If God Were One Of Us

If God were living amongst us and like us, would he keep his loved ones from death or sickness? If I were God and I had all the power of the whole universe at my fingertips, I would never allow my family members, loved ones—or anyone that meant anything to me—to face pain, sorrow or loss.  God did come down to live amongst us and, unlike what I would do, he did not spare his family from seeing death—and maybe even sickness—while he was on the earth.  That’s right, not everyone around Jesus was healed or raised from the dead.

Not Everyone Was Healed or Rescued

One of the main things we know about Jesus’ time here on earth was how He did great miracles; He healed the sick, cast out evil spirits and raised people from the dead.  But there are at least two people that did not have that testimony.  The very first person, we are not too sure of the events of what took place, was Jesus’ earthly father Joseph.  Yes, we know that Mary was an exceptional woman for being picked as His mother and was a virgin, but what kind of a man was Joseph to be chosen to protect, provide, love and raise Jesus and Mary?  It is not certain exactly what took place, but we know that he protected Jesus from Herod, looked for Him when He was 12 years old and missing, but Joseph was never mentioned again in Jesus’ last three years of ministry.  Not only was he never mentioned during the ministry, but he was not there when Jesus was being tortured and nailed on the cross.  We are certain that he had passed away because in John 19:26-27, Jesus makes arrangements for one of His disciples to take care of His mother after his death.  Jesus lost his earthly father and there is no human answer that I could give, as to why.  How could Jesus heal and raise everyone but not his own father?

Well clearly even though Jesus lost his father he wouldn’t allow his own cousin to be wrongfully murdered even though he was such a dedicated lover of God.  John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin and he played a part in letting the people know that the long-awaited Messiah (Jesus) was finally here.  Despite the impact that this man’s life made on the community—which was far greater than we could ever imagine—when he was in jail waiting to be beheaded, Jesus did not save him.  He could have caused an earthquake just like He did with Paul and set him free but he decided not to.  It was clear that even John expected Jesus to intervene because while awaiting his execution, John sent a message…

John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

Why did doubt settle in the man God ordained to prepare the way for the Son of God?  Doubt would settle into me if my cousin claimed to be God and didn’t seem to have any plans of saving my life while facing a wrongful death sentence. Why would Jesus let something like that happen? Well, we can ask the same thing about his father.  Why would Jesus allow his siblings to be fatherless and his mother to be a widow?

You Have The Power So Why Not Use It

Don’t we ask those questions in our own lives?  “If God loves me, why is he letting this happen?”, or “You have the power to stop this, why wouldn’t you?”  We have been given this false idea that God reduces sorrow, pain, and suffering but that is not true.  There are moments when God allows the unthinkable to happen, not because he doesn’t love us, or because he isn’t powerful or that he doesn’t care.  We are serving a perfect God who is Lord over a very, very imperfect world.  We all want to make our own choices and be our own personal lord but when there are two lords, there will be a war.  Sometimes in this war for dominance, there are casualties, destruction, loss, and pain.  Man makes decisions and seeks happiness their way and when it snowballs into consequences that are not favorable, we blame God for not giving us the benefits if we did life his way.

So, is Joseph’s death and John the Baptist being beheading, their own fault?  That’s silly.  There is no way I am saying that.   What I am saying is that Joseph and John’s premature death was the result of this fallen world and there are times that God intervenes but there are times He also allows the unthinkable to happen because there is a war going on and we are experiencing the loss from our (mankind’s) decisions.  No one wants to hear anything like that, sadly it’s the truth. God never wanted or intended to have someone so good, loving and devoted to seeing death at such a young age as Joseph.  And what kind of a thank you was that to John the Baptist for being so faithful?

Could we really feel like Jesus could relate to us if he never understood death and loss?  I know He didn’t do it for that but the human side of Him understands grieving and mourning.  He knows what we go through and what we need to get through those moments in our lives.  I know you may be thinking, unlike us, He had a choice that we don’t have.  You see Jesus was not on earth making choices independent of God the Father.  That is why in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was clearly hoping to avoid some moments that were coming so He said,

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” He said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”  Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him.  “Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:34-36)

Jesus said something that I know others have said to Him, “everything is possible for you.”  That means there was nothing He couldn’t do.  How many times have we asked God to change His plan because we know He can?  Jesus was not here to fulfill the plans because, even though He was still God, once he wrapped himself in humanity’s flesh, his heart would be divided.  He allowed God the Father to continue to make the choices, so He had to subject Himself to the pains we would go through and forfeit His choice to change things no matter what His preference was.

Let’s look at one more verse…

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  Isaiah 53:3

We are so blessed to have a Messiah that didn’t just come to save the world, but He wanted to relate with the world before He rescued them.  This verse tells us that He understands suffering and He is familiar with pain.  So today I want to tell you that when you have those moments and can do nothing but cry know that He knows this emotion, the confusion and the grief involved very well. Go to Him, sit in silence, talk, and cry some more.  Allow Him to comfort and love you.

No one can do this alone.  If you do not have a therapist or a counselor that you can go to, here is a link to Bedrock Ministries Bedrock Ministries.  Bedrock is a counseling ministry that will help walk you through this painful season.  They are a counseling ministry that can at least can advise and begin to point you in the right direction.  We would also love to be there for you.  Please feel free to contact us through our email @thruthewinters@gmail.com or comment below.