This is an Important Question
This past Sunday was Women’s Sunday at church and the women in our church lead the service. Charlotte Yinakopolis-Veatch gave the message.
Charlotte said that when she was asked her initial response was, “No, not me, I’m not qualified. I’ve made mistakes and not done everything right. My life has been messy.” Then she was reminded of the past several weeks messages and how the Bible is full of messy people.
We need to be who God made us to be and do what we can to make the world less messy.
Charlotte said that she accepted Jesus as her savior when she was eight. It was at an alter call at a revival. Then, the next night, she went up to the alter call again. She felt like she was still too messy.
She went though some tough times when she took jobs and worked without asking God what she should do. We’ve all done this.
She then went back to college, and this was tough. She was gone from home all week with a couple of 24-hour shifts each week. Rick, her husband, was taking care of things at home while she was gone. One morning, she broke down and cried and said she wasn’t going. Rick convinced her to get in the car and go.
She asked God to help her get through the next 24 hours … and He did!
Then, she got her degree and things were looking better … until she was diagnosed with cancer. She was upset with God. Why would He do this?
The pain would be so bad that she would ask God to just take her. But He didn’t. He wasn’t done with her. About this time, she read a book titled Play the Ball Where the Money Drops It: Why We Suffer and How We Can Hope by Gregory K. Jones.
During colonial times the British living in India tried to play golf, only to be frustrated by monkeys who disrupted the game by chasing the golf balls and creating chaos. The British tried erecting fences and posting guards to keep the monkeys back, but eventually decided to play the ball where the monkey dropped it — as we often must do in life, to live as best we can with forces that are beyond our control.
Why must we suffer? Gregory Knox Jones tackles this enduring issue of life with clarity and intelligence, offering hope to anyone who is struggling with the pain and confusion of unjust suffering. Dr. Jones recounts the life stories he has seen in his work as a pastor: parents losing their child in a car accident, a runner coping with the amputation of his leg. Every day good people suffer, raising the question: Why is this so, if there is a just and all-powerful God? The response that God works in mysterious ways that are beyond human understanding simply isn’t adequate in the face of such profound suffering. Dr. Jones, with his more than twenty years’ experience in the parish, found that he had to rethink his ideas as he ministered to people in pain and grief. The wisdom that he gained enabled him to lead people through the most difficult circumstances to healing and new hope.
Charlotte realized that arguing with God wasn’t going to work … He always wins.
God wasn’t done with her yet.
In Colossians 2:6-10, we’re told to, “live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. …you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.”
God has a purpose for us all. We need to listen to Him—not the world—and be willing to do what He asks. We need to be looking for the same things God is.
Our weakness is an opportunity for God to show His strength.