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Our Redemptive God

by David A. DePra

Surely, the wrath of man shall praise thee. The
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.   Psalm 76:10
 
     This passage is proof positive that God allows nothing He
does not intend to use. If He doesn't intend to use it, He shall
restrain it.
     This tells us a few things about the character of our God.
Primarily, it reveals God as eternally redemptive. In other words,
God doesn't waste a thing. God will use even the evil which
He allows in a redemptive way.
     Of course, this is quite beyond our understanding. One
of the most common accusations people bring against God
has to do with why God allows evil in the world. They ask,
"If God is so good, then why does He allow evil?" Then they
add, "I can't believe in a God who would allow so much
suffering."
     The Bible answers these questions for anyone with an open
heart. But if a person is living for this life alone, he will not
accept, let alone understand, the answer. He will interpret it
on purely temporal, self-centered lines.
     God allows evil in this world for reasons which reach
beyond this age. He is proving something to all of us which
will resound through eternity: We cannot live without Him. All
we can produce is chaos and evil. The evil God allows now
is teaching all of us about our great need for Jesus Christ.
     There are, of course, more specific reasons why God
allows evil to come upon people. But again, you must have a
vision which extends beyond the here and now to accept
this. If you are don't have that vision, you will never grasp
the Truth.
     The death of a child, spouse, or other loved one, are good
examples. Who can explain why God would allow the child
of one of His people to be killed? What purpose could that
possibly serve? Not much of a purpose from our present
perspective. But we need to at least realize that there is
more to reality then our perspective. There is more to God
than my grasp of Him. And despite the fact that tragedy is
real, we will see it differently some day. For those who will
believe, there will come a day when we will fully agree that
God DID do all things well. We may not be able to see that
now or understand it. But we can believe and hold to it by faith.
     God WILL have His way. He WILL make the wrath of
man to praise Him. He WILL take everything which man can
throw at Him and turn it into something redemptive which will
turn people and keep them in Christ. The remainder He will
not allow.
     It is so easy to get mad at God for the evil He does allow.
But what about the evil He doesn't allow -- I mean the evil which
we never even knew could have happened? How many times
God may have prevented tragedy and we never knew
it!
     God has not, in this age, worried about explaining Himself
to us about everything. Neither has He sought to vindicate
Himself. But when all is said and done everything will make
sense. And it will cause us to fall down and worship Him.

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