Why Were We Made Marred?
Dear Mike,
Thanks for always replying so promptly, I really appreciate the time and care. The thing that I really struggle with is why the Lord would make us “marred” in order to make us humble. Why not just MAKE us humble?
The place I get stuck with is all the immense pain and suffering in this world. When I could blame it on “choice” it seemed to be the “fault” of sin and therefore the person “choosing sin”, yet now I can see that this is deceptive reasoning for even if we did have a choice, God still knew the end from the beginning. He therefore chose evil as part of our experience and that makes Him now seem very “strange” and to be truthful, scary to me! Truly, I didn’t know Him! And I still have much to learn!
I am thinking while writing this that in order to be like Him, we need to know both good and evil. Is that it? Not be evil, choose good, but KNOW ABOUT evil.
Would be glad to get clarity on this.X____
Hi X____,
Thank you for your question about why God made us in a marred condition to humble us, instead of just making us humble to begin with.
The answer is that there is no such thing as being either ‘marred’ or ‘humbled’ if there is nothing with which to contrast those qualities.
There can be no appreciation of anything of value, be it physical, mental or spiritual, if there is not first something vastly more common and of far less value. It is the beauty and rarity of gold that gives gold its value. Without the 6,000 pounds of dross that is required to produce one ounce of pure gold, there would be no difference between the gold and the dross.
Evil is the dross of life, and Christ in us, produced by the same purifying, fiery process that is required to produce physical gold, is the very rare gold that is so valuable to God.
Those who are blessed to be given the mind of our Lord do not curse their heavenly Father for bruising His own Son. He is very comfortable with His own plan, and it is all right on schedule:
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Those who are given the mind of our Lord are also given, as Christ was granted, the ability to look past all the momentary suffering of this dying realm of the flesh, and to rejoice in the Truth that all of this suffering will, in the end, do nothing less than effectuate the salvation of all men, and cause us to appreciate the stark contrast between our salvation in the spirit and our original marred condition and composition in these vessels of corruptible, dying clay.
If there were any truth at all to the lie of eternal torment, then God would indeed be a terrible and heartless monster. However, God is love, and He is not a heartless monster. He is using the evil that He has placed into the flesh of every one of us to contrast it with the new man which every man will one day be. So let us not judge the character of our heavenly Father by the evil we see in the world around us, at this time.
That was Job’s mistake. He could see no need for the suffering he was given to endure, and since he knew it was all of God, he condemned God, while maintaining his own righteousness. This is each of us, and we must all learn the lesson of Job.
Job 27:5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Job 27:7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
What was God’s response to this self-righteous attitude of thinking we know better than our Creator?
Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Let us not condemn God to make ourselves righteous any longer. Rather, let us look past the sufferings of earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, wars and all of the atrocious crimes against our fellow men. Let us ask for the ability to be patient with our heavenly Father, as we want our heavenly Father to be patient with us. At that time “every man will have praise of God”.
1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
I hope this helps to give you some appreciation for what our heavenly Father is doing with His creation. Love without instruction and discipline is not ‘love’ at all. So I pray this all serves to give you a better perspective toward the work He is doing in His creation.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)
Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Your brother in a loving Father who knows what is best for His creatures.
Mike
Other related posts
- Why Were We Made Marred? (May 13, 2011)
- Why We Cannot Conquer Our Sins (December 14, 2007)
- Job 16:1-11 - "He Teareth Me In His Wrath, Who Hateth Me" (May 19, 2012)
- Generational Curses (October 20, 2004)
- Conscience –A Convicting Conscience, Part 5 (November 11, 2023)
- Are Unbelievers Already Justified? (March 9, 2010)
- Are There Still Generational Curses? (July 22, 2007)