Monday, December 10, 2012

Cheating Spouses & God's Providence

A really good friend of mine was telling me about a Bible study for men that he attended, where they looked at King David's adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, as a cautionary tale.  David was the only man that Scripture ever refers to as "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22) and yet, he later succumbed to the sin of adultery.  His lust burned to the point that he had her husband placed in a dangerous situation in battle, an act that brought about his death.  David was punished for his sin; God removed his protective hand and let David experience what a life apart from Him was like.  (It got pretty ugly - for David, his family, and his kingdom.)  The lesson of course is not to presume on your own strength.  Do not place yourself in tempting situations, and when you feel a twinge of lust don't allow it to take root and grow.  Call out to God at that very instant to untangle the knots starting to work their way through your soul.  Ask for the grace to look at that beautiful woman the same way that God does.  

There is another lesson as well, and this is the kind of thing that can only be seen in hindsight ... how God weaves even our sins into His plan to bring about salvation, our ultimate good.  David and Bathsheba, you see, became the parents of Solomon and one of Solomon's descendants was ... that's right, Jesus!  David and Bathsheba came together in the darkest way imaginable and yet, their son Solomon had always been in God's mind, always intended as a blessing to Israel (within his own lifetime), and then the entire world (through his descendant, Jesus).

What am I trying to say - that God willed the sin of David and Bathsheba to bring about some greater good?  Of course not!  What David did was evil, the exact opposite of what God desired.  It was horrible and even though David repented and God forgave him, David was still required to pay a temporal price for his sin.  (You and I are for our sins as well.  See here and here, for more.)

What I am saying is that we have a God Who is bigger than our sin, Who is not limited by it.  He sees our sins, our free choices to go against His will; and then in His own utterly incredible way He weaves even those sinful choices into His plans.  He is never the author of the evils we perpetrate; but He is the author of the good He is able to create out of our atrocities - the child conceived through adultery, fornication, or even a sin as despicable as rape - that child that, no matter how he or she was conceived, has been woven into God's plan to bless the world.  Only God, only God, can do this.  He stands outside of space and time and meets our freedom to sin with His own freedom to bless.

So whatever you are dealing with, whatever frustration or injustice - a cheating spouse, an act of violence, an illness, whatever it is - remember that Your Father loves You and that beyond all of our understanding, He is able to weave even this into His eternal plan to save you and this world.  That is our Faith.  It's written right there in Jesus' family tree (Mt. 1:6-7).

"O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! ...We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose."  (Rom. 11:33; 8:28)

2 comments:

  1. I lost my 5 years relationship during october. My ex left me with so much pains and since then i have been heart broken and shattered. I have contact many spell casters and they rip me off my money without any result. I have Emailed so many sites online looking for a good spell caster till i was directed by a 23years old girl to :Akwukespiritualtemple@gmail.com
    . At first i never believed him ...but after i did as he directed my ex came back to me, if you have any problem please contact him now on this email:Akwukespiritualtemple@gmail.com
    i assure you that once you fellow his direction all your problem will be solve

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  2. Friend, you have done something extremely dangerous to your soul. You have made contact with the demonic. The God of Jews and Christians is very clear:
    "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, OR CASTS SPELLS, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God." (Deut. 18:9-13).
    If you are a Christian you need to renounce this, go to Confession as quickly as possible, and never attempt something like this again.

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