When Disappointment Comes

I don't know if you've ever noticed something.

In Ephesians 3, Paul makes a well known declaration to God's power:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (ESV; 3:20-21)

In a high and exalted prayer, Paul is clear that God is able to do anything beyond our wildest thoughts. We could do worse than to memorize and meditate on this truth regularly.

But notice this. In the very next verse (4:1), Paul, almost in passing, says, "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called..."

Did you catch that? The very same apostle who is confident in a powerful God, is yet a prisoner for the Lord. Paul is still captive.

Why is he a prisoner if God can do anything? Certainly God could bring himself glory in other ways. Why does God's glory require Paul's captivity?

These questions are ultimately unanswerable by us, but please notice that Paul did not use his imprisonment to doubt God's power or care for his people. Quite the opposite. Paul rejoices in the Lord that he serves.

Further, in Colossians 1, Paul prays for the church in Colossae, and as part of that prayer in verse 11, Paul prays that they would be "strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy."

If God has all power, why do we need endurance? Why do we need patience? Because God's power is not to get us out of trouble, but to get us through it with joy.

Disappointment will come our way. Incomes will fall. Someone will die. Children will rebel. When these difficulties come, let's remember Paul's attitude. God's purpose is ultimately to make us like his son, Jesus (Romans 8:29).

Pray that God will use disappointment to make us like Jesus. That is what God's power is for.

The Problem of Evil

When I was in 12^th grade, I took my high school’s AP English class, and during the course of the year we had to read the book of Job (rhymes with “robe”) from the Old Testament.  Because this book deals with the undeserved anguish and suffering of a man who loses his children, wealth, and even physical health, one of the topics of class was the classic “problem of evil.”  My English teacher presented this argument to our class:

Premise 1: If an all-good, all-powerful God exists, he would be both able and willing to deal with evil, and so evil should not exist.

Premise 2: Evil does in fact exist.

Conclusion: Therefore, either God is not all-good, or all-powerful (or perhaps he doesn’t exist at all).

This challenging argument was completely new to me.  I had very little idea how to respond, and neither did the other Christian students in the room, as I recall.  I remember, however, not being satisfied at all with the result of our conversation.  I just knew that there had to be a better way to deal with this challenge to God’s character.

And there is.

This argument, known more formally as the logical problem of evil, attempts to disprove the existence of God, or at least some of his more traditional attributes, by logical deduction.  And it seems to make sense.  How can a God who claims to be good and powerful also allow evil to exist in a world that he created? 

Evil seems so prevalent in this world.  As I write this in August of 2012, we have just had a horrific shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.  Twelve people were shot dead and many more wounded in a senseless, selfish act.  Syrian rebels are holding 48 Iranian hostages.  Another shooting at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee.  Spouses beat spouses, parents beat and abuse children, children beat and abuse each other.  Human beings are capable of so much atrocity toward each other.

Yet pain and suffering does not only come from our own species.  The drought of the century has a chokehold over the entire middle part of our country.  Crops are dying, and rivers are drying up.  We’re heading into hurricane season, and assuredly a few of these natural terrors will destroy somebody’s home, somebody’s livelihood, somebody’s life.  The “good” world is often not so good.

Should we conclude that no good, powerful God could possibly exist?

The Christian’s answer to this challenge relies on this actual existence of evil that every normal-functioning human being is capable of sensing.  And this will be discussed in the next post.