Unity Over Individuality

     I have recently decided to start studying the Scriptures: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I have only finished Genesis 1 and The Lord has already revealed to me something so interesting when I finished reading about the creation of man and woman in God's image. I've come across something that can change my life, and anyone else's so they wish to practice it.

     All throughout the six days of God's creating, usually at the end of the day He says that it is good. He does not say that it is good at the end of everyday, because when He says that it is good, that marks the completion of that creation. He may form the creation one day, and then a day or two later He completes it and says that it is good. That is what happens when He creates the waters on the second day, but completes them with living creatures on the fifth day. When it is complete, it is good. Look through Genesis chapter 1 with me to see:

Verse 4: God saw that the light was good...

Verse 10: ...and God saw that it (creation of seas and earth) was good.

Verse 12: ...and God saw that it (creation of vegetation on earth) was good.

Verse 18: ...and God saw that it (creation of the two luminaries to govern night and day) was good.

Verse 21: ...and God saw that it (creation of living creatures in the sea) was good.

Verse 25: ...and God saw that it (creation of living creatures on earth) was good.

But now look at this verse:

Verse 31: And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good.

     At the end of God's creating, everything was not good, but it was very good. Why is that so? Everything else was good, but when all was completed it was very good. This signifies something, but what is it? Through deeper studies and the reading of commentaries, I have drawn a conclusion to this slight addition of one word.

     Everything that God has made was and is good, that won't change. When God says that all that He has made was very good, that doesn't place the things He made previously made not as good, instead it changes how we should view them. All things are good in themselves, but in combination, they are very good. God's sun and moon, sea and land, man and woman were all good, but when they were all complete and in existence with one another, they were very good. Try looking at it from a modern perspective. When bad things happen, like trials, it stinks. We only see the trial and only see what is happening, and it isn't good. However, after everything plays out, whether it's in one day or one year, we see the reason behind that trial, and it is very good. You see, all things are good, whether or not we believe them to be, but when all is played out and we see the end picture of it all, it is no longer good, but very good. Pain is good, we just can't see it until it unfolds and reveals itself to be very good in the end. Trials are good, we just refuse to look deeper into them until we realize what they were there for. Trials, pain, death, failure, it's all good individually, but when combined with lessons and teachings and experiences, they combine to be very good.

     All things are good when individual; all things are very good when in combination.

Handling Pain

     I'm currently reading through Lamentations in the Bible and have found it to be one of my favorites. It is one of the more upsetting books in the Old Testament, seeing as it is 5 poems of Jeremiah grieving the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Through chapters 1, 2, and half of 3, Jeremiah is using metaphors and figurative language to describe how he is feeling and how his people are feeling after being invaded and destroyed. Up until verse 21 of chapter 3, though, he starts looking positive. Here is what he says:

"Yet this I call to mind

and therefore have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love we

are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, 'The Lord is my

portion;

therefore I will wait for him.'

The Lord is good to those whose

hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord.

It s good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is young."

     I know it is kind of long, but right here Jeremiah gives us a prime example of how he grieved the destruction of Jerusalem and how we ought to grieve and handle pain. It's practically spelled out for us. Let's first go through exactly what Jeremiah was going through, and how he then reacted.

     Jeremiah was a prophet who was warning Israel of an impending doom coming for them if they do not repent. The Lord spoke through him to try and reach out to the Israelites and convict them so that they would repent of their ways. Israel, however, disobeyed and ignored what Jeremiah had to say. They were then invaded by the Babylonians and left for dead. They had no food, no homes, no water, nothing. Children were dying and people were lying in the dirt roads fainting from dehydration. This killed Jeremiah to see his people punished and kicked down like this, but he knew it was because of their sinful ways. He watched the parent punish the child first had right here, as God punished Israel, but he did not curse God.

     Instead, Jeremiah looked to the bright side of things. As you can see above, he says that because of God's great love, we were not consumed. In other words, because God was so loving, He did not wipe us off of the face of the planet in that attack. He continues to say that God is good to those who have hope in Him and that it is good to wait for Him. What does that mean? What I can take from it, is that waiting for The Lord does not mean cursing Him and being angry at God when tragedy happens. Waiting for Him is understanding that this bad is happening for a reason, and that we can't see the big picture; so instead of cursing Him and being ticked off, we should understand that everything happens for some type of reason, whether or not we understand it or see it, there is purpose behind pain, and the best we can do is wait for God to reveal what He has planned. Seek God in times of trouble, and you'll slowly start to see the bigger picture unfold. Grace and peace.