This morning I was reading in my devotional about God's justice. A lot of people ask why God seems to let bad things happen. How could a God that is so great and unfathomable let horrible things happen to people, countries, nations, etc.? We really can't comprehend God, no matter how we try to fit him into our small human words. His plan is greater than us, and it all boils down to his justice in the end. We, as Christians, need to be convinced that everything that He does is right, even if we don't understand it. A lot of times we say we trust Him, but actually, deep down inside, we don't really believe that it is right.
In Jeremiah chapter 12, the prophet asked God why the way of the wicked prospers and why the faithless live at ease while he and his people suffer. God's response was profound. Basically, God was telling Jeremiah, "All you have to do is trust me." In verse 7, He says, "I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies." And He did give the one he loved. Jesus. The ultimate sacrifice. God's one and only beloved Son. Jesus came to save us all, regardless of who we are and what we have done. He gave the one to save the many.
There is a story called "The Drawbridge Keeper" that puts into stark perspective God's sacrifice.
There was once a bridge that spanned a large river. During most of the day, the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing the train to cross it.
A switchman sat in a shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock into place as the train crossed.
One evening, as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights. He stepped onto the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance. Then he was to turn the bridge. He turned the bridge into position, but to his horror, he found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position, it would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river. This would be a passenger train with many people aboard.
He left the bridge turned across the river and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river, where there was a lever switch he could hold to operate the lock manually.
He would have to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backwards to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.
Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.
"Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run! Run!" But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time.
The man almost left his lever to snatch up his son and carry him to safety. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever in time if he saved his son.
Either many people on the train or his own son -- must die.
He took but a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its way; and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging to the locking lever long after the train had passed. They did not see him walking home more slowly that he had ever walked; to tell his wife how their son had brutally died.
Now, if you comprehend the emotions that went through this man's heart, you can begin to understand the feelings of Our Father in Heaven when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life.
Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son died? How does He feel when we speed along through life without giving a thought to what was done for us through Jesus Christ?
In modern times, the movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan shows this sacrifice as well when Spock gives his life to save the Enterprise, and he tells Kirk, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."
People of today do not think of others as often as they should. We are a selfish people, worrying about our own needs, wants and desires. My challenge today: Can you put someone before yourself for one week? Why not try a whole month? Make it a lifestyle. Think about the needs of others before fulfilling your needs. You never know what sort of a day they might be having. They may not know what sort of a day you may be having, but God will look down on your efforts and smile, because this is how Jesus lived and this is how God wants us all to live. Unselfishly, trusting in God to sort out our problems and knowing that He is coming soon!
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