If you are a parent there is probably a phrase you have heard repeatedly...In our house if 1child gets something and the other doesn't, we will hear..'thats not fair.' After hearing that phrase repeatedly we usually look at the child and say, 'Life's not fair.'
As a parent that phrase seems to make perfect sense but in spiritual matters it doesn't...think about how many times we've been tempted to utter this phrase to God. Take for instance when Adam and Eve sinned...we've all been affected by their decision...to the human mind 'that's not fair...I didn't make that choice.' But we know if any of us had been in that situation we'd done the same thing.
The Bible is full of 'unfair.' David the man after God's own heart made a terrible decision to have an affair with Bathsheba and conceived a child. This led David to also conceive the great cover up. After believing he'd gotten away with it God confronted him through Nathan...David is humble enough to admit his wrong and while he was forgiven it didn't keep him from the consequences. The first consequence mentioned was the sword would never leave his home, which proved true through his children. Within his own home there was rape and revenge. The next consequence is where I've always wanted to say...'God, why it's not fair.' Of course I'm talking about the death of the child they'd conceived...why God chose this course of action has never made sense to me and has scared me...while I still don't understand it completely I saw something I'd never seen before...a picture of Jesus
Jesus was perfect...we committed sin...Jesus died for something He didn't do...but I don't think we've ever argued with God about this being 'unfair.' Because of 'unfair' we have eternal life...because of 'unfair' we are a new creation...
This theory was developed through thinking about things holistically...we can't take one verse and create a theology (children die and suffer because of a parents sin)...in so many instances the Old Testament is pointing us towards Jesus and God gives us word pictures through the patriarchs, the prophets and the entire sacrificial system...in some strange way why couldn't God be pointing us to Jesus through this story as well...as I told those at church tonight, 'I'm just spit balling.'
No comments:
Post a Comment