Supply and Demand...

July 1, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:48.

The divisions of society are growing deeper. During rough economic times, the poor seem to get poorer and the rich seem to get richer. That is how we define who has more in American society. Those with fancy cars and big houses have more than those who do not. That is, depending on whom you ask.

One of the subjects discussed in the Bible repeatedly is money. Story after story tells us the dangers of great wealth, and not because God did not want us to be prosperous, but because money often came with great temptation.

Who really has more? The Bible tells us that from those who are “given much” that “much will be demanded”. Our society takes that to mean those who are living a good life and have been blessed with a good childhood and lots of material things should give more. Those who have been given many of life’s material blessings should no doubt help to take care of others, but the Bible is not just referencing those people in that statement.

For those who have suffered through life without material things or had to suffer a horrible event emotionally, it is important to remember two points. First, every hurtful event in our lives was a test, but God did not cause the pain. He tells us in the Book of Job that it was Satan himself who took things from Job. “The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Job 1:12.

Second, God was with us during those painful events, and waiting to turn it around for our good. While we cried, He cried with us. He is a loving and perfect God who commits no sin. If He did, He would not be loving and perfect, and we know that He is both. However, during that painful moment in your life, it is God sitting beside you hurting at the thought of His child in pain and telling you to follow Him so your pain will not be in vain. Would He have the power to end it all? Yes, but He doesn’t because He is operating on a level we cannot understand. He has control over the entire world and things must be kept in check. Only a perfect God could do all that He does, and our minds do not even grasp the concept of His task.

Because He is with us through something horrible, waiting for us to come to Him to turn it around for our good, we can see that the “what” that is given to those “given much” may not have been what we consider good at all. It may not be a fancy car or a huge mansion, but rather an abusive childhood, a death in the family, or anything else we define as tragic rather than good.

God vows that if we come to Him and hand Him the horrible problem plaguing us, He will turn it around and show the world His goodness and power. Some people have succeeded in doing this remarkably. Former battered women become spokespersons and open shelters, drug addicts beat addiction and counsel and help others, sons who grew up abandoned by their fathers become excellent fathers themselves, and sex abuse victims fight back against the abuse by educating the community.

The irony comes in the fact that “everyone who has been given much” will have much demanded of them in return. That is a hard pill to swallow when you realize that what is given may not always be good. When you come to terms with how a perfect and holy mind works, it is not that hard to understand at all.

God never tells us that He gives us the bad things, but He does still demand more of those who receive them. This is because we know what not to do. If He didn’t demand such of us, we could fall into blame, self-destruction, and sin over our experience. Those who have suffered know the pain so deeply that they do not want anyone else to suffer it. Not wanting others to feel our pain turns into a powerful message of what we should be doing to prevent it. The “what not” that is negative turns into the “what to” that is positive.

He is looking at the good in everything, but usually we are not. We tend to get stuck on the “why”. The only “why” God is concerned with is the person who is causing the harm. If you are the victim, you become the “what”. The “what” is what you are expected to do. God works through us, and if He wants to reach abused children He needs those abused to come forward. We are His hands and feet here on Earth. He didn’t give you the affliction but He knows you got it anyway, and He will use you to spread the message of how painful sin is to the rest of the world. There is one catch: you have to let Him.

As angry as we are over our hurt, He is just as upset about it. He is the One looking at you and asking you how you will work to prevent this from happening to someone else. He is on your team. He wants to end abuse, addiction, and the negative things that take us over. You, as a victim, are the way He will accomplish that task. But again, you have to let Him.

The “given much, much will be demanded” scripture is in a story told by Jesus about the need to be ready for His return. He describes the one “given much” as a “faithful and wise manager” who is serving His master, and is in charge of the master’s servants. The manager is to take care of the servants by providing food. Then He discusses the consequences of the manger not fulfilling His masters will. "That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12:47-48.

The person “given much” was the manager who is also a servant, and that person was assigned a task. Jesus does not tell us that he was given much in the terms of fancy cars and houses, but he was given much in the terms of being entrusted with an important job. Through God watching your pain and hurt in a horrible experience, so were you.

The point is that we are to serve God and be ready for His coming. And we are to serve Him even through a task we consider to be work. We are to trust Him with everything bad that has happened in our lives and let Him use it for our good. This is easier for many of us to do when we realize that God was not the One causing our pain. That is because we are still looking at the “why”. Start to focus on the “what”.

What is “given” can be fancy houses or material wealth and then more is demanded as well. However, it can also be the bad in your life that God needs you to turn around for the good.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote so many of the books of the New Testament, was aware that bad times brought us to God. Those times are an opportunity for us to rely on Him and not ourselves. “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” 2 Corinthians 1:9.

As bad as the opportunity may seem, God will turn it around. He knows we are much safer and productive in life relying solely on Him. His strength can protect us no matter what we face, but our own strength cannot. That is precisely why scripture tells us during our weakest moments God is asking more of us. He does not want anything you suffer through to ever be for nothing. “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. At your weakest moment, only His power survives.

God is not the supplier of evil, but He is the One that demanded the good would triumph over it.

Luckily, good always wins.