The seemingly tragic story of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, actually has an amazing conclusion. How can a death by stoning be amazing, you might well ask. Well, of course the execution itself was horrific, but what I’m talking about is the good that God ultimately brought out of it. To refresh your memory, let’s look back on the story of Stephen.
The church was growing, and as it did there were those in opposition to the new movement. In an attempt to quash the group’s enthusiasm, devote Jews trumped up false charges of blasphemy against poor Steve. In his Holy Spirit-empowered rebuttal, (re-read Acts 7 for the details), Stephen was able to clearly and passionately present the gospel message to the assembled congregation. While there was no altar call that day, and it angered the majority of those in attendance, the scripture tells us that the onlookers agreed that his face was like that of an angel, and he died with the name of Jesus on his lips. “And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 7:59-60.
It doesn’t mention if anyone was saved that day, but I’ll bet that many witnesses were deeply, and permanently affected. We also find out the Saul, who would later become Paul, was standing there giving his approval. Again, not a good thing, and it goes on to say, in Acts 8, that a great persecution broke out against the church scattering the believers. Humanly, it’s difficult to see anything good in this saga, but that’s not how God saw it. What we see as a tragedy, God used to expand his Kingdom. I believe Stephen knew his role in the unfolding story, and fearlessly, peacefully gave his life for the cause. If it weren’t for all these events occurring, the church might have lapsed into complacency, but instead it became stronger, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” With power I might add! All of us can relate to times of suffering, heartache or confusion, unaware, at the time, of the amazing results that God would bring out of them. If you’re faced with something today, get your eyes off the obvious, and ask God to show you his perfect plan. He will.
Donna.. I know that faith in a benevolent and loving god can carry people through difficult times. And of course the difficult times are given to us as part of god's plan for us. And of course god would never give us any sufferings that would damage or break us in a useless, fundamental and permanent manner. Unless of course we did not have faith in the loving god.
ReplyDeleteThe existence of human suffering has always been, and still is, a problem for those who have faith in a benevolent and loving god. The usual way around the problem is to say that god has a "perfect plan" for each person and that the plan usually includes some suffering. But the suffering will always have a purpose and we will learn that purpose if we have trust and faith in god. When people are permanently damaged or even die.. well, not to worry, it is just part of the perfect plan.
Of course the loving creator of the universe can get away with this kind of thing. The loving god, by definition, can do no evil thing in his universe. So the fundamental question to ask of a person with faith in such a god is, how do you know that a god created the universe and that the god is loving and benevolent?
If this knowledge has always been in your heart, or your god spoke directly to you, or you read it in a book containing knowledge of god as revealed to human prophets.. why would you have faith that any of it is true?
Ray...anything I say, in response to your questions, will be based on my own experience with God, and may not apply perfectly to you. The questions and doubts I had about faith were uniquely mine. Even though it sounds simplistic and even crazy, I asked God to reveal himself to me in the areas of my greatest doubt. Like Thomas, who missed the appearance of Christ after his resurrection, I wanted to put my finger in the nail holes, and my hand in his side to truly remove my reservations. God did this for me through the scriptures. As they were explained to me, I had to make a decision on their veracity. I like to imagine that I was a juror, and the evidence for faith was presented to me. I was convinced, through the testimonies of eye witnesses and history itself, that this wasn't a hoax. That doesn't mean I don't continue to have questions, I do, but I go back to the source for clarification. My greatest joy is to share the faith and completeness I have found in my relationship with Christ....hopefully that comes through in this blog. My prayer will continue to be that you call on Him, regardless of disbelief, doubt or your misconception of him at this point in your life, and let him do the convincing. If you need encouragement let me know, if you needs answers, go to HIm!
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