An Unorganized Rambling

We are in this constant battle of understanding God and his permission of sin, death, and tragedy. The question of "How does such a great God permit such terrible things" is something that haunts not only  non Christians but Christians as well. To think that we, as Christians, do not question this is nothing but a lie. We struggle with the same question and we at times do not see God in the midst of chaos. It is purely human nature, we flee and find something to fill the void. However, God is there in the midst of chaos and though reason to tragedy may not be understood we can still find him there.

God hates to see his children in pain and suffering. He hates that sin brings his children into pain and suffering. He hates that sin leads to death and destruction. This is where we, as humans, get confused. We do not understand why God would allow something that he hates to happen in our lives. If he hates it and if he is the God of the universe then why not make it stop? This question is often where we allow destruction within ourselves.

As I was reading through one of my former professor's blogs today I came across this quote, "God permits what he hates in order to accomplish what he loves."Sin came into this world and there is no reversing of that. We are all tainted and we all live in sinful nature, but there is some beauty in that. God permits for pain to happen so that he can accomplish even greater things in our lives and in the world. It is through our pain and suffering that God truly shows up. It is through our pain and suffering that we are humbled and that God shows us that we cannot do it on our own. Though it may seem unfair to us that we have to go through certain things, the reality is that these are the things that build us and strengthen us.

The challenges and struggles that we go through only make us into greater people. If we never went through hardships how would we be prepared for our next phases in life? How great would our God be if he just made everything easy for us and protected us against everything? If we never fail and we never hurt, then we will never learn. We must not look at this with the idea of God bringing on hardships in our lives, but instead in the light of him allowing us to go through them.

To know this and to practice this mindset are two completely different things. I know that God is there in the midst of chaos and I know that my struggles will help me later on, but it doesn't make it any easier at the time. It still brings on confusion and it still hurts, but I know that there is beauty in the end of all of it. I know that when I get through it that there will be something that comes from all of it and all I can do is press on. With that being said, here's to pressing on in 2013 and continuing to find the beauty of God's plan even in the darkest hours.