Cracking the
Code
It was
the year 1940. The world was in the
beginning stages of what is now called World War II and Hitler’s armies were
trying to be held at bay by the Allied forces.
But as this war was going on, a group of Polish mathematicians were
working in a place 50 miles north of London, England, far away from the
fighting. It was a top secret gathering
of minds, unbeknownst to almost everyone else except for a handful of top
officials. Because these mathematicians
were slowly breaking the code of the German’s “enigma” machines. These devices were being used by the Germans to
send and decipher classified communication in between their different armies
throughout the world. They thought the
codes of their enigma machines could not be cracked, but through the hard work
of a few individuals and a few more lucky breaks, the information that the
German’s thought was so secret wasn’t anymore.
And you
can imagine how nice it was for the Allied commanders to know this
information! Troop movements, casualty
counts, submarine placements, operation objectives… everything was starting to
become known as the war went on and more codes were broken. And because of this information the Allied
forces were able to avoid some costly mistakes, they were able to steer clear
of enemy ambushes, they were able to affectively see inside German headquarters
and know what they were planning to do before it ever happened. This valuable intelligence deciphered in the middle
of the English countryside was given the code name “Ultra” - short for
“ultra-secret” - and it revealed some very crucial information that the Allied
generals would have never known otherwise.
Wouldn’t
it be nice if we had something like “Ultra” so that we could crack the code of
the Lord’s enigma machine? Wouldn’t it
be nice to know what the Lord plans to do and how he plans to do it and
especially why? Wouldn’t you give
anything to know why the Lord does some of the things that he does in this
world, to look behind the scenes for a second, to take a peek into the Lord’s
headquarters and see his plans and his strategies and the reasons behind
them? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t
want to know “why” sometimes. “Why are
you letting this happen to me, Lord?”
“Why are you making that person go through that, Lord?” “Why did you allow that terrible thing to
happen, Lord?” “I don’t understand… it
doesn’t make sense… I can’t see why a loving and powerful God would let such an
awful thing wreck so many good lives.”
It’d be nice to get some answers, wouldn’t it? And even if we didn’t know everything, it’d
be nice to know at least something!
Why?
We’re
not the first to have these kinds of questions.
Even people during the time of Jesus struggled with this issue. They too wanted to know “why”. Now there were some present at that time
who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their
sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you
think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans
because they suffered this way? I tell
you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in
Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others
living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But
unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
“Why,
Lord? Why? Why did God let Pilate kill those faithful
Galileans and why did he allow that tower to fall down on those innocent
people? It doesn’t seem right! It doesn’t seem fair! It doesn’t seem to make sense! Why, Lord?
Why?”
It’s
understandable why these people took the opportunity to address these issues
with Jesus. I think we would have
too! If you had a chance to talk to
Jesus personally, wouldn’t you ask him all sorts of questions about “why this”
and “why that” and “why there” and “why now”?
I could probably come up with pages and pages of questions for Jesus
that all started with the word “why.”
But do you know what Jesus could answer to every one of those
questions? He could answer: “Why
not? Why can’t I do those things? Why shouldn’t I allow those things to happen? You think I’m being unfair or cruel or
unjust? Think of what this world has
done to me: I created a perfect universe for all people to live in at the time
of Adam and Eve. But they gave it all up
for a bit of a piece of fruit. But I was
patient with them and I did not destroy them right away like I could have. But then by the time I sent the Flood on this
world there were only eight believers left!
But I was patient then too and started all over again with those eight
Christians. But then the Tower of Babel
incident happened when the people of this world decided to ignore my command to
spread out by trying to build a massive city.
But instead of wiping them off the face of the earth I spread them over
the face of the earth by confusing their language. And do I have to mention my own chosen Old
Testament nation who rebelled against me time and time again? Do have I have to mention the hundreds of
nations throughout history that have been completely ungodly? Do have I have to mention how bad the world
is getting right now as it is spiraling out of control? And I don’t have the right to do what I do
and to allow what I allow?
“And
what about you? You are Christians! You are supposed to be the best of the
best! But are you going to stand there
and tell me with a straight face that you have always been good and you have
always been faithful and you have always been devoted to me in every way? And now I somehow owe you a good life and I
am obligated to make sure that nothing bad ever happens to and if it does I am
being unfair? And don’t tell me that
you’ve tried your hardest. I didn’t ask
you to try, I asked for perfection. And
don’t tell me that you’ve done your best either! Because if this is your ‘best,’ then your
‘best’ is nothing more than selfishness, laziness, anger, arrogance, and a
general lack of respect for me and my Word.
And so whatever happens to you or anyone else in this life isn’t even
close to what you deserve! You ask me why
I do these things and allow these things to happen. I ask you ‘why not’”?
His Reason is
Love
Now,
that’s what Jesus could say to
us. He would have every right to give us
that kind of answer and he would be perfectly justified in doing so. But that is not the answer he gives us. And it wasn’t the answer he gave to that
group of people who asked him about the murdered Galileans and the Tower of
Siloam either. Do you remember what he
said? “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the
other Galileans because they suffered this way?
I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in
Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others
living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But
unless you repent, you too will all perish.” They weren’t worse sinners than anyone
else. They weren’t more guilty than
anyone else. They weren’t being punished
by God for any heinous crimes they committed.
These things happened for the good of his children! These things happened so that other people
would wake up and see the seriousness of their sin! These things happened to draw people closer
to Christ. And so in the end, the Lord
allowed these things to happen because of
his love.
Isn’t that interesting? “Why did you allow the Galileans to be
murdered, Lord?” “Because I love
you!” “Why did you allow that tower to
fall on those people, Lord?” “Because I
love you!” “Then why are you letting
these things happen to me? Why are you
allowing these difficulties to affect my life?
Why are you letting these pains cause me so much trouble?” “I know it’s hard sometimes,” your Lord
quietly says. “I know it’s not always
easy. I know that it might seem that you
won’t make it out alive at times. But I
promise you that whatever I do and whatever I allow to happen, it’s only
because I love you. I love you more than
anything in this world. I love you like
you were my only child. And I would
never do anything in this life that would not be beneficial for you and your
faith. Whatever I do I do for your good.”
That’s
tough to swallow, isn’t it? That’s a
difficult truth to be OK with. Because
experience tells you differently and what happens in this life makes you
question the reality of Christ’s love. But
that’s always been the case: this sinful world makes it hard to see Christ’s
love. Think of Jesus’ disciples and his
followers and his own mother on that late Friday evening: Jesus had been
arrested, tried, tortured, executed, and buried all in less than 24 hours. And there must have been at least a few of
his followers that said to themselves, “Why, Lord? Why? I
thought Jesus was the Savior! I thought
he was supposed to be the coming Messiah whom we’ve been waiting to see for
thousands of years! I thought he was God
himself! But now he’s dead! He’s lying in a tomb! How could that have happened? It doesn’t make sense! It doesn’t seem fair! Why, Lord?
Why?”
But you
know why that happened. You know why
those things occurred. You know why
Jesus was arrested and tried and tortured and executed and buried. You know why he rose from the dead. So you could be forgiven! So you could be saved from the consequences
of sin! So you could look forward to an
eternal life in heaven instead of an eternal death in hell! These things happened for the good of the
human race! These things happened
because God loves you. You could even
say that he loved you more than his own Son.
We Know Why but
Not Always How
And if
God can take something so disastrous and so evil as the murder of the Son of
God and turn that into something so spectacular as your salvation, what do you
think he can do with the death of a handful of Galileans or the crumbling of a
tower in Siloam? What do you think he
can do and is still doing with the crumbling of the twin towers in New York or
the murder of Christians by Muslims?
What do you think he can do with natural disasters in third world
countries or local disasters in our public schools? What do you think he can do with the small
and comparatively insignificant troubles and problems that you have to deal
with on a daily basis in your own life?
Your God can use those different disasters and catastrophes and pains
and problems in thousands of different ways for the good of his people! And he does!
And whatever he decides to do you can be sure that he does it with you
in mind. Because he loves you.
But it’d
still be nice to get some of that WWII “Ultra” communication intelligence and
crack the Lord’s enigma code, wouldn’t it?
It’d still be nice to look deeper into the mind of God because we don’t
just want to know the “why,” do we? We
also want to know the “how”! “How,
Lord? How? If you are doing these things because you
love me, then how are you working
these things out for my good?” But the
Lord doesn’t always give us an answer to that question! He simply says, “You’re just going to have to
trust me on that. I’m not going to give
you all the details. I’m not going to
reveal to you all of my plans. You’re
just going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing and whatever I’m doing is
for your good. Trust me.” And we can trust him, can’t we? The Lord has proven his love to us for
thousands of years and he has promised his love to us for the rest of
eternity. We have no reason to doubt
him. We have no reason to think anything
different. Because we know why he does
what he does. We know why he allows what
he allows. We know his reason is always love. And that’s a nice thing to know.
Amen.
“Oh, the depth of
the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! For from him and through him and for him are
all things. To him be the glory forever!
Amen.” - Rom. 11:33, 36
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