In October 2017, a fire destroyed several buildings in Santa Rosa, but left the Carl’s Junior fast food restaurant unscathed. In gratitude, the employees began making 165 Super Star double hamburgers with cheese for the firemen, but the heat from the overworked grill caught the restaurant on fire. Fortunately, the six employees were uninjured. The same cannot be said about the building or the burgers.
Have you ever had a day when it seemed like you just couldn’t win? Everything you do goes wrong. It seems like the universe is conspiring against you, and sometimes we mistakenly lay the blame on the Lord. James wrote:
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13).
People often try to comfort the grieving by explaining, “The Lord took your son (or daughter, or mother, or father, or friend),” but that’s wrong. James explained:
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:16, 17).
So, where does all the pain and evil in this world come from? We can trace it back to the Garden of Eden – to the Fall. Thorns and weeds, sickness and death – even flaming hamburger joints – came as a result of rebellion. All of the disorder, disease, and despair are a result of a world out of harmony with God.
Now do you understand why Jesus taught us to pray “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done”?