God is in Control

Ecclesiastes 8: 14 “There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.”

Indeed, what Solomon penned down above by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is true. We seem to live in a confused, chaotic, and upside-down world where acts of injustice and unrighteousness thrive. We live in a world of opposites where wrong becomes right and right becomes wrong. The wicked are rewarded and the righteous are punished. Often there appears to be no principle of justice at work in the world. Do you feel like that sometimes? Oh well, Solomon had already observed that thousands of years ago.

How many times do we cry out, “unfair, unfair” because something bad happens to us that we feel we do not deserve? The guilty go free and the innocent are punished. Why is it that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people? Job addressed this in his book as well. These are some issues of life we face in reality and we do not seem to have any power to change or control. How should we respond?

What would Jesus do? If anybody should cry out “unfair, unfair,” it has to be him. But he remained quiet! He was completely innocent, yet he suffered the most terrible and cruel torture and death. Why? There was a purpose for it. God made the one who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5: 21). At the cross the greatest exchange happened. Jesus Christ (the righteous and innocent one) took our place (guilty ones) and offered the only sacrifice to be accepted by his Father on our behalf.

Sometimes what we see by the human standard as the unwarranted and unjustified suffering of the righteous has a way of revealing the glory of God. God can turn around what the devil meant for evil for your good and the good of the world. So do not be consumed by what you cannot control but look to God and ask him, “What is your purpose in this?” When you learn to see things from God’s perspective, you will acknowledge that there are things in life only he has power over and all you and I have to do is to trust him to carry us through!

 

HAVE A BLESSED DAY!