Jump Start # 1280

Revelation 1:17 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,”

  My friend, John, sent me a link recently in which atheist Stephen Fry was asked what he would say if he met God. What the interview revealed was an arrogant, ungodly attack upon the Holy God. It is amazing that some folks with PhD’s can really be dumb. Frey’s response was the typical why do the innocent suffer? He blames God for what man has done and what Satan is doing. His concept of what God ought to do is to make earth Heaven. It isn’t. There is a Heaven. Heaven is what Fry is looking for on earth. Peace. No evil. No disease. No sickness. No death. Why doesn’t God do that? He has. It started in Eden, but Satan and man messed it up. It will be in the eternal Heaven.

But a deeper concern to me, is the total misunderstanding and disrespect for the God of Heaven and Earth. The apostle John, who wrote our passage today through inspiration, saw Jesus. The image of Jesus was different than the Jesus he had known on earth. He spent three years with that Jesus. It was different than the transfigured Jesus. He had seen that. This Revelation Jesus was so glorious and astounding that John fell like a dead man. He passed out. He fainted. He was stunned. No words. No hugs. No dancing. No pointed fingers. No conversations. One look and John was gone. Incredible.

What is missing in John’s encounter with Jesus is a demanding, finger pointing, accusation as Fry believes he would dish out if he ever met God face to face. How wrong he is. When Job wondered and questioned things, God answered. God thundered from Heaven. A series of sixty questions stream down from Heaven. Job was baffled. He was overwhelmed. He couldn’t answer the first of the questions. He then repented and declared that he spoke out of turn. God doesn’t owe us answers. We don’t have the right to demand a “Why, God?” from the Holy One.

Fry, like so many, have no concept or belief in the Biblical God. They view God as an equal. They think God answers to us. How terribly wrong they are and how stunned they will be when they actually do meet God someday.

We might act the same in our prayers to God. We may think that God owes us an answer. He doesn’t. We might think that God has to tell us all things. He doesn’t. We might think that we know what God ought to do. We don’t.

The majesty of God is special. God is not like us. His ways are higher, Isaiah tells us. He is purer than we are. He sees things that we do not. He knows things that we do not. Folks like Stephen Fry want to blame God for all the bad things in the world today. Do they want to compliment God for all the good things? The reality, their misunderstanding of suffering, sin and Satan has become an easy and convenient excuse for them to dismiss God. If they can take God out of the picture, so goes the Bible, a moral standard, Heaven and Hell, and the need for a church. Fry’s way, would have us left to our own. He blames a cruel God for allowing a child to die with cancer. This is reason enough for him to claim that God doesn’t exist. However, can evolution explain why that same child died from cancer? Why haven’t we evolved past cancer? Heart disease? Diabetes? What is evolution’s answer for terrorism, hatred and prejudice? Why haven’t we gotten past those things? Not enough time? Removing God from the mainline thought hasn’t improved society. We are more selfish, more addicted, more prone to worry, fear and mental issues than ever before. We live longer but not better. Just a couple of generations ago, neighbors were truly neighbors, people pitched in and helped each other, crime was lower, and there was a sense of helping one another out. We’re not there today. Now, it’s every one for himself. Where is the progression that evolution ought to be leading us to?

God is amazing. He is awesome. He is holy. Spending time with His word, helps us to understand that our world is broken. Sin has brought disease and death upon us. The world is cursed. Satan, not God, dominates most lives today. But in the end, goodness will prevail. In the end, justice will be served. In the end, God wins. He always does.

Someday, we shall stand before God. His presence will drive out the arrogance within us. We won’t be demanding answers from Him. We won’t be blaming Him. We’ll fall to our knees, asking for mercy.

I thought about the interviewers question to Fry. What would I say WHEN I meet God. (There is not “if” to this). I hope I would say, “Thank you.”  Thank you for being there all those years. Thank you for being patient with me. Thank you for surrounding me with a great family and powerful friends who have made a difference. Thank you for the Bible. Thank you for forgiving me so many times. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for all those thousands of blessings, many which I never thanked you at the time. Thank you for Heaven. Thank you for green grass, white snow, soft babies, chocolate, sunsets, smiles, hymns and hearing my prayers. Thank you for always loving me. Thank you for giving me a second chance. Thank you for being my God.

Thank you.

Roger