Planted In Two Worlds

All things are contained by God’s authority.   ~~~   We read in 1 Samuel 16:14 that the Spirit of God leaves Saul and God sends upon him an evil spirit that torments him. Is your God this big? Is your view of God big enough to handle him sending an evil spirit to torment Saul? As believers in God, as followers of Christ, we must be people who live with both feet planted in two different worlds. We live in this physical earth, with all of it beauty and wonder and even terrifying realities. We are people who enjoy relationships, good meals, good laughs, and we are also people who suffer depression, anxiety, sadness, moodiness. This is the physical world we live in. And one of the amazing features of this earth is all that God has put in it, that has been discovered, for our good, especially over the last several hundreds of years. And many of those discoveries help in easing our physical pain, which should, by the way, only elevate our belief, and strengthen our faith in God, not cause us to abandon God and believe only in the sciences. The very fact that we can make discoveries should not lead us to praise ourselves, but to praise the One who has made himself known in the creation. So one foot is planted firmly in this world. However, our other foot must be planted in another world, another realm, that supersedes and holds sway over his world, and that is the spiritual world. The world of the heavenlies. And that world intersects with this world. That world is ruled by God, as is this world. And sometimes what lies behind the physical pain and sufferings in this world is the providence and sovereignty of God—“an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him?” Is your theology deep enough to have a God who reigns over and even utilizes evil spirits and evil acts for His glory, without being evil himself? That is exactly what we see here, Evil acts may be real attacks against God’s people and God’s glory, but evil acts are not rogue. They are contained within the almighty providence of God to ultimately serve His purposes.