Pastor Jeanne Miller

How hard it is to see a friend, or a family member, go through pain, suffering, disappointment or death!  Even if there is a good outcome, we still don’t like watching the process of getting to that victory.  So-why does God seemingly allow it to happen?  I believe that every Christian at one time or another has asked God why has this happened and why did You allow it.  In our congregation we know that God is not the author of sickness or pain.  He can’t put something on someone that He doesn’t have and there is no sickness or pain in heaven.  What father here on earth would purposely put their child through torture?  And our Heavenly Father is a far better father than we could have here on earth.  So what is the answer?

Part of the answer is that God limits Himself to His Word.  Whatever we find in the Bible is ours and we can claim it because in Hebrews 13:8 we read “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  In Malachi 3:6 we read “For I am the Lord, I do not change . . .”  However if we do not know that the Bible says, “I am the Lord that healeth thee” and “By Jesus’ stripes we were healed” then chances are we do not understand that healing is ours by inheritance and covenant with God.  Therefore, we will not go to God and say “Lord I’m believing for healing in this situation” and unless we receive a miracle, we will not be healed.  Is it God’s fault that through ignorance, we have not availed ourselves of the healing?  Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.  Many of God’s people have been taught that being poor is being humble, that God puts sickness on us to teach us something, and that walking with God is a hard way of life but ultimately we will go to heaven where everything will be great.  This is not what God’s Word says.

The Bible says that God teaches us how to prosper.  It teaches us that everything we put our hand to will prosper, and that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people.  Then in III John 2 we read “Beloved I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.”  This does not sound like a God who wants us poor.  There are many more scriptures in which God talks about the prosperity of His people and how He made them to prosper.  If Christians would get into the word and out of poor teaching, they would be able to live in the promises of God.

Jesus said very plainly in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”  Does this sound like walking with God is supposed to be heavy and burdensome?  It would seem that He wants us to enjoy our life here on earth and then be able to go to an even better place in heaven.  In Nehemiah 8:10 we read “. . . Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”.  This was not just written for Israel, but for all of God’s people.

We find more of the answer of why bad things happen to Christians when we realize that Christians don’t know who they are in Christ or what they have in Christ.  Brother Hagin would give us this example at Rhema.  Someone may have put $1,000,000 in a bank account with your name on it, but if you don’t know that it is there, you can’t write a check to cover your expenses.  The Word tells us what we have deposited in our bank account, but we need to study to find out for ourselves what’s there.  Then when we know, we can stand in faith and say, “That’s mine.  God says it’s mine and I believe it’s mine.  Therefore it is mine.”  This takes the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but God has seen to it that we have His Spirit living on the inside to help us in our understanding of the Word.

We must realize that we have an enemy trying to stop us from living in the promises of the Bible.  He tries his best to attack us and convince us that we’ve lost the battle.  He’s pretty good at convincing most Christians that they can’t live in victory on this earth.  In II Cor. 4:4 it speaks of satan as the god of this world.  To some Christians this seems to mean that we are defeated where he is concerned and just have to accept what he throws our way.  However, Jesus said in scripture that He overcame the world and that He has given us the keys (or authority) of the kingdom.  We need to use that authority.  We’ve been given the name of Jesus to use, power through prayer, the blood of Jesus to cover us and the Word to speak and stand on.  God has made us more than conquerors according to Paul in the book of Romans.  But, and it is a big but, we need to walk in the Word utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit.  It does take work on our part, but the way has been made and it’s been made easy.

Finally, we sometimes make bad choices concerning our lives and how we live them and this opens up the door for problems.  The choices that we make must always be in line with the Word and what God has said.  This is not a matter of rules and regulations but a matter of protection afforded to us by our Heavenly Father.  The way we choose to live our lives has much to do with the outcome of our lives.

When I look at what God has done for us, provided for us and given us, I don’t think I can say it’s a matter of being fair.  He couldn’t have done more for us.  In the end, it doesn’t matter why we are going through these circumstances.  What matters is that no matter what, God has provided a way through them to victory and we need to take that path and be the conquerors that the Word says we are.