Whatever My Lot

In 1870 Horatio G. Spafford’s four-year-old only son died from scarlet fever. One year later many of the properties he owned were destroyed in the horrible fire that burned most of downtown Chicago. Then two years later, in 1873, Horatio G. Spafford, lost all four of his daughters in a terrible at sea accident in the Atlantic Ocean. Only his wife survived the accident. When he sailed from the United States to be with his wife in England, the captain of the ship told him when they were at the exact location of the accident that claimed the lives of his four daughters. He went to his room and penned the words that has become one of the all-time great hymns of the faith called: It is Well With My Soul. The first stanza says:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

In all four of the Gospels, in their accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ it says that the guards cast lots to determine who would get the inner garment of Jesus. John 19:24 tells us that this was in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy of Psalm 22:18.

In Luke 1:9 the Bible says that it was the custom of the Jewish priests to cast lots to determine who would enter the Holy Place to perform the priestly duties.

In Acts 1:26 the Bible records that there were two men that the Apostles were considering to replace Judas as one of the 12 Apostles. After praying for the Lord to determine which one He would choose, they cast a lot and Matthias was the one chosen.

To cast lots would have been similar to the present day of playing Rock, Paper, Scissors or drawing sticks where one stick’s length is shorter than the rest (thus the saying, “he got the short end of the stick”) or rolling the dice to determine a winner or flipping a coin for heads or tails. It was not a gamble of resources with a wish for a return on those resources. It was a recognition that when faced with a decision or a direction in life and there is an equality in the choices, God controls the outcome even through something we would call chance.

In the Biblical structure there was a belief that God, in His absolute Sovereignty, would cause the results of the decision-making process. People may cast lots but God Himself would determine the outcome. What would now be viewed as a method of chance was then based on the absolute truth that God is intimately in control of the outcome.

This is what Horacio Spafford meant when he penned the words: “Whatever my lot.” Things in life that seem random, fate, chance, luck, or destiny, good or bad, are in fact lots in life that Sovereign God is in complete control of and those lots have divine purpose. We live life with an absolute belief that whatever my lot in life, God is sovereignly working out His purpose in me, for me, and through me. To believe this is to live by a faith that brings about a fortitude to trust God and His character in everything that comes my way. It is an unshakable conviction and trust that Almighty God is intimately orchestrating my life. Whether that lot produces peace or sorrow, God is at work. It is easier, when going through something that brings a sense of tranquility or happiness, to say it is well with my soul. While going through things in life that produce grief or sadness, to say it is well with my soul is challenging. To say “it is well with my soul” does not just mean the assurance of salvation. It is a declaration of faith built on the bedrock foundation of truth and trust that comes from knowing God, His workings, and His immutable nature.

It is this absolute assurance, faith, and trust that prepared Job for the worse day of his life. God had blessed Job with an impeccable reputation, great wealth, livestock (11,000), many servants, and 10 children (7 sons, 3 daughters). Then one day the reports came to him consecutively, before one report finished another started. Within minutes Job learned that he had lost everything: all his livestock stolen or dead, all his servants dead, and all his children dead. Some of these losses were at the hands of his enemies, while others were unusual natural disasters. Yet, even in his enormous grief, Job worshipped the Lord and said (Job 1:21-22):

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Basically, what Job was saying was, “Whatever my lot.” He says, “whatever I have received was given by the LORD and whatever has been removed was taken away by the LORD.” With that foundational belief, Job could say in every circumstance of life, “Blessed be the name of the LORD,” or “It is well with my soul.” With the absolute truth that Sovereign God is intimately involved in my life and when sorrow comes my way, when bad things happen, when life is not fair, when heartache is beyond measure, when all is lost, and grief is great, I still can bless the LORD and NOT blame Him. With absolute assurance we can know that God’s character is such that He is too good to do anything bad, He is too righteous to do anything wrong, He is too full of love, to do anything out of cruelty. His lovingkindness is good in nature, great in abundance, and everlasting in time. He is a God of compassion, mercy, and grace. His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

In America’s Christian culture there are people who bless the Lord when something good happens but blames the Lord or Satan when something bad happens. This is very poor theology. While it is true that “the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) It is also true that Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31) As Job tells us, Satan is powerless unless he is given permission from the Lord. Although Satan is the deceiver who is out for destruction, nothing happens in life that is not from the permissive will of God. Paul said. “there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!” (2 Corinthians 12:7) He learned God’s divine purpose through that thorn was, “My [Jesus’] grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (12:9)

So, whatever our lot in life was given or has been taken away by the Lord. And the Lord has divine purpose in everything He does. When we blame God for things in life we speak “words without knowledge.” (Job 38:2) To blame God when something bad happens comes from pride. We think we know all there is to know about what has happened and in our infinite knowledge (sarcasm) we blame God. There is only one who is omniscient, and He is the Lord. When we don’t understand why something bad has happened, we can trust the Lord, His omniscience, and His wisdom to know what is best. If we take credit for something good that happens in life, we are, also, being prideful. For it is God who gives, and it is God who takes away. “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

A testimony: When I was a child, I had what has since been identified as dyslexia; a neurological learning disability where the brain development has short-circuited in a way that jumbles up letters which makes it very difficult to process language when reading and writing. I especially remember in the third and fourth grade my mother would verbally quiz me every week to prepare me for my spelling test that came every Friday. It was a struggle but by Friday of every week, I could verbally spell every word she would quiz me on. She would say the word out loud, and I would spell it out loud. Yet, when I would get to the classroom and take out a blank sheet of paper, the teacher would say the word out loud, and we were supposed to spell it out on paper. Every word (and I mean every single word) would be misspelled on my paper. All the letters on the page would be jumbled up and make no sense. Remember, back then there was nothing known about what would cause this and I was labeled as a poor student with a learning disability, not paying attention, stupid, or just defiant.

Reading wasn’t any better. My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Williams, would take me home with her after school, of course with my parents’ permission, and she would work with me on reading. By the end of my fourth-grade year I could just barely read the book that most learned to read in the first grade if not before; See Spot Run. The first spanking I got in school (definitely not the last) was in the third grade because I would never know where we were in the reading book when it came my turn to read out loud and I could barely read it even when I was told where I was supposed to start reading. The teacher thought I was just not paying attention and discipline was the way to correct that. Rather than blame the education system for those spankings, God used those spankings over the years to keep me from becoming an even bigger discipline problem.

I learned to HATE language, reading, and writing. I felt totally stupid, that something was wrong with me. And I really became a defiantly poor student all the way through High School. I developed tricks and traits that would help me pass from one grade level to the next. Whatever I had to do to just get a “C” on the report card, I would do. By the time that I got to high school, I would cheat or lie if I felt that would help me get the grade I needed. I remember just before graduating high school the principal said that I was graduating by the skin of my teeth. After I graduated Estela and I were dating. As she went into her Junior year, the principal called her into his office and told her she didn’t need to be dating me because I was a troublemaker. Being a defiantly poor student had translated into bad behavior.

As you can imagine this learning disability was very frustrating to me. It was especially and extremely frustrating for my mom and dad. Remember, there was absolutely nothing at that time known about dyslexia or any other neurological learning disability. My parents did everything they could to try to help me overcome this learning disability. They would have done anything to keep me from having to experience that disability that affected me so much throughout the first 18 years of my life (and still does some). I hated reading so much that my mother offered to pay me to read the comic paper that use to come in the Sunday morning newspaper, and I wouldn’t even read the comic paper for money because it made me feel so stupid. They helplessly watched me go through all those years of emotional destress, self-esteem problems, and some behavioral problems because of how that learning disability made me feel about myself.

What was my lot in life was simply an opportunity for God to exalt Himself in and through me. When I was 19 years-old God moved in me in such a way that was undeniable. He gave me such a hunger for Jesus Christ that I went to the small local Christian bookstore and bought my first copy of The Living Bible. The King James Version made absolutely no sense to the dyslexia me. My theme and claimed promise of God was Psalm 1:1-3 (look it up, it will help you). I started reading my Bible every day. The more I read the hungrier I got and the better I got at reading and understanding. I bought a dictionary, concordance, commentaries, and discipleship books. Reading became one of my most favorite things to do. Through a series of events, I did something I thought I would never do. I enrolled in a Junior College and after 2 years I graduated with an associate degree. Then I enrolled in a Bible College. After 4 years I graduated with a BA with a major in Bible. I learned Greek (koine) and Hebrew languages, theology, history, and learned to parse verbs, the declension of nouns, and how to diagram sentences, paragraphs, and books of the Bible. I even have eighteen hours toward a Master of Divinity degree. By the time I was 45 years old my library consisted of over 1000 books. It has been nothing short of a miracle.

Remember Mrs. Williams, my fourth-grade teacher? She became my favorite teacher and in the same year I went into High School she became the High School Counselor. See how God worked things out. During my High School years, I spent a lot of time in her office, and I give her a lot of credit for keeping me from dropping out and helping me graduate High School. We corresponded several times through my college years, and I sent her an invitation when I graduate with my BA Degree in 1984. I still have the gift she sent me when I graduated from Bible College. A brass book marker with an “A” on it. She knew it was a miracle of God. That it was only possible because of Jesus Christ and His finished work of the Cross. She passed away in 1992. If she had been alive in 2011, I would have sent her a copy of the book I wrote. I’m sure she would have been amazed at what God has done.

When I turned 45 years old in 2002, I had a massive heart attack that left me disabled…………

So, whatever your lot in life may be, know that it comes from the Lord and trust that He has a divine purpose in it. As you watch your children, grandchildren, siblings, parents, and friends struggle in their lots in life, be encouraged, God has a purpose for it and will glorifying Himself in and through them. Encourage yourself and others to delight in His word and meditate on it and God will cause prosperity, victory in whatever the struggle is. Nothing we go through in life is an accident. Every lot in life is an opportunity for God to work out His purpose and glorify Himself. He is worthy of our trust. All we have to do is learn to say, “It is well with my soul, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

A Christian’s Critical Thinking on Cataclysmic Climate Change

 It seems to me that God created the heavens and the earth and all that is contained therein, in such a way that keeps the atmosphere synchronized. We know through science that green plants need carbon dioxide to live, and they put oxygen into the atmosphere. Human beings, animals, reptiles, aquatic life, and birds need oxygen to live, and they put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. All living things need water and sunlight to live and God created our entire ecosystem in the six days of creation, and it has functioned without failure since. God’s created order takes care of His creation.

 

Although it is true that creation has suffered with the fall when man sinned in the Garden according to Genesis 1-3, it is also true that God’s creation can and does still function to the degree that He can and does sustain it to display His glory. “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1-2) “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17) All creation is held together in Christ Jesus. He is still in complete control. The heavens and the earth will not be destroyed until Jesus passes judgement on them. The Scriptures are fairly clear that when His judgement comes upon the earth it will not be predictable nor will it be gradual. It will come suddenly, “like a thief in the night,” while people believe there is peace and safety.

 

I’m not saying that we don’t have a responsibility to care for God’s creation but the idea that we must reduce carbon emissions immediately or we are looking at global devastation seems to me to be out of balance with God’s created order. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere the more plant life will benefit and produce more oxygen for the benefit of man, animals, birds, etc. In fact, it is scientific fact that the greening of earth has grown considerably over the past 35 years. Makes me wonder if we, human beings, are really historically putting more carbon in the atmosphere than God’s photosynthesis can handle.

 

Let’s look at carbon emissions from fossil fuel vs wood fire. Many science studies have shown that in many ways a wood fire (i.e. fireplace, firepit, forest fire, etc.) releases more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels per energy produced. In fact, burning wood releases about 75 percent more carbon dioxide than natural gas. This is why some places in America have placed restrictions on wood burning, even in fireplaces and fire-pits in your backyard. There’s been numerous reports that wildfires are much worse at polluting the atmosphere than fossil fuels. Now, I don’t believe that science proves God, but that God proves science. Science is not God. God is God. He is the author of all knowledge, and He reveals that knowledge to us as we study and learn about His creation.

 

Fire needs oxygen to burn and it puts off carbon dioxide. For thousands and thousands of years people on earth burned wood for cooking and warmth. Everywhere men and women traveled they used wood fires for cooking and warmth.

 

Up until about a century ago every home on earth used wood fire. Millions and millions of homes burned wood every day and in some cases 24/7 during the cold winter months. And since the wood fire produced greater greenhouse gases than does natural gas or fossil fuels today, how much more was the accumulative effect of all those millions of wood burning fires in every home. Add to that the use of fires associated with the historical reports of hundreds of wars when hundreds and thousands of soldiers used campfires for cooking and warmth. Then add to that the forest fires and grassland fires that swept across countless acres without any modern-day technology and techniques to try to control them. Yet, God’s created order has continued to keep the atmosphere synchronized for thousands of years for the benefit of His creation.

 

God’s creation is so precise that we can predict with minute accuracy meteors (think Haley’s Comet), sunrises and sunsets, moon cycles, the breeding of animals, and the planting of vegetation. We are even getting better at predicting weather. There are many benefits that God has used science to bless humanity with. Still, the idea that man can calculate the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is relatively a new study, beginning less than 100 years ago. The theory that humans are actively adding more concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere started in 1939. All it was at the time was a theory with no objective proof. Some scientists with preconceived beliefs set out to prove this argument and they devised systems in the late 1950’s to prove the theory. By the late 1960’s they were predicting the threat that the fluorocarbons in aerosol were going to destroy the ozone layer. In the 1970s there was the threat of the coming new ice age. Supposedly they perfected this system in the 1980’s-1990’s resulting with the threat of the coming acid rains and more destruction of the ozone layer again. Then they confirmed its ability to predict accurately in 2004 and with the confirmation came the threat of global warming and the melting of the ice caps in 10 years. 

 

Now this science is telling us that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is the highest it has been in hundreds of thousands of years. Really? Something that started as a theoretical argument less than 100 years ago and 50 years of failed predictions is now perfected to the point that we can know with absolute certainty what the carbon dioxide levels were a hundred, thousand, million or billion years ago. (FYI-Creationism has substantial scientific evidence in a young earth belief of 6,000-10,000 years.) Just like the theory of evolution, the theory of catastrophic climate change began being taught in educational settings as if it were fact. When God was taken out of education the result was that science became God. Now we have 3 and 4 generations of educated people that have accepted these scientific theories as being absolute truth. This has recently been proven with the COVID-19 pandemic. We were told to “believe the science,” “trust the science,” and “follow the science.” And the science has been proven mostly false. A better investigating principle for anything that’s as big as climate change is “follow the money,” because it is consuming a massive amount of money globally. In much the same way that Religion was used in the Dark Ages, it appears to me that science is being used in an attempt to control the masses.

 

You know what we call someone who predicts that Jesus is going to come back on a certain date, which has happened countless times in 2000 years, and that date passes without Jesus coming back? We call those people false teachers or at best confused theologians. How about we apply the same principles to the science of climate change.

 

I understand that some people, even followers of Christ, may disagree with me, and that’s okay. Because, I could be wrong, but so could they. For Christians this is not an issue that determines fellowship. Or at least disagreement in present day climate change shouldn’t cause people to break Christian fellowship. It is an issue that demands critical thinking from a study of all angles. Don’t believe it just because some in higher education and politicians and the elite media moguls say you should believe it. Don’t not believe it because some preacher tells you not to. Do your due diligence and decide for yourself.