“WHY???”

Genesis 3:1a                                  (ESV)

“Now the serpent (the enemy) was more crafty (beguiling, deceiving) than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made.......”

John 8:43-44                               (ESV)

“43 Why do you (the Jews) not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear MY word.

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

John 8:39                                    (ESV)

“They (the Jews) answered HIM, "Abraham is our father." JESUS said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,”

  

I intentionally am going to make this devotional a really slow (rather lengthy) and methodical one in order to do my best and make sure I am not being misunderstood.   The people that have been killed or injured in the past 40 years by mass killers are ALL valuable, and there is nothing that can be said to express my sympathy and condolences enough.  Their memory cannot receive justice by the few words that I share, nor do even I attempt.  

However, the weapons that are used to murder everyone of these souls should not be blamed for the deaths of these people.  ‘The enemy’ would love for us to continue believing that other humans are the origin of evil, but that is simply not the case.  Evil (a near antithesis of Holiness) exists when there is a rejection of GOD and His Goodness.  Evil doesn’t need to be beckoned, it will appear whenever GOD is rejected.  A vacuum cannot exist, the space demands to be occupied.  JESUS plainly says in John 8:12 “I am the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Whoever follows me ME will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  Can you not SEE TRUTH in front of your eyes??

So when Evil is encountered, rest assured that GOD was present, but was rejected, because of the sin nature of man.  Ecclesiastes 1:18 says “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”  This Scripture isn’t declaring that wisdom is bad, rather placing our FAITH in our wisdom is dangerous.  

While recently typing on this devotional, I was in a jet airplane 32,000 in the air flying home from vacation.  It was only a little more than 100 years ago that man discovered how to make and fly airplanes.  Now we can jet to most destinations anywhere on the earth within hours!  Even though we have more time-saving measures at our disposal, we live in a time when mankind in general doesn’t have the time (or doesn’t TAKE the time) to acknowledge GOD or HIS principles!  Man has become so intelligent that some people think we can get by without Divine Intervention?  But we have a difficult time explaining WHY a seemingly perfectly healthy newborn baby dies for no apparent reason and a 100 year old person continues to live a relatively healthy life?   There are so many things that the smartest of people can’t figure out, and we just have to accept them!   Having FAITH in someone/something is almost mandatory, and I CHOOSE to BELIEVE in GOD!!!

We are inevitably fulfilling Scripture, whether we want to or not, just like the disciples did when JESUS was crucified in Calvary.  We are becoming more and more knowledgeable, but WISDOM is becoming less and less sought after.  As our intelligence grows we don’t take the time to BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD!!  

We are bombarded with people in the news media asking what can we do to avoid Evil?  One might consider that we need to BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD and see what that gets us?  The fast paced world we have resorted to over the past 50+ years has gotten us where we are today, with NO IDEA how to identify, much less combat the enemy!  He has camouflaged himself with mastery, similar to the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve and Adam.   

Even THE JEWS in John 8:44 thought they had been selected just because of being a physical descendant of Abraham.  Their FAITH IN GOD was in their heritage, not in their Creator!  Their FAITH was not in GOD, and JESUS identified them as being “of the enemy”.  

JESUS says in John 14:15 “If you love ME, you will keep MY commandments.” Now being CHOSEN doesn’t mean you will be able to live a perfect life.  Maybe it means your desire is to be perfect!  Maybe it means that we TRUST that JESUS IMPUTED (2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake HE made HIM to be sin WHO knew no sin, so that in HIM we might become the righteousness of GOD.”) righteousness unto all of mankind (1 John 2:2).  

The PERFECT sacrifice was made for me by the SON of GOD HIMSELF on Calvary!  Having a desire to be anything less than a follower of HIS is a result of being deceived by the enemy and expecting his reward.  That reward is not going to be pretty!  My prayer is that you will slow down enough to hear from ALMIGHTY GOD and surrender to HIS call for your life!  If you refuse to answer, then just like the Jews of John 8:44, you are CHOOSING to listen to the only alternative!!!

Getting people to SEE the problem is not something I can accomplish, no matter how eloquently I expose THE TRUTH.  Unless GOD ALMIGHTY opens their eyes to SEE, nobody can SEE TRUTH!  My prayer is that HE will use these simple words I am sharing to change one life FOR HIS GLORY!!!

The link below is to a video by Dr.  Tony Evans that reinforces what I have been trying to say.     https://youtu.be/bL37Boz4GDs