March Madness | The Madness of Chaos | Temporary Suffering

Some were fools; they rebelled and suffered for their sins.  Psalm 107:17

“I don’t know why God is testing me so much,” Monica moaned. “My bills are sky high after Lance moved out. I guess God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.” Lydia glanced at her sister. “Why do you think this is God’s fault?” Monica shrugged. “I dunno. Isn’t He supposed to love us and be in charge of everything?” Lydia took her sister’s hand. “You know I care about you, but you’ve made some really dumb decisions. Moving in with your boyfriend and buying everything you wanted weren’t God’s fault. He’s given us commands about both, but you didn’t want to hear it. So…welcome to consequences.”

We’re good at blaming God for every bad thing in our lives. When life is good, we barely give Him the time of day, then the sky falls in and we’re suddenly uber-spiritual. We expect the Lord of the universe to act like 911 and rescue us when we’re in trouble, but it doesn’t work that way. Unless we align our lives with His commands, we set ourselves at cross purposes with Him.

We can’t leap off a 10-story building and pray not to be hurt when we hit the ground. And we can’t defy His clear commands and then expect Him to baby us when we crash. God is not a Genie, He’s not Santa Claus or a near-sighted grandpa who shrugs at our sin. And He’s not fooled by pretend spirituality after we’ve created chaos. That chaos should get our attention. Wise people learn and move away from it; fools get mad and repeat it. The way we respond to chaos determines our future.

Final Thought:  God is willing to let us go through temporary suffering if it will spare us eternal judgment.

Prayer: Lord, I have gotten mad at you for problems that I now realize were my own consequences. My choices led to much of the chaos I’ve experienced. Please forgive me. May that chaos teach me to obey you in the future. In Jesus’ name, Amen.