2nd Thessalonians

Timeless Truth = 1:5-2:12 Who am I to put God on trial?

While studying the 2nd epistle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica it seems very clear that this letter has some teachings that believers today have a hard time accepting and understanding. The reality of the situation in 2nd Thessalonians is that this letter was written to a specific group of people with a specific purpose in mind. To try to read more into this writing than was of intrinsic value to the recipient is to possibly take God’s word out of context and bend the scriptures according to an agenda. This letter addresses some tough topics such as God’s vengeance on those who reject Christ and things that will happen to precede the return of Christ. These are such hot topics that many people like to interpret them as they like and apply them however they feel like. The reality is that the word of God is not up for debate… it is either believed or rejected. The key to interpreting scripture is to not put God on trial but rather to interpret the difficult in relation to what is understood. There are some key principles which are doctrinally irrefutable that bring to light the difficult portions of scriptures that so many people get hung up on. This is the truth that I realized while reading Thessalonians… that it is not my place to put God on trial. He is God, he is creator, and he chooses to show mercy to whom he will show his mercy. There in lies the trick… do I trust him. Do I really believe that he knows better how to run my life than I do? The reality is that faith is choosing to trust in God despite the things that I understand and cannot comprehend. As I study the bible I see passages that are difficult like the ones I see in 2 Thessalonians and honestly I feel like I understand them. Not trying to be arrogant or anything like that… but the answers seem fairly clear to me for the most part. I see in my class though that there are those who have a lot of questions that are totally valid. The key ingredient though to the answering of these questions in my mind is faith. Do we dare to take God at his word and let him handle the things that we cannot understand? Do we dare to respect that he is God and that we are not? Do we dare to let him bring his righteous judgement down for he alone is righteous, he alone created the heavens and the earth, he alone is Lord and judge? This is the question we all face day in and day out and this truth has spoken to me through 2nd Thessalonians.

In my life I see this truth rocking my world every day. Do I dare to believe that God has good things in store for me, his beloved son adopted into salvation through Christ? Do I dare take his word to heart, that he will provide for me all that I need? Do I dare to trust in his process of sanctification, that what he has for me is better than my personal desires? Do I dare to see his faithfulness… so evident throughout the word and especially spoken clearly in 2nd Thessalonians… and rest in my faith that I am his? Yeah, this is how this truth hits me, that I have no reason do doubt God… who has proven to me time and time again that he indeed is good, he indeed is faithful, he indeed loves me. He will not let me settle for less than the fullness of his grace for me as his son. A few years ago I began to see this truth so clearly, and as I study his word I cannot help but see it repeating into my heart. Especially as I see others wrestling with things that I wrestled with about God’s faithfulness and things in the word that I do not understand. Today it seems that people are scared to release the things they cannot wrap their minds around… calling it ignorance. This is what the unbelieving world would refer to it as. I have come to see that this letting go is not at all ignorance. It is faith, for it is letting go of the little things and embrace the huge realities of God through his revealed word and revealed character. As I look at the cross I see not an unmerciful tyrant ruling from heaven as a dictator abusing his creation… I see a loving and merciful God who has faithfully provided an escape for a fallen and wicked creation who has turned from him. Christ has brought forgiveness, he has brought mercy and rest for all peoples through his shed blood… this is the reality of God’s character… it is the only access to justification… and it is good. I will no longer doubt my King, my Savior, my Lord, and my Friend.