Gettin' Whooped

There are some times in life and in scripture where I get bogged down with God. The stuff with my uncle's depression was one of those times in life. My Aunt Jimmie Ann’s brain cancer is another. In scripture, the suffering of Job blows my mind especially where Satan presents himself to God and God, in essence, says 'how bout my boy Job?' Then God gave Satan permission to mess with his life, but not to lay a finger on him. So, Satan created havoc in Job’s world. OMG? Then the other instance that rocks my world is in Luke 22:31 where Jesus gave Satan permission to sift Peter as wheat. Peter made these huge, bold statements then Jesus lets him fall flat on his face in total humiliation. Some things I just don’t get.

Satan knows he can’t kill a christian. We belong to God. But, he sure tried to get my uncle to kill himself. John 10:10 says he wants him dead! Thank God he failed, so Satan isn’t doing a victory dance. But, he did settle for the consolation prize—making him feel dead even though he was still alive. But, it ain’t over till it’s over—I’ve read the Book and our team wins.

Job’s situation still baffles me, but Peter’s deal I sorta get. When you sift ‘something’ it’s for the purpose of removing the bad and keeping the good. In the end, the results make that ‘something’ better, more useful, pure.

I don’t know much, but here’s what I do know. God is good and God is loving. Because of Job chapter one, I believe that we have a hedge of protection around us. It’s hard to understand why God would take a step back and just let Satan at us. But, I do know that God doesn’t ever leave us. (Deut. 31:6, Josh. 1:5, Heb. 13:5) So, WHY? Why in the hell does He let us go thru hell?

Last week, Kent had a blow up in the control panel of the ice plant. It looked pretty bleak. Until a friend of our family, who just happens to be an electrical engineer, happened to be in Goree, America. He not only fixed the present problem, but he also fixed a past problem. Last summer our auger busted and piled a huge mountain of ice in the machine room on three different occasions. This present breakdown led to our plant becoming better and more efficient. Are we glad it happened?—NO! Are we glad to have that past problem dealt with?—YES!

Jordan, my cousin, got upset because he thought Donna and I were gonna dress up real weird and disco-ish then show up at his “Mom-Son Dance” and embarrass him. He got VERY upset—overboard upset, in fact. We all sat down on the bed and sorted thru things. Donna said, “Jordan, it’s been a tuff week for ya hasn’t it?” He lost it! She embraced him and he cried out every tear that he had bottled up from the whole week in regards to his Dad. His over-reaction to the dance was what God used to get his burdens from the week out in the open and off his chest. Am I glad that we hurt his feelings about the dance?—HECK NO! Am I glad that he’s better and his heart feels loads lighter?—YES!!!!

All I can say is, God works ALL things together for good. That verse doesn’t say that all the things are good, to me it says that he takes the good, the bad and the ugly then mixes them together for the good of those who love him.

Why does bad things happen to good people?

I don’t know. Is it because we live in a fallen world? Satan’s a jerk? I really, really don’t know… I’ve heard people say—well, if God were such a good God then why does he let stuff like this happen?

All I know is that God gave Adam and Eve dominion to run the show and they handed it over to the evil one. And I can’t talk, cuz there has been, is, and will be forbidden fruit in my life that I have had and will have trouble resisting for the rest of my days. So here I go again, handing over dominion of my life to the enemy.

My deal now is—I’m trying, violently I might add, to steal back some of the stuff he’s taken from me. At this moment in my life, it’s my health (overweight & unhealthy again) and my finances. I’m sick of it! I hate him! I finally stopped hating myself and started hating him. But, my battle is in the Spirit. Ephesians 6 has taught me how to fight in the Spirit—it’s one-on-one, hand-to-hand combat. My only offensive weapon is the sword, the Word of God. And I’m slowly but surely learning how to pierce the enemy right in the heart. Sometimes, I think I'm gaining on him.

Then there are times when I feel as though Satan's whippin' my tail. During those times, I don't feel strong enough to even stand up and engage (remember in Top Gun when Maverick went back into battle for the first time after losing his co-pilot, Goose, and wouldn’t engage in the fight?).

We are winners, victors, overcomers! Soul, stand up and fight!