A lot of people say things like, "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger", so we automatically jump to the conclusion that trials, troubles, tribulations must come to make you stronger, which in turn leads us to the erroneous conclusion that God must be the one sending the trials, troubles and/or tribulations. After all, surely God is the one who would want us to be stronger, right?
Now don't get me wrong. If you happen to have a healthy reaction to a trial or trouble in your life, good for you. But most people are hurt, hardened, and discouraged when bad things happen to them. Some people's "stronger" is really just a hardened heart and disposition on life, rather than a healthy response to a test or trial.
For instance when someone hurts you and betrays your trust, you can either react in a way that teaches you to have a greater sense of forgiviness and unconditional love, which is healthy, or you could react by never trusting again.
So here are the questions we should ask ourselves. Who is causing our pain, troubles, or trials? God, satan, our friends or family, or ourself? Why is that person causing the pain? To make you stronger? To kill you? To piss you off? Or to make you stronger. Now you can choose to believe whatever makes you feel happy, but the truth will make you free.
Let's take on a terrible disease like cancer. Most people think that God is in control of any and everything that happens in life. So when we or someone we love get's cancer, we're trying to figure out how and why would God give us cancer. If we have enough sense to know that he didn't give us cancer, we're trying to figure out why is he allowing cancer to wreak havoc in our bodies.
Here's where we need ot be able to separate fact from religious fiction in order to get to the how and the why. If you've ever been to a funeral or been to a church service, you've probably heard things like, "God won't put more on you than you can bear" and "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away". These false and misleading statements gleaned from the bible tend to reinforce the confusion that we face about the "how" and the "why" in our lives.
Let's look in the bible to find out where cancer is coming from and what is the role of God, satan and us in dealing with cancer (or any other test trial or tribulation). First, let's ask ourselves is cancer a good thing or a bad thing? Most people would say cancer is bad, so if it's bad, could we also say that it is evil? Yes. Cancer is evil and bad. So if someone is in control of the evil things, who would it be? God, satan, or you? Well, surely we can eliminate God (and Jesus) right? In John 10:10, Jesus says that satan came to kill, steal, and destroy, while he on the other hand came so that you can have and enjoy life. So according to Jesus, satan is the one trying to kill you or your loved ones with cancer. Why? Satan is jealous and envious of the power and love that God has given mankind (see Psalm 8). He decieved a third of the angels, is sentenced to hell and wants to take as many of God's creation with him (Isaiah 14:12-15).
So now we can see that satan is evil and he's behind the bad stuff. So why doesn't God stop him? Well, God has stopped him in Heaven, but you have to remember that God gave man control and dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). So in short, I'm saying that God, who can't lie (Numbers 23:19) put you and I in control of the earth, so God allows what what we allow (Matthew 16:19; 18:18) Ironically though, to fight the cancer we have to submit to God (his way of doing things) resist the devil (the guy with the cancer) and he (satan) will flee from you (James 4:7). Of course it takes faith to do this, but you have to have the truth of God's word to have the faith and act on the kind of faith that it takes to get rid of cancer.
There is sooooo much to know about how to walk in faith, so I hope to have a different post laying out the whole faith thing later, but hopefully now, you can start rejecting the idea that God is in control of everything that happens in your life and that those things are happening to make you stronger.
Let me hear your thoughts in the comments.
