This is quite different than the view God provides of Himself in Scripture. Lets look briefly at a couple of passages that deal with disaster falling upon some location.

Isaiah 45:7 I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things. (NET)

Amos 3:6 If an alarm sounds in a city, do people not fear? If disaster overtakes a city, is the Lord not responsible? (NET)

Too often today, we attribute such things to “mother nature”, who by the way is never mentioned, recognized or acknowledged in Scripture.

It would be wrong to assume that God is pleased when we credit such events to anyone other than Him, since He is sovereign over all things, as we see in Matthew’s gospel account:

Matthew 8:23-27 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And a great storm developed on the sea so that the waves began to swamp the boat. But he was asleep. So they came and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” But he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was dead calm. And the men were amazed and said, “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” (NET)

Throughout Scripture God provides information to us so that we can learn about Him, who He is, what pleases Him, what displeases Him. That is why it is so important for us to spend time reading the Bible, so that we might be blessed to learn these things.

God has a plan for His creation and we all have some role in that plan, but we do not have standing to argue with Him about how or why He does what He does or commands what He commands. He is sovereign, He is the boss, what He says goes, whether we understand it, agree with it, like it, or not.

Isaiah 45:9-11 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, “What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!” Danger awaits one who says to his father, “What in the world are you fathering?” and to his mother, “What in the world are you bringing forth?” This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him, concerning things to come: “How dare you question me about my children! How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands! (NET)

Job understood that whatever came upon him was either caused or allowed by God. This is why Job did not curse God when bad things started to come upon him for no apparent reason at all.

Job 2:1-10 Again the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also arrived among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where do you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly to his integrity, so that you stirred me up to destroy him without reason.” But Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! Indeed, a man will give up all that he has to save his life! But extend your hand and strike his bone and his flesh, and he will no doubt curse you to your face!” So the Lord said to Satan, “All right, he is in your power; only preserve his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with a malignant ulcer from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape himself with while he was sitting among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” But he replied, “You’re talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?” In all this Job did not sin by what he said. (NET)

Notice that “Job did not sin” because he did not curse God or blame God for his circumstance, but rather accepted that his circumstance somehow (even though he did not understand how) worked into God’s perfect plan and obviously beyond his understanding. Job knew that God was in control, no matter how much Job’s circumstances seemed out of control in his own eyes.

We must ask ourselves, who is our god?

Is our god in control of all things?

Does our god control the temperature of the earth?

Does our god place the rulers in power?

Does our god control the weather?

Will our god judge us for our sins?

Regardless of if He is your God or not, the real God, the creator of all things:

IS in control of ALL things

DOES control the temperature of the earth

DOES place ALL rulers in power

DOES control the weather

WILL judge us ALL for our sins

If God is grabbing your attention with these articles, He may be drawing you to Himself. Scripture says: seek Him while He may be found. Don’t put it off, pray and ask that God will give you eyes to see the truth and ears to hear the truth, ask him to help you see your sin and grant you repentance by His awesome mercy and grace.

We can do none of it on our own.

Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you and keep you.

Scripture from www.bible.org (NET)

You might be wondering, what do I mean by a “disconnect”?

There are times in our spiritual walk when even the most dedicated believer finds themself somehow distanced from God. We see examples of this happening throughout Scripture and it appears that on occasion these occurrences can be explained as tests of ones faith.

The story of Job instantly comes to mind. Job had most likely been somewhat comfortable in his relationship with God before the chain of disaster struck (see Job chapter 1). This is not to say that Job was taking God for granted, there is no evidence to lead our thoughts in that direction, as a matter of fact the comment about Job rising early to offer a sacrifice for all his children, just in case they had done something wrong (Job 1:4-5) tells us that Job not only acknowledged God as his provider, but also as his authority, an authority to be feared and revered.

After the disaster struck, Job felt a disconnect, a separation from God. Job did not get angry with God, but he certainly was frustrated by the sudden and severe change in his situation and his apparent inability to understand why all these things were happening to him (ref: Job 13:24).

Job was being tested, he was not being punished.

Clearly, some of the examples found in Scripture can also be explained as God pulling back as a result of a persons sin. In 1 Samuel chapter 15, Saul directly disobeyed instruction from the Lord which had been delivered to him by Samuel. The Lord then rejected Saul as king over Israel. In 1 Samuel chapter 16 and verse 14 we read that God withdrew His Spirit from Saul and gave Saul a distressing spirit instead. This action, which resulted in Saul experiencing a disconnect from God, was brought about as a result of Saul’s sin, his disobedience.

As we read through the psalms we find numerous passages where David is experiencing a disconnect as well. King Solomon also experienced a time of disconnect after he ignored God’s warning and let his wives distract him with their gods.

So we can already see from these few examples that a spiritual disconnect can occur as a form of testing or as a result of unconfessed sin or continued disobedience with no real repentance.

A disconnect might best be described, as a period when God feels distant, or inaccessible in a way that is noticeably different from the relationship we may have had with Him previously. When believers experience a cooling of their relationship with God, it can be disturbing, borderline frightening. Once we have experienced the peace and comfort that surpasses all understanding we don’t want to go back to our old anxiety filled lives.

So what should believers do when they experience a disconnect?

Speaking from my own experience, I can tell you that the first thing I do, is look for unconfessed sin or disobedience in my life. 1 John 1:9 tells us “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” NKJV

After confessing any discovered sin or disobedience (there will always be some), I begin to investigate my daily focus. Am I continually thinking of God throughout the day and praying about everything I am involved with, or have I drifted back into the world’s method of attempting to accomplish everything in my own strength?

If I am continuing to lift the events of my daily life to the Lord, turning to Him with all my challenges, then I accept the disconnect as a test of my faith and pray that God would give me the strength to persevere and come through the other side of this time of painful separation, with a greater faith.

So I am pleased Praise God, to say that I have once again, come through a time of disconnect, a time of testing, and can hopefully now focus on contributing more regularly to this blog.

Thank you for your patience, and thanks be to God for guiding me in my walk, I am forever in His debt for the mercy and grace that He has extended and continues to extend to me.

Most of us have formed our own idea of who or what God is to us; our own version of God. Unfortunately, when we begin to define who God is in this way, in our way, he becomes a god with a lower case “g”. This god is not the God that created all things, the God of the Bible, but rather, a god that we have created to fit our own preferences, likes and dislikes.

The danger in this is that our own personal version of god is not the God that we will stand before in judgment someday. Our god will not save us.

As has been stated numerous times in previous posts, it is vitally important that we accept God for who His word (the Bible) says He is, and accept Him as the ultimate authority in our lives. In accepting God as our authority we must acknowledge and accept the Bible in it’s entirety, we must avoid the temptation to pick and choose the sections we find agreeable to us.

There are those who will say that the modern Bible has been corrupted by countless translations and is no longer reliable. The truth is that modern technology has resulted in better and more accurate translation than ever before. In addition, new information continues to be discovered adding further support to the credibility of the Bible.

There are others who will say that the Bible is full of contradictions. This is simply not true, proper interpretation of Scripture requires careful consideration of the context, the history and culture at the time written, proper grammar as it applies to the original language, and detailed examination of other Scripture regarding the particular issue or text at hand. Scripture interprets Scripture and if it appears as though a contradiction exists, that only means that more research is required. Once the proper understanding of the text is acquired it will fit in or flow with other Scripture and there will be no contradiction.

Some will say that they have no knowledge of the original languages nor resources to investigate and research these matters, so the process of understanding the Bible is futile and not worth their efforts. This might be a valid argument if we gained our understanding by intellect alone. As a matter of fact, if that were the case, there would be many who could say that they were not smart enough to understand the Bible.

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1 Corinthians 1:18-31 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.” Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching. For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence. He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (NET)

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It is clear from these passages that those who are considered intelligent by the worlds standards will gain no advantage in understanding the things of God. The last sentence tells us that God is the reason that any of us have a relationship with Christ. God gives us eyes to see, ears to hear and turns our heart of stone into a heart of flesh, capable of true love and belief. By His grace, God gives us the ability to understand and discern spiritual things, to test the spirits, to see the truth. If we are truly God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) He will give us the means to understand as we grow in our faith. His Holy Spirit will guide us in all things.

Till next time – May God increase your faith

The NET Bible® is freely available at www.bible.org