IS MY GOD UNJUST OR UNLOVING TOWARDS ME?
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me as follow:
“Please write something about the ignorance of people who blame God for being so unjust and unloving.”
My wife, (she is now with Jesus) who was born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, introduced me to this saying years ago: “Talk is cheap, but money buys the whiskey.”
So, as an introduction, I am going to use a little of my great hero Paul’s writing style and in this first part of this writing I will share some of my personal background with you so that you can understand that I am not just talking about hearsay, without having to go through any hardships myself.
On occasion, Paul wants to show people that he at least knows what he’s talking about when he speak, and then he writes:
2COR 11:18-27 18Since many boast [of worldly things and brag] about human accomplishments, I will boast too. 19For you, being so wise, gladly tolerate and accept the foolish [like me]! 20For you tolerate it if anyone makes you his slave; or devours you and your possessions; or takes advantage of you; or acts presumptuously; or hits you in the face. 21To my shame, I must say, we have been too weak [in comparison to those pseudo-apostles who take advantage of you].
But in whatever anyone else dares to boast—I am speaking foolishly—I also dare to boast. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23Are they [self-proclaimed] servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if I were out of my mind—I am more so [for I exceed them]; with far more labors, with far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, and often in danger of death. 24Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift on the sea; 26many times on journeys, [exposed to] danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own countrymen, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger on the sea, danger among those posing as believers; 27in labor and hardship, often unable to sleep, in hunger and thirst, often [driven to] fasting [for lack of food], in cold and exposure [without adequate clothing]. 28Besides those external things, there is the daily [inescapable] pressure of my concern for all the churches.
I know that there are of course millions of people who have walked and are still walking a more difficult path than I have.
What I am sharing with you is not to boast in some sick way about the path I have walked, but just to say that when I talk about this topic, I at least also know what it is like to walk a difficult path in life.
From a very young age, I had to witness and experience what it was like to have a cruel father, along with a mother who, when my father wasn’t there, sometimes did things that I, for the sake of my brothers and sisters, don’t even want to talk about.
Apart from the unloving foster parents I was with for a time after welfare took us away from my parents, and the boarding school for the blind in Worcester, where I later ended up, as well as the people I was sometimes able to go to on holidays when the other children went to their parents’ homes, I don’t know how it was to grow up as a child in a house without a drunken father and mother.
My one sister was also given away as a baby and a few years later the same fate befell my one brother as a baby.
In about the mid-seventies of the last century, I realized that my eyesight was starting to deteriorate. I could still see enough to ride a bicycle in a city. The shock hit me that one day I would no longer be able to see the faces of my three children.
It happened then too.
On Monday, December 1, 1997, my doctor told me that I had melanoma cancer and if they couldn’t stop it, I had 3 to 6 months to live and then I was being treated for 15 months.
In 2011, my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and when I asked the neurologist, she replied that I would be able to look after my wife myself for another year or so. I think she said this against the background of the fact that I am blind.
My wife then improved so much and when we went for a second opinion, the neurologist said that my wife had dementia.
Eight years later my wife went to Jesus.
So, all I want to pass on to you, is that when I share with you, at least I am not ignorant about the hardships of this life.
When I share with you how to look at it and deal with it, it’s not hearsay. I’ve been there.
Now I will share with you how I see our Lord’s loving Fatherly hand in my own life and then of course, how it works in the life of every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, when you leave everything to Him with conviction in your heart.
Here then is how I view the way our Lord is managing my life. I would also like to suggest, without being arrogant, that you also follow this recipe – because I know it works and not only works, but work absolutely very well. Not only does it work very well, it is also truly the only way of life that works.
First of all; the attitude with which I, and I believe all who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, should read the Word – and not only should we read the Word this way but in practice we should, I believe, also follow Him this way. Jesus himself explains it to us so wonderfully and simply:
MAT 11:25-26
25At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [I openly and joyfully acknowledge Your great wisdom], that You have hidden these things [these spiritual truths] from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants [to new believers, to those seeking God’s will and purpose]. 26Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
As well as:
MARK 10:15 “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
With that in mind, I start with a question:
How is it possible that Job could act as he did when satan came down on him, as they say in English: “Like a ton of bricks.”?
Do you remember what happened the time when satan wanted to show our Lord that he would get Job to curse God?
JOB 1:13-19 Satan Allowed to Test Job
13Now there was a day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15and the Sabeans attacked and swooped down on them and took away the animals. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19and suddenly, a great wind came from across the desert, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Do you remember what Job’s reaction was?
JOB 1:20-21
20Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. 21He said,“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,
And naked I will return there.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
It wasn’t nice for Job! On the contrary – according to Job’s actions, it was terrible, just as it would have been for you and me, but Job knew what I know so surely, as you know that you are alive now, as I always tell people when they ask me how I am:
Job knew: “God is on the throne.”
In other words, God is in control.
Job didn’t like everything that happened to him.
I don’t like everything that has happened to me and is still happening.
But I have this wonderful, peaceful knowledge:
ROM 8:28-29
28And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.
You see!
Our Lord is busy shaping and chiselling you and me so that one day, with Jesus as the Elder, you and I can be before God our Father as one of His sons and daughters forever:
ROMANS 8:29 29For those whom He foreknew [and loved and chose beforehand], He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son [and ultimately share in His complete sanctification], so that He would be the firstborn [the most beloved and honored] among many believers.
When you begin to understand this, the following will also make sense to you:
1PET 1:6-7
6In this you rejoice greatly, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
When I think back to the years when I was still participating in marathons and ultra marathons and I remember the pains and fatigue as I kept going just to receive my medal, that wonderful peace of our Lord come over me as I think about my journey through this life.
What peace am I talking about?
That peace that only someone who has truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior can experience, even if satan tries, as with Job, to get you to turn your back on our Lord:
JOHN 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]
*It is not the peace of a large bank account.
*This is not the peace of wonderful circumstances as seen through the eyes of a natural man.
This is the glorious peace of Christ in your life. The peace that makes you pull your shoulders back, lift your head, and stick out your chin because you know where you are going. Despite your circumstances, you can exclaim this great truth to all who would listen:
JAMES 1:2-4
2Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. 3Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. 4And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.
Is my God unfair and unloving towards me?
No never!!!
Just over 2,000 years ago, He began His divine and loving saving work for me:
JOHN 3:16-18
16“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. 18Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].
HEB 12:2-3 “ … Jesus, The Example
.. 2[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
3 Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Was this the action of an unjust and unloving God?
Listen – There He is seated in Heaven, with all His Angels around Him.
He could have said, “Man does everything to go to hell, so let him go to hell,” but His love for you and me made Him give the only perfect sacrifice that could save man to be sacrificed, so that you and I could be with Him in Heaven, namely His Son.
So, I say with great, wonderful peace in my heart, even though it sometimes hurts a lot and even though I sometimes cry a lot:
“You began Your work 2,000 years ago with me in mind.
Lord, don’t stop.
Do what needs to be done every day, to form and shape me correctly.”
Because you see, my friend, I also know for sure that the hardships in my life that I am living now are nothing compared to the glory that awaits me!
ROM 8:18 For I consider [from the standpoint of faith] that the sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us!
I also don’t know why things happen to me like this and to someone else like that – and why, from a human point of view, only the most wonderful things happen to some people. For I, unlike our Lord, see things as through a dim mirror:
1COR 13:12 For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God].
Now I look at the things that are happening to me and around me – and I press forward because I know, somewhere ahead of me, our Lord is waiting to receive me with open arms.
Until then, I know for sure with His Holy Spirit in me:
PHIL 4:13 I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.]
I have also wrote: „Is it wrong to be angry with God?“ that goes along with this, which is available on my website or I can gladly send it to you on your request.
Greetings,
Sakkie
Email: bediening@sakkieparsons.co.za
Website: www.sakkieparsons.co.za
Cell: 083 457 6669
Jude 1:24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
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