Disbelief; Sin and Darkness
Our sin has made a global disaster of a beautiful and good creation. That is where our suffering begins. Whereas we know God to take what is meant for evil and use it for good purposes in His providence (See Gen. 50:20 in particular, but all of history and especially the work of Christ is proof), humanity has taken what is meant for good and used it for evil (Rom. 7:13). This entire world is in a state of death and it is what God warned of in the very beginning (Gen. 2:17). We are reaping what we have sown. We have bought into the crooked way of the deceiver, the devil, the father of lies (John 8:44), to become his slaves for disobedience and unrighteousness towards God (Rom. 6:16).
To jump back into something like the analogy of a dark valley from Part 1 of this series, humanity has chosen to turn the lights off. The truth of God is a light brighter than the sun, where everything is revealed, everything that is actual in goodness. And in a heart of distrust, we have decided no, He is hiding something from me, is keeping something from me. God said you would die and the devil said, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5).
The lights have been off ever since.
We have turned our backs on the light of God. Now in the valley of death, there is absolutely no light in the direction this world walks. The world walks its own way, not God’s. It walks its own way and the way of the devil (2 Tim. 2:25-26), its master. Also, for the Christian, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1-2). Even though you are now, “Light in the Lord,” you were, “Formerly darkness” (Eph. 5:8).
Held inside of this darkness is the suffering of death and every evil known to man. It is here that men and women have chosen to be without God, their creator, the creator of everything; the source of all that is good, true, and trustworthy. The devil is active in this, too. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
What I hope for us to understand from God is that our suffering is foundationally in this death from our sins and at the most basic level of our sins is the seed and roots of disbelief, distrust, and an absence of faith in God who is good and trustworthy. This story is the story of this whole life for all mankind. God, in whom is life, is showing us that He is trustworthy, that He is good, powerful, and that every single word He speaks is truth and life. Therefore, every single time we turn from Him and what He says, we turn to darkness and death, and suffering.
A Test of Faith
Truly, it comes down to a matter of belief, of trust, and faith, from the beginning of man. “But the righteous shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). Will we say with David, “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust,” and, “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me” (Ps. 25:1-2, 4-5)? Which way will we walk? Will we follow the voice of the Lord God, our creator, our source of all that is life? Or, will we keep our backs turned from the light to follow the lies of the devil and this world? When we hear the commands of the Lord as Adam and Eve did and afterwards the devilish lies of the world, which one will we believe and trust?
Consider the history of the Israelites. Originally, Abraham, “Believed God and it was credited to Him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). What about the majority of those to come after him? What about those saved from the hands of the Egyptians? At first, “The people believed,” that the Lord was concerned about them (Ex. 4:31). They believed, but Pharaoh did not. When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh with, “Thus says the Lord,” Pharaoh responded with, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord” (Ex. 5:1-2). To obey, to listen to the voice and words of God, Pharaoh would not do because he did not know Him. The result of his disobedience to the voice, the words of God, was suffering and death. God would bring many terrible things upon the Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh’s disobedience, until he let the Israelites go. His disobedience is tied to his unbelief.
As for the Israelites, soon after would we see their lack of faith in the face of trials. As they stood on the edge of the sea with the Egyptians barreling towards them, they doubted the Lord (Ex. 14:11-12). Even when God made clear His intentions and purposes with them, saying through Moses, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD am your healer” (Ex. 15:26), they would habitually sin in their unbelief. If you notice, there is the emphasis on listening carefully to God’s voice (give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord), what He says (give ear to His commandments), and then doing what He says (keep all His statutes), implying faith and trust in Him and what He says or commands.
This is their story through the wilderness. Chapter eight of Deuteronomy, on the heels of entering the promised land, provides us with great clarity as to God’s purposes with Israel in their wandering and trials. He said to them through Moses, “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (v.2). Would they believe in the Lord God through suffering and trials? Would they trust him, that He is good, loves them, and does everything for their survival (Deut. 6:24) and for their good always to the end (Deut. 6:24, 8:16)?
Sadly, all too often they would not. In the wilderness they would grumble against the Lord for food and water, believing they had it better in the land of Egypt. Then, when the promised land was staring them in the face, along with Amorites, the enemy standing in the way, even though they had seen God’s mighty power time and time again, the Israelites would go as far as to say, “Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us” (Deut. 1:27). Because the Lord hates us? That is the absolute opposite to God’s heart and character towards His people. “But because the Lord loved you…the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand” (Deut. 7:8). Because the Lord loved you.
In the likeness of Adam, in disbelief and disobedience to God’s commands, Israel would do the same time and time again we see in the Old Testament. Yet, for us and for them, God is in our midst, His presence with us, saying, “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deut. 7:9). God is good and what He tells us, commands us, is for our good always and for our survival, for life. In Him alone is life. Where else will we find it? The devil and this world continue to offer us fruit delightful to the eye, but on the inside is rotten, diseased, and mortal. Will we learn the Lord’s voice is to be trusted, or will we continue like the world to devour what is contrary? I pray to God we will not hear something similar to, “Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God” (Deut. 8:20).
The Way
Trust Him. Trust the word of God. Trust His voice, His very words you see in your Bible. Trust His commands. They are for your good and they carry life. He carries life. True and eternal life, love, goodness, peace, and righteousness is found no where else. It is actually impossible to be found anywhere else for God is the creator of all things, He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:16-17). You will not find what you need in any other place and if you try, you will only find darkness. What you need is in the light and especially the light of Jesus Christ.
This is exactly what God is doing in this world and for His children. He is teaching us to turn around, to repent, to stop going our own way that only leads to darkness, suffering, and death. Think of the fullness of the Bible, of the stories found within that scream from God, “TRUST ME,” and, “HAVE FAITH IN ME!” Repeatedly throughout Scripture we have story after story of God’s power, faithfulness, and lovingkindness in impossible situations. God is constantly showing us throughout history that when nothing can, He can. He is constantly demonstrating His strength in our weaknesses. In our struggles and sufferings, our weaknesses, in our humble state God is showing us where to find strength, peace, hope, rest, and life – in Him. It will not be found anywhere else, it cannot be. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3).
In our turning, God is giving us every reason to turn back. He is not silent. He loves us and cares for us. Ultimately, He has entered our dark and suffering world to show us the way back. Thankfully, what we see of the Israelites, the children of God in the Old Testament, is in many ways a shadow of what was to come in fullness and truth in the New. Where so many failed in their fallen, sinful, disbelieving nature, not loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind, God would point to the future for the Israelites and all of His children across the world, saying He would change our hearts to truly love, hear, and obey Him (Deut. 30:6; Ezek. 36:26-27; Jer. 31:31-33), in faith.
God would enter our suffering, our dark world, to bring us back to Him, to show us the way, the truth, and life. He would take on our weaknesses and defeat the devil, sin, and death. He would do it through perfect faith, love, and obedience to the voice and commands of God. In His sufferings, when the devil would tempt Him to go against God the Father, He would reply, “It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4). When the suffering of death was knocking on the door, tempting Him to sin by walking the other way from God’s purposes and commands, to a moment so excruciating His sweat became drops of blood, He would say, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as You will” (Mat. 26:39; Lk. 22:44; Heb. 12:4).
Jesus Christ would do these things. As the Son of God, He would teach us the true way of a child of God, that our Father is good and full of love, life, and truth. He would teach us that we can and should trust Him. He would teach us that He Himself, God in the flesh, loves us so much and is so good that He would die for us – to take away our sins, to be our new representative that trusts in the Lord always, and to give us all that is His, including escape from death to enter the true promised land, His kingdom in heaven, for eternal life, never to turn from the Lord again, never to suffer again in any way at all. May we follow Him home.
I want to repeat the aim of this writing, what I mentioned earlier: what I hope for us to understand from God is that our suffering is foundationally in this death from our sins and at the most basic level of our sins is the seed and roots of disbelief, distrust, and an absence of faith in God who is good and trustworthy. I pray we can see this. I pray and hope that our focus in life amid our own wilderness, our valley of the shadow of death (Ps. 23:4), will be a conformity to Jesus Christ and His response to suffering. Under this heavy weight of suffering we started to lift in Part 1 is a light beginning to shine upon the face, mesmerizing to what it beholds.
Blessed is the man who trusts the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord. – Jeremiah 17:7
There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. – John 1:9
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5
-Pastor Ben