Expecting Heaven On Earth

"Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?" (Lam. 3:38, HCSB).
"I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, Yahweh, do all these things" (Isaiah 45:7, HCSB). 

Many people wonder where God is when it hurts or during a disaster, even a pandemic; why would God allow such evil?  "Who can command these things to happen without the LORD's permission?" (Lam. 3:37, NLT).   First, we must not believe that God intends for this life to be heaven on earth, but a dress rehearsal for the next, a trial run. Similarly, in grief people especially ask where was God when my son died?  The same place He was when His Son died!   This shows:  God cares, loves, and grieves like us being in His image.

We are here to prepare for the next life and to fulfill God's will.  We are here to make music on God's stringed instrument meant to vibrate forever. Suffering and adversity build character and people either react or respond as some improve or get better but some only get bitter, as the saying goes: the same sun melts the butter hardens the clay.

Where is God in disasters in principle, though?  He's in the hearts of His children who are His hands to care, His feet to go where needed, His ears to listen, His voice to speak, and His mind to focus on the problems and fix them if God wills.  That's why we pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, where it's always done.  The enthusiastic crowds of the triumphal entry of Jesus also only saw the short-term good of Christ (maybe they were a fan of His miracles like feeding the multitudes) and failed to see the big picture of His whole purpose: not to save from Rome but sin.

He clearly had bigger fish to fry and wasn't the conventional Messiah they had their hearts set on--deliverance from Roman tyranny and bondage.  He wasn't the Messiah they had in mind at all and didn't know what was meant to be by virtue of their ignorance of prophecy.  And they needed an attitude adjustment to God's plan and we must also ask ourselves if we do too. Israel had cried out "Hosanna! but failed to see what kind of Savior He really was, they missed the point!  Our salvation from sin is paramount in God's eyes--all else is circumference.  God's will was misconstrued. We don't fit God's will into our plans but our plans into God's will; we don't ask God for approval of our plans but seek His will.

It's a fact though that Israel needed redemption from Rome and they were in somewhat desperate straits due to subjugation; however, they failed to realize the seriousness of sin and how it offends God--this problem had priority.  John the Baptist started his ministry admonishing sinners to repent, Jesus did likewise inaugurating His kingdom. We also must realize what Jesus meant when He said that His kingdom is not of this world.  Our hope and reward are in heaven and "the LORD is our portion."  Nevertheless, God needed to immediately deal a death blow to sin and treat it as radically as possible--sending His Son do die.

We must see the big picture and take God at His Word, trusting in Him who holds the future.  The Bible says that where there is no vision, the people perish (cf. Prov. 29:18, KJV).  Take God's Word at face value!  We must focus on the main thing and keep the main thing the main thing, and get with the program!  It's clear the crowd missed the whole point of Christ's coming but we have the vantage point of history and the whole revelation of Scripture.

Let us all set aside our personal agendas and goals and give over ownership of our lives to Christ guiding and leading us His way and according to His perfect will.  We are seeking His kind of salvation:  eternal peace with God and deliverance from the bondage of sin, not to mention an eternal heritage.

The happiest, most fulfilled people are those who set aside their own goals and seek God's will for their life and labor for something bigger than themselves, living for and serving others, not themselves.  We live in light of eternity knowing our reward is not in this life (cf. Psalm 17:14) This is salvation:  giving over ownership of our lives to Christ as we submit to His Lordship and trust in His salvation alone.  Soli Deo Gloria!