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that there’s nothing outside of Him that can limit God in any way.  Unlimited by

anything beyond Himself, God still acts according to the fullness of His nature.  It cannot be said, for example, that God is so powerful that He can do something that is evil.  Why?  Not because something outside of God prevents God from doing evil.  No, God does no evil because it is not in His nature to do evil.

 

When God didn’t provide an alternative to the cross for Jesus, it wasn’t because He lacked the power.  No, He has all power.  The only possible answer to the suffering of Jesus is that it had to be.  Not because something, or some justice, outside of God was forcing God’s hand.  God the Father, by His all powerful, all loving, and completely holy nature sent Christ to the cross.

 

Jesus began to die rightly at the Mount of Olives.  He died to His own preferences.  He died to what He wanted, consenting to the will of His heavenly Father.  Jesus trusted that whatever lay ahead was not out of control, but resided within His Father’s total power, unreserved love, and untainted holiness.  The tomb speaks of

Jesus dying rightly.

 

We however, can die wrongly in our bewilderment and suffering.  I have seen

Christians “die” when they suffer or a loved one suffers.  O’ not in the body, but in the spirit.  They give up on God.  They conclude that God is too big or they are too small to merit divine attention.  Some who give up on God walk away into unbelief. 

Others continue to believe, but their spirit has been crippled–cut off at the knees.  Life forever rests under the pal of death.  A numbness sets in concerning God and His promises.

 

There are those times when we are broken down by a lingering and worsening problem.  The problem can be a disease of the body or sickness within a relationship.  It can come as a financial reversal or the sudden death of someone we love and value.  It comes and we don’t want the cup that we are forced to drink.

 

Suffering comes to us, and we die to God.  We see the cancer, the death, the

broken relationship as signs that God doesn’t really care for us.  And we die.  We die to the promises of God.  We do not die rightly by submitting to God’s will.  We die wrongly by giving up on His promises.

 

Do you remember the time when Jesus stood before the tomb of His good friend Lazarus?  He wept.  Why did Jesus weep?  Was it because He felt powerless in the face of death?  Did he weep because Lazarus was dead, and that’s that! 

 

Not at all.  He knew what He intended to do.  He knew that He had the power to do

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