God’s own Spirit rises up in us

Hello from Guantanamo North, Black Site Political Prison,          10-1-18

Someone asked me why God, if He is so loving and powerful, does not intervene to rescue people from the undeserved horrible situations we often find ourselves in. Fair question. And there’s a great answer. The only true pain, is meaningless pain. Pain with purpose just doesn’t sting quite the same.

The book of Job tells us that back in the day, Lucifer, like a prosecutor, was standing before the angelic hosts of heaven hurling accusations at God. Lucifer’s case against God called the goodness of God’s very character into question. We are told that when Lucifer revolted, one third of the angles sided with him. So at least as far as the angels are concerned, the goodness of God’s character seems to be an unsettled question. This being the case, God could not sit by silently and let Lucifer’s bogus charge go un-rebutted. He had to take it all the way to trial, and prove His goodness for all to see.

So, with the angels looking on, God created this world and all that is in it as “EXHIBIT A.” But man was different from all the rest of creation. Because into man alone, God breathed the breath of His own Life. The angels stood in silent awe of this. God, by creating man in His own image, had taken the stand in His own defense. And all the horrid things that we go through in this life are now a form of brutal cross-examination.

When we are confronted with evils too great for us to bear, we sort of become spectators ourselves as God’s own Spirit rises up in us and answers it. Our pain and tribulation is not meaningless. Because through it, the accusing prosecutor is put to silence, the angelic conflict is resolved, and we, as humans, become acquainted with our Maker in an intimate way that even the angels never could. Our troubles are uncomfortable and traumatic — as all cross-examinations are — but it has to be this way. Because we are the only ones in the whole Universe who can do it, for we alone are made in God’s image.

This is why God does not rescue us — or perhaps more accurately, rescue Himself — out of hardship. Should God run from the stand in shame and fear when the accuser starts in on Him? Should we? Is the pain so great that we can not answer? No! We must not run from this pain. God’s Spirit in us is destined to stand its ground. It is the prosecutor who must run, when his case crumbles before the enduring virtue of The King, displayed in His people, for all to see.

—Schaeffer Cox 

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