Friday, June 16, 2017

God's Plan.

This is a an expression which is glibly trotted out and frequently without a great deal of apparent thought attached.
The way I understand this - and it will surely be condemned in some quarters - is that, by and large, God stands apart from His creation. This is entirely at Man's behest.
Consequently, we can hardly be surprised by: wars, torture, famine and disasters such as that at The Grenfell Tower Block - or for that matter - the collapse of the tower at Siloam which led to 18 deaths, cf Luke 13.
Read The Parable of The Tenants and you will start to glimpse the perspective.
Against this backcloth, always remember that God loves us, each and every one. He hurts and grieves as He witnesses our suffering. Indeed, God The Son came to save us from the worst of all fates - and paid an awful price. Such is the depth of that love.
When God can see within a person the possibility of someone embracing Him - He forms a plan for them.
When no such possibility exists - everything is only ever about might-have-beens. Even then, I am certain that God will still put opportunities for salvation in front of those whom He knows will refuse to take up His offer. He is a just God.
"So then, God does not involve Himself in the matters of this world?" - Not so! Beyond what has been described, He enters, but by invitation - in exactly the same way as He does where the offer of salvation is accepted or rejected.
God responds to the prayers of His people - the greater the amounts of prayer, the more of His presence do we see. This applies, not only in our own lives, but where our villages, our towns and the nations are concerned.
When we pray, we bring God into the lives of our families and friends.
In 1 Corinthians 10:13 it explains:
New Living Translation
"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

I firmly believe that in this passage you could substitute "the vagaries of life" where it says "temptations."
My reasoning for this comes from Matthew 5:45.
"... so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him]."
I cannot answer for might-have-beens or would-have-beens but the tragedy in West London falls right within these parameters.
Christians pray for their families; for friends; for those who suffer; for projects. They ask for God to send angels to protect.
I cannot possibly know whether the outcome at Grenfell would have been different in any way whatsoever had there been groups of Christians praying for that specific building but permit me to suspect that it might well have done.
We, the praying Church, have a duty to pray for everything around us because, as "God inhabits the praises of His people" - so too does He inhabit the prayers of His people.
You want disasters, illness, terrorist acts and injustice to diminish? - Then look to your prayer life and encourage others to pray.
I do not possess the hubris to declare that everything that I have written here is deadly accurate - but I have looked at things from a Scriptural perspective and offer you my take on it all.
If I am not spot on - then please forgive me but I pray that this piece will, at the very least, have given you some pause for thought.

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