I was challenged to try to see one of God’s characteristics mentioned in Psalms 145, throughout the day. I wanted to take on this challenge and blog about them. Today was graciousness. Today we toured the mass killing fields and torture facility of S21 used during the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. Where is the Lord’s graciousness in that?
I will start with a heaviness warning and I know the fact that the next few sentences will be hard for some to swollow, nevertheless truthful.
God takes lives everyday. He alone is the Creator, the Giver of Life – and so he, too, is the Taker of Life. He takes life from whomever he will, whenever he will, and however he wants.
1 Samuel 2:6;
Job 1:21;
Deut 9:4-6, 10:14;
Isaiah 45:5-7
We are all subject to death. Death, as the Bible reveals, is the just penalty exacted for Adam’s disobedience in the garden (Genesis 2:16-17; Rom. 5:12-14). So not only may God take life as he sees fit, he will eventually take the life of every last human. We must therefore yield to the fact that God is God and we are not.
Here are some points I have found to better put Gods power and roll in our deaths in check-
So God is God! He rules and governs everything. And everything he does is just and right and good. God owes us nothing.
If I were to drop dead right now, or a suicide bomber downstairs were to blow this building up and I were blown into smithereens, God would have done me no wrong. He does no wrong to anybody when he takes their life, whether at 2 weeks or at age 92.
God is not beholden to us at all. He doesn’t owe us anything.
Now add to that the fact we’re all sinners and deserve to die and go to hell yesterday, and the reality that we’re even breathing today is sheer common grace from God.
There is so much about this Genocide that God sees and we do not. We cannot begin to understand what happened through His eyes.
Present day Cambodia around Phnom Penh seems like a normal Southeast Asian city. It is wide open with many lights and sounds. It’s hard to believe that only 40 years ago, one in four people were murdered. Where is the Lord’s grace in that? Is it found in the survivors, in the recovering country, and in the lessons of past, learned to help shape and prevent this from happening again in the future? I think so. I also think we do not have the eyes to see the big picture of this violent act and its place in the grand picture of God’s Kingdom.
Thank the Lord for his grace and forgiveness. Thank Him that you are just alive. Pray for my squad, my leadership, my team, and me.
God Bless.
