For A Good Reason

From the movie Avengers: Endgame:

Sorcerer Supreme: "I can't risk this reality on a promise. It is the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the time stone."

Bruce Banner: "Then, why the hell did Strange give it away?"

Sorcerer Supreme: "What did you say?"

Bruce Banner: "Strange, he gave it away. He gave it to Thanos."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Willingly?"

Bruce Banner: "Yes."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Why?"

Bruce Banner: "I have no idea. Maybe he made a mistake."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Or, I did. Strange was meant to be the best of us."

Bruce Banner: "So he must have done it for a reason?"

Sorcerer Supreme: "I fear you might be right."

Sorcerer Supreme: (She gives Bruce the Time Stone)

Bruce Banner: "Thank you."

He must have done it for a reason.

That is a really big quote about trust.

Trust not just in the person as capable, but also that they are really, really good.

I am convinced that this is the biggest problem for us...and the solution.

I have been walking with God for 40 years and in that time God has taught me that He is firmly in control of ALL things. This has caused me an inordinate amount of trouble from "Christians" who rather strongly hold to the concept of free will.

I am sorry as comfortable as it seems, the concept is not a Biblical one. Rather it is an ungodly one.

"What?"

Yes, it is.

Consider the lie that put us all in the struggle with sin:

Genesis 3:5

5. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Be like God... The biggest difference between us and God is His ultimate authority to choose.

Revelation 3:7

7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

The concept of Free Will limits God's control, His decision-making power, threatened by a simple man.

"God can't help that man because of the man's Free Will to choose opposition to God"- Doesn't this sound ridiculous?

God, the most powerful being in existence, limited by a tiny brain in a tiny body of a man that He created?

"But there must be Free Will! How else can a man love God unless he chooses to?"

I didn't say we don't have choice. From our perspective we clearly have choice, but that choice nowhere near limits God and His plan and purpose.

No, it's not just that He knows the future choices and has planned accordingly. That would also show that He is limited.

The bible paints a rather clear picture of God being unlimited by anything. Even our "choices" are planned and predestined by this Being Outside of Time and Space.

"How can both be true, then!?"

I don't know, but as it is written, anything is possible with God...anything.

If you believe in Scripture as God-breathed, then you must face the fact that the power and choice of God supersedes ALL else.

"Then how can God judge us!?"

Romans 918-24

18. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20. But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'" 21. Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22. What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? 23. What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- 24. even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Paul's response here in the book of Romans is rather blunt. I usually try to soften it by saying that we, as simple time based beings, cannot even fathom the perspective of the God over all things. The only thing that remains for us is to Trust Him.

To trust anyone we must know them.

If we get to know someone and find them unreliable, unskilled or unkind, then we cannot trust them unless the risk is very low.

But if the risk is high, like our spouses, children and our own future, there must be a greater awareness of both capability, reliability and goodness!

Like the Sorcerer Supreme in the movie Avengers: Endgame, our trust in the God over our lives must be able to withstand the highest of risk...for each of us, our lives are all that we have.

If God is not fully in control, even over our decisions, there can be no assurance of salvation!

Yet, He does promise that, and God does not lie.

Do you think He lies? If so, then you can't trust Him.

"But what about evil!? Isn't He then controlling evil decisions!!?

Actually, yes...He is.

But consider this. If a bad thing happens to you, say you get struck by lightning. Because of it, you must have your foot amputated. Now you have to deal with that handicap for the rest of your life!

Anger at God, if you know Him at all, would be the normal response for a while. "God, why would you do this?"

Eventually, once you pass through this crisis of faith, you would realize that God did it for a reason and your faith would grow by necessity.

"But God would not do that! God is love!"

(Have you never read the book of Job?)

Well then, did it happen by chance?

If so, God is not all powerful and not worthy if our trust.

Did the Devil do it?

Was God sleeping or away from His celestial desk?

No, God is in control.

God is ALL powerful.

He of course could have stopped a simple bolt of lightning.

He also could have stopped the Devil if he was the cause of the bolt.

So, if He didn't stop it...then He wanted it to happen. It was therefore God's will.

"Are you saying that God is evil then!?"

Evil is in the heart, the same way faith and goodness are.

If say, God wanted to give the one struck by lightning a situation that would make his faith grow considerably, how He does it doesn't matter. Sure if God, who created Satan, has the Devil deliver the blow, then evil is how it came, for the devil's intent, his heart, is to do the action for harm. Yet, the apparent disaster is intended and used by God completely for Good.

"Ouch, my head hurts!"

Bruce Banner: "Then, why the hell did Strange give it away?"

Sorcerer Supreme: "What did you say?"

Bruce Banner: "Strange, he gave it away. He gave it to Thanos."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Willingly?"

Bruce Banner: "Yes."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Why?"

Bruce Banner: "I have no idea. Maybe he made a mistake."

Sorcerer Supreme: "Or, I did. Strange was meant to be the best of us."

Bruce Banner: "So he must have done it for a reason?"

Evil is the hearts intent of a being, not really the action.

A seemingly bad action (giving away the stone or a bolt of lightning) can easily be for a good reason, if the action is orchestrated by a good being, for a good reason.

Yes, God sets up bad things to happen, but ALWAYS for a good reason.

Do you trust Him?

Consider Cain:

If Cain had trusted God, who he saw on a regular basis, when God favored his brother over Cain, the outcome would have been much different: (hmmm, God is good. I know Him to be so. He must have had a good reason for favoring Abel)

"Hey Abel! Nice job my brother!"

Matthew 16:23-24

23. Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

God's will is going to be done...always. Whether our choices are going to be good or evil depends on our faith. Do we have in mind the things of God or of men?

If you really believe your future depends on your choices, you trust in you.

This is evil.

If you believe it is in the choices of others, you trust in men.

This is evil.

If your faith is in God, then your choices and even everyone else's are operating completely in God's will and plan toward you, and if so, they are all for good, even if those choices create trouble.

Romans 8:28 NIV

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

He has a good reason.

So, while driving, someone cuts you off, do you trust God or men?

He has a good reason.

So when your boss fires you for no good reason.

Do you trust God or men?

James 1:20, NIV

20. for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Matthew 6:26-27 NIV

26. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Worry and anger, these are not from a heart of faith in the God over all things.

He has a good reason.

So, when one of your children is diagnosed with cancer. Do you trust God or men?

He ALWAYS has a good reason.

Look, this is hard. Faith doesn't grow in the easy. It needs resistance training.

But know this... Jesus said this life would bring trouble, but that it would be worth it in the next.

Do you trust Him?

Yes, God is strange, but He does have a good reason for every action.