"School for da tids"

When things go nicely for us here on earth, we get warm, fuzzy feelings about God. Soon, however, we tend to become complacent, believing God to be irrelevant. Then when disasters occur, everyone rushes to the church, much a like child who rushes to his mother after skinning his knees.
Nominal Christians go to God only when they feel that they need His help. When things go smoothly for them, they believe that they do not need God. This shows that they have no serious relationship with God. Their shallow relationship is based mostly upon their own needs and desires, and they use God to obtain what they believe they need.
When disasters occur, people react in different ways. There are those who believe that God is God and could therefore have prevented the disaster. Such people become bitter against God for allowing it to happen. Others, though, who are more "educated" in the Church, believe that God is not really sovereign, but that the devil has done this dastardly deed to them.
Both views spring from a shallow (or non-existent) relationship with God. When people do not take the time to understand the mind of God, they think like children. By not understanding spiritual things, they do not have any comprehension of the spiritual causes of earthly events, both good and evil. They equate spiritual things with religious things. They equate spirituality with biblical memorization or with participation in religious rituals.
To be an overcomer, however, one must have some understanding of the mind of God. To put it another way, one must "know God" as revealed in Jesus Christ. One must know how He thinks and why He does what He does. Above all, one must know that He really is sovereign in the world. This is not a contest between God and the devil, where the devil usually wins. God is not the "gentleman" wringing His hands on the sidelines, waiting for us to ask for His help against the rampaging devil in the world.
In the beginning God set up "rules" by which the universe is governed. These laws involve cause and effect. There are consequences to violating those rules. We experience those consequences whether we understand the causes or not. Is it not time, then, for us to learn those rules, so that we may participate in governing the earth? Is it not time for us to understand the spiritual causes of earthly events, so that we may participate in the divine plan and not be surprised when disasters occur?
I do not pretend to know all the answers, but I confess that I am learning more each day. The Bible is a valuable study, because it gives us precedents from the past which show us the Truth about God and His ways. Much of this understanding is bound up in the study of Timing. Psalm 103:7 says,
"He made known His WAYS to Moses, His ACTS to the sons of Israel."
Israel saw God's "acts" but did not understand what they were seeing. Moses knew God's WAYS, because He understood the mind of God and knew WHY God did what He did.
-by Stephen Jones

Thank you, Father Bear! :)