Genesis 50:20

“Some want to live within the sound of Church or chapel bells; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” - - C.T Studd

Genesis 50:20-

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

As a first responder many a times I find myself asking the question, “ Why Lord?”…. This question can be applied to endless circumstances within these career fields. Whether it be the countless broken homes we are exposed to, the traumatic injuries or deaths to the young and innocent, the lack of justice on the habitual offender that seems to evade prosecution every time they are apprehended for the same crime yet again, or the growing phenomena of our coworkers taking their own lives in moments of sorrow and desperation. The mystery of the Lord’s providence on this side of eternity is one of the most contended attributes and doctrines in the Christian and Biblical worldview. “How could a loving God allow these things?” is one of the most repeated accusations and questions I have heard when others learn of my faith in this line of work. If I’m honest, this question is stirred within my flesh and will run rampant if I do not look to that same God as He has been revealed to our finite minds through His Word. One example of God’s working in the life of one of His servants was that of Joseph in the Genesis account of the Old Testament.

Joseph was the beloved son of Jacob and out of jealousy his brothers plotted against him and sold him into slavery. Through this slavery Joesph would find himself working up to manage the household of a captain in Pharaoh’s guard to then find himself on the receiving end of false accusation of sexual assault on his master’s wife when he refused her advances. These accusations would result in the unjust imprisonment of Joseph for years, but through the spiritual gift of interpreting dreams Joseph would find himself standing before the Pharoh of Egypt to deliver him and interpret his dream by declaring the providence of God. As a result, this Hebrew slave and prisoner was granted to highest official position in the known world of Egypt only under that of Pharoh. This position allowed Joseph to deliver his people from famine and death. By the providence of God, his very brothers that sold him into slavery approximately two decades prior would be standing before the second highest man in all of Egypt begging for resources. This story is just one of many preserved in scripture to show the intentionality of God’s work in the lives of His people.

Through these examples I take assurance and confidence in my response to the question raised above that I can only do this line of work by my faith. This confidence is not a false sense of optimism or the ostrich effect. This world is broken, evil and dark. But as first responders we have the rare opportunity of turning these burdens into blessings. By our exposure to this dark, we are allowed first hand experiences and depth to the reality of the world our God came, suffered and died to redeem. That does not mean we have an answer to the “Why” to these exposures. But we move forward with the understanding that nothing in this broken world separates us from His love.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” -Romans 8:35

In our relative day and age the phrase “why do bad things happen to good people?” is often thrown against the love of God. But the stark reality is this only happened one time in human history. The perfect Son of God willingly came to this broken world and bore the weight of sin and death through betrayal, slander, false accusation, denial, torture, and suffocation for the eternal redemption of those He loves. This same Savior prior to his betrayal prayed to the Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

Our marching orders from our King are in this world. But our hope and trust is that this same King who came and died the sinner’s death now prays and advocates for us in this broken world. We must find contentment in the unknown, this is what it means to be man. Our providence is also the providence of others. The nation of Israel time and time again was called to establish memorials of God’s deliverance. Not because God would forget, but for all the times we as human beings do.

We must lay our burdens at His feet. Our calling depends on it.

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” – Romans 5: 3-4

“Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God’s majesty.” – John Calvin

James Doyle