Cause and Effect, God's Moral Law in action

There are so many ways in which we get hurt. All to often, we are the cause of that hurt, a self inflicted hurt, a hurt within. God has placed within all of us a Moral Law. When we are young that law is often seen through the teachings of our parents. We seem to think that it is not a law of love, but someone else rules that keep us bound and restricted. So when we venture out on our own we try to prove those rules wrong. We think we can make our own rules and live free. But what we do not realize is that the Moral Law is like gravity, and we are not trying to just prove our parents wrong, but we are trying to defeat the laws of gravity. We are changing our clothes, putting on a cape and climbing to the top of a large building, looking out upon the world and believing that we can fly. We stretch out our arms and jump. What we discover is that really we proved gravity right and only broke ourselves in the process. This is the Moral Law we see before us. There are certain rules within life and when we venture outside those rules we are broken in the process. All too often we also break others during our fall. For really, we do not just hurt ourselves, but others feel our effects as well

I see this over and over. I have done this myself. Our society has been training us to believe that all truth is relative and that what happened to that person has nothing to do with us. So we venture out and try to fly, each one of us, but all that we are really doing is proving that Truth and breaking ourselves. But we do not stop there. We discover "that" pain, which inevitably has to come after a fall. We feel the pain. The problem is that we do not see the source of the pain, but only feels its effect. We continue to believe that we can still dance in the dark without a great fall.

One example in my own life was sexual sin. I was molested as a child, then date raped as a teen. Those people responsible for my hurt were themselves discovering God's Moral Law. They were breaking that law that was meant to protect the innocent. Throughout my life I kept thinking that I could stop the pain by turning to my boyfriend and letting him rescue me. I kept thinking that, "this time it will be different. This time I will not get hurt, but will fill that void within me." Every time I proved that Moral Law while I was breaking myself in the process. We do this. We turn to the one delivering the painful blows in order to find comfort.

Stalin, he was a man known for his torture and murder of millions of people. What is little known about him is this story: One day someone asked him, "How do you expect your people to follow you if you are hurting them all of the time."
Stalin looked at the man and said, "Bring me a chicken." He took the chicken and proceeded to pull out each feather until the chicken was completely nude. The agony inflicted was horrific, but after the chicken had no more feathers to pluck, he put it on the ground walked away and grabbed some food in his hands. He bent down and called for the chicken. The chicken, shivering and stumbling, went over to him and began eating. After it finished the little grain Stalin had in his hands, the chicken cold and hurting snuggled up next to Stalin for warmth and comfort. Stalin looked up at his questioner and said, "People are like this chicken. You inflict them with enough pain they will follow you for the rest of their life."

We are like that chicken. We set out to disprove God's Moral Law, we get stripped and tortured, but instead of running to God and away from that which is causing the pain, we keep turning to the source of that pain for comfort. The alcoholic keeps turning to alcohol. They know that they should not have been drunk, but they do not realize that it was the alcohol that brought them the pain. They think they can control it. The woman who feels the sting and emptiness of sex before marriage, she does not stop having sex. She somehow thinks that she should have just done it a little different and this time she can defeat the laws of nature. The man who is fired from his job because of time spent looking at pornography on his computer, still turns to porn today. Over and over, we all do it. We feel the effects of the pain, but we do not dive down deep enough to really see the cause. We still see Jesus as a rule maker who is only trying to keep us bound and controlled.

Luke 13:34, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Oh how He wants to protect us, not to control us. May we pray this prayer, “Our Mother Hen, who art brooding over us, hallowed be thy sheltering wings … Forgive our unwillingness to come into your embrace.”


Jesus-- Leaning near, listening, watching, thinking about me; covering, protecting, providing for and guiding me, even when I am reluctant to accept these forms of love, unable to believe a Love like this is wrapped all around me, all the time. May we stop running to our assailant and turn instead to the One who wants us to learn to fly under His sheltering wing. He wants us to learn to sing and dance. He wants us to learn the true joy in living free with Him...

Good / Evil

Psalm 9, "I will praise You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done. I will be filled with joy because of You. I will sing praises to Your name, O Most High. My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when You appeared...The enemy is finished, in endless ruins... But the Lord reigns forever, executing judgment from His throne. He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know Your name trust in You for You, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for You.... He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer. Lord, have mercy on me. See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death. Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalem’s gates, so I can rejoice that you have rescued me."

Oh, how I love my God! He gives me new breath each day. He gives me glory and places my feet on sacred, safe ground. Many people argue against the existence of a loving and faithful God, because of the existence of evil. They say things like, "How can there be a good God, if there is so much evil in the world?" But I have heard it another way. The very existence of evil proves that there is a God. (I am going to botch this, but I will do my best. Ravi Zacharias can explain it better.) The very existence of evil means that there must be good. If there is good, there must be a moral law in order to determine the difference between good and evil. If there is a moral law, there must be a moral law giver. Which brings us around to the answer for the question. There must be a God. If there is a God, there must be an evil being (Satan), who is going against a good God. All of the time people are blaming God and turning against Him, toward the very one who has hurt them and caused their suffering in the first place. When we are wounded we have a tendency to turn against the very one who wants to save us. We turn against Him, because we need someone to blame for our pain. What we do not realize is that by turning against God, we are actually turning and asking for comfort from the very one that assaulted us in the first place.

"Why would God create an imperfect, temporary universe only to replace it later with a perfect one? Why wouldn't God have created a perfect universe in the first place? This is a good question, but shows a lack of understanding of the biblical reason of why God created the universe. One can find the reason for the creation of the universe in the first few chapters of the Bible. God created humans in order to have a personal relationship with them, which He had with Adam and Eve before they sinned (Genesis 2). Jesus said that the first and foremost commandment was to 'Love the Lord your God...' A personal relationship, characterized by the possibility of love, is only possible if created beings are given free will. If God had created the universe with no possibility of evil or sin, then the created beings would have had no free will, and, as such, would essentially be programmed computers. Such beings would be incapable of love, since love involves making a choice - which requires the ability to choose not to love. For example, I can program my computer to say 'I love you' when it starts up. Does this mean that the computer really loves me? Of course not! Likewise, God could have programmed humans to say that they loved Him, without the possibility of rejecting Him or performing evil deeds. However, these programmed beings would exhibit about as much true love as my computer - not a very satisfying relationship. Therefore, God created the universe for the express purpose of allowing free will spiritual beings the opportunity to have fellowship with Him (and likewise, reject Him)." ***

Do you know who you are actually turning toward when you are turning away from God! Many reject Him because they do not like His moral law, but do you know who is on the other side. I have discovered the truth to love, and that is to love the one that created love to begin with. It is easy to blame Him for what you see and feel as evil, but what you are embracing by rejecting Him is much more sadistic than the original hurt you felt to begin with. Do the research. Open your minds to truth, and the truth will set you free. Christ came and died for us, so that we will not make our beds with our assailant. Do you know who you are turning toward when you turn your back on Christ?

*** http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/evilandsuffering.html#Cnughc1WEp7T

Opened Eyes

Genesis 3, "NOW THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden, except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate."

Every day we are being tempted to know more and do more. For some reason we feel like we will at least be more wise, if we "experience" life. Well, I do feel like I know more now because of the choices that I have made. I know more and I hurt more.

“There are some places you and I ought not to go. There are some things you and I ought not entertain with our eyes. There are some experiences we ought not to reach out and touch. Because almost like a paper thin cut, that can communicate dreadful diseases into the body- there are choices we may make that may seem rather innocuous in the beginning which can be devastating in the long run. Till you yourself will be asking, 'what am I doing here?'” (RZ)

There are some places that I should have never gone. I have seen and done things that no one should ever see or do. Like Eve, I should have never tasted that fruit. Our continual search to become more knowledgeable like God draws us further and further from the truth. Until, we are faced with our own nakedness and shame. Then we no longer hold our head high for fear that "everyone" knows.

Satan is telling lies. I see him lying and deceiving everyone into thinking that today's decision will not affect tomorrow. Our youth are tricked into tasting fruit, they should never taste. Our girls are selling their bodies; most for just someone to tell them they are pretty. Our boys are wrecking their thought life, by not accepting the role they were made for, and becoming strong in themselves. Both are destroying their future fulfillment with sex by their choice in movies, pornography, and where they go for fun. We have all been deceived and are suffering the consequences for our sin. Then those who are older tend to be so ashamed they keep quiet while they watch others stepping into the same trap. Or they point a condemning finger at those who are younger and tell them they are a fool, instead of sharing truth about their own pain. We have become a society of voyeurs. We think that if we are watching someone else do it, then it is not hurting us and it is none of our business. But in reality, what we allow into our hearts, through our eyes and ears, is what we become.

Guard your hearts, for it is the well spring of life. There are some places that you should never go. There are some things that you should never entertain with your eyes or your body. I have a blessed life now with Christ, but there are just some things that I wish I did not know. Run from the lies you are being fed. Hide your eyes from what seems so pleasing. Guard your hearts so that your life will be free.