, and fell.

As a result of man’s disobedience, the whole human race, as well as all creation, is paying the consequences which God laid out before Adam and Eve. God is not to blame for man’s wrong doings – the suffering and pain we see all around us can be traced back to man’s disobedience to God. Because God is Holy and cannot look upon sin, He laid out the consequences before Adam and Eve. God told Eve that she and all women throughout history would give birth in pain and that her husband would rule over her. (see Genesis 3:16). God told Adam that the ground would be cursed and in toil man would eat of the ground’s fruit. The ground would bring forth thorns and thistles. In the sweat of his face, man will eat bread. (See Genesis 3:17-19).  

The Apostle Paul states that all of creation has been groaning ever since man first sinned. Like us, creation cannot wait to be liberated from the corruption it has suffered until now.

“The creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:21-23).

Ever since the beginning of time and man’s history on earth, it was man who sinned and is responsible for all the suffering and pain that is in the world today. God desired that man would live in a perfect world. But man threw all of that away when he chose to disobey God and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For that reason, no one can blame God for the way the world is today. Someone might ask me as a disabled person if I blame God, or think He is fair for allowing me to be born this way. My answer, first of all is, “No, I do not blame God for being disabled. We live in a fallen world, and these things just happen as a result of man’s sin. Do I think God is fair for having allowed me to be disabled and in a wheelchair all my life? My answer is, “Yes, I do think God is fair for allowing my disability. All my life I have wanted to use my wheelchair as a platform for the display of God’s grace and glory.”

There is another incident in Genesis, just a few chapters over. When men began to multiply on the earth, and the sons of God were taking wives of the children of men, God was displeased. “And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with men forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3).      

We come to the time when the Lord was sorry He had created man on earth because of his wickedness, and the thoughts of man’s heart were evil continually. The Lord was grieved in His heart. “So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:7-9).

The Lord told Noah that He was about to destroy the earth and all that was in it.   But because Noah found grace in His sight, God told him to build an ark with specific instructions as to how to build it. “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” (Genesis 6:22). Then the Lord instructed Noah as to which animals and birds should be with him in the ark. “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. (Genesis 7:4).

When the flood was over and all the water had receded from the earth, the Lord told Noah that he, his family and every animal, every creeping thing, every bird and whatever creeps on the earth could be released from the ark. The first thing Noah did, once on dry land, was to build an altar and offer a burnt offering to the Lord. If we had just been delivered from a very lengthy trial, would we, like Noah, offer a sacrifice of praise to the Lord? Would it be the very first thing we would do?

“And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21). God made a covenant with Noah that He would never again destroy the earth and everything in it with a flood. “I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:13).

Now we can ask the question, “Who was responsible for causing the flood?” Although God used it as a way to purify the earth of man’s evil intentions, it was man and his evil imaginations, and violence, and continual wickedness that led to it. Left to himself, man always turns from a holy God instead of towards Him.  

 Instead of blaming God for everything that goes wrong in our lives as individuals, or in society as a whole, let us remember why everything fell from its perfection in the first place; man’s disobedience to God. Ironically, the very One we tend to blame when things go wrong, shows us unfathomable mercy by providing a way out of this hopeless disobedience, suffering, and death. God redeemed mankind to Himself by sending His Son, Jesus, to live and die on the cross so we could be forgiven of our sin and live forever with Him.

Would you like a relationship with the One who made you and offers you such an undeserved gift? Would you like to repent of your sin and turn 100% to living for Jesus and having a personal relationship with your Heavenly Father? If so, pray: “Heavenly Father, I repent and turn from my sin. Please forgive me and let me live my life for You. Amen.”

If you have a Bible, start reading in the Gospel of John, which is the fourth Book of the New Testament. If you don’t have a Bible, try accessing one online. The Book of John will explain how much God loves you and what Jesus has done for you in dying on the Cross for you.  

 

                                        By Cindy Mead

 

 

*All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version

HAVING A GOAL

Here we are, standing on the starting line of a New Year. The slate has been wiped clean from the year which has just passed. Have you let go of both your failures and successes of the past year to make room for whatever lies ahead for you during this New Year? Or, are you holding on to the pain and disappointments of last year? Maybe you had a goal for last year which never materialized, and now you are scared to hope anymore. Are you holding on to your successes in case you don’t have any victories in the coming year?

          Do you have a goal that you want to accomplish during this New Year? Paul, the Apostle said, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:12, New International Version).

 If we really want to accomplish our goal in this new year, we need to press on to be the best that we can be at what we do. How do we become the very best at what we do? By doing what Paul did. He “pressed on” even in the midst of great trials. To “press on” means to “forge ahead” or “to preserve.” We need to “preserve,” to keep going when we don’t have any more strength or energy to pour into what the Lord has ordained us for.   We should not give up on the goal or purpose the Lord has given each of us when it gets tough, or we feel discouraged. Perhaps other people have told us our goal cannot be accomplished, especially by us.

 Just remember, it was the Lord who ordained you for the particular ministry you are in, not the people who are telling you that the ministry cannot be accomplished by you. The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5). It is an awesome thought that the Lord knew each and every one of us before He formed us in the womb. I don’t know what goes through your mind when you think of that. But when I think that the Lord knew me way back in eternity past, and knew I would be disabled, and still He ordained me to be one of His writers, all I can do is marvel. The Lord knew I would only be able to type with one finger, yet He still chose me to serve Him as a writer. No wonder all my life I had an intense desire to be in ministry. I count it an awesome honor to serve my Lord, and His people with the gift of writing which He has blessed me with.     

 Maybe your goal is more difficult than you thought it would be to achieve, but that is no reason to quit trying. We all need to be like the Apostle Paul who laid hold of the purpose that the Lord had for his life.

          Paul knew that in order to press on, he had to stop looking behind him and keep his focus on what was ahead for him. “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14, New International Version). We, like Paul need to focus on what is ahead, and leave the past behind us and not allow the negative experiences and voices, whether our own, or those of other people, to haunt and torment us. None of us can move forward when we are still holding onto the past with one hand, and stretching to hold on to what is waiting for us ahead with the other hand.  

          Once we have been able to really let go of all that has held us back, we are ready to embrace all that the Lord has in store for us in the future. Paul said in the verse quoted above that he is “straining” for what the Lord had planed for his life. If we are going to achieve our goals in life, we need to strain, focus on, and put all our effort into accomplishing our goal or purpose, for which the Lord has created us.

At the end of his life, Paul had an assurance that he had accomplished the Lord’s purpose for his life, that he was able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7). Are we so focused on the Lord’s purpose in our lives, and putting 100% of our strength and energy into the race the Lord has set out before each of us, that we would be able to make a statement as Paul did? I ask the Lord constantly, “Lord, am I pleasing You and fulfilling Your purpose for my life? I pray that I am.”

The Lord rewards His faithful servants. We are told in two separate Bible passages that we will never be able to imagine all that God has in store for us. A prophet in the Old Testament tells us, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You. Who acts for the one who waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64:4). Paul reiterates this truth in one of his Epistles. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9).       

In 2023, let us all leave the past behind us, as we strain and press into all that the Lord has for each of us.

 

                                        By Cindy Mead

 

(All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version unless otherwise stated)

 

  

REMEMBRANCE DAY

 All Bible quotations are taken from the New King James Version

            Long before we celebrated Remembrance Day, the Lord instructed the children of Israel to keep a memorial. “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” (Exodus 12:14).

          Why is the Lord telling the children of Israel to keep a memorial throughout their generations? The Lord is telling them to always remember the night He released them from Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel had been in bondage to the Egyptians for four hundred and thirty years. In Exodus 2:23, we pick up their story: “Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of their bondage.” God heard their groaning and remembered the covenant He made with their forefathers.

          The Lord found Moses tending a flock of sheep on the back side of the desert. In Exodus 3:7 and 8, the Lord said to Moses: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry . . .for I know their sorrows. So I have come to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. . .” The Lord told Moses that He has heard the cry of the children of Israel and He has seen their oppression and He is sending Moses to the Pharaoh to bring His people out of bondage.

          After telling the Lord how incompetent and unworthy Moses feels about this assignment, the Lord reminds him, “I will certainly be with you.” Moses finally submits to the Lord and goes before Pharaoh and performs the nine plagues as the Lord commands him to do. The plagues were to get Pharaoh to let Israel go from his bondage so they would be able to worship the Lord in the wilderness. Before each plague, Pharaoh promises to let the Israelites go. When the effects of the plague are over, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not let the children of Israel go.

          The Lord is about to perform His final plague to cause Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Before the Lord performs the last plague that was to kill all the firstborn of Egypt, including man and beast, He gives instructions to all Israel through Moses and Aaron. First, the Lord tells the Israelites the month of Abib was to be the first month of their year. Then the Lord instructs the man of each household to take a lamb without blemish for his household. On the fourteenth day of the month Abib, they were to kill and roast the lamb, and eat it with bitter herbs.

          The Lord instructed the Israelites to take the blood of the lamb and put some on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses. This was done because at midnight the Lord’s angel was to slay all the firstborn of the Egyptians. When the angel came to a house where there was blood on the doorposts and lintel, he was to pass over that house. Once the angel had slain all the firstborn of Egypt, there was a great cry throughout the land. “So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” (Exodus 12:30). After this final plague, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.” (Exodus 12:31).

          “It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.” (Exodus 12:42). From the night the Lord delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, after four hundred and thirty years, they were to keep the Passover throughout their generations. The Passover Feast was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the month Abib.

          After the first World War, which was from July 28, 1914, until November 11, 1919, we celebrate the ending of the first World War, and all the other Wars which have occurred since then on November 11. Remembrance Day is observed on November 11 at 11 a.m. as that was the day and time when the first World War was over with the signing of the Armistice Agreement which ended the War. Remembrance Day was first observed in the Commonwealth states. At first it was called “Armistice Day” in honor of the men and women who gave their lives so we can live in peace and freedom today. The first Remembrance Day was held on November 11, 1931.

          Each year, on November 11, Canadians pause for a moment or two of silence to honor the men and women who have served and continue to serve our country in times of war and conflict, as well as in times of peace. We remember the 2,300,000 men and women who have served our country, as well as the 118,000 who have given their lives in the line of duty that we may live in peace and freedom. “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Romans 12:18). The men and women who have served in times of War have made it possible to live in peace. Now, it is up to us to keep that peace.

          This Remembrance Day, as we wear the Red Poppy, we are remembering and honoring all the men and women whose blood was shed so we could live with all the freedoms we enjoy today. On November 11, may we observe one or two minutes of silence to honor those who have given their lives on the battlefields of the world so we can live in freedom today. We also need to give the Lord thanks and praise for the freedom and abundance He has blessed our country with.

          There is another kind of freedom which cannot be obtained with any weapons of war. I am speaking of a spiritual freedom which Jesus Christ, God’s Son purchased for us on the Cross. If you would truly repent of your sin, and turn from sin and live 100% for Jesus, then pray this prayer, “Father, I come to You, to repent of my sin and live totally for You. Please cleanse me from my sin and give me the freedom in the areas of my life that You alone know of. I will follow You for the rest of my life.”

          If you have a Bible, or can access one online, begin reading in the Gospel of John, which is the fourth book of the New Testament. It will explain to you how much God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.