disassembling lies

One of the most powerful things I experienced in my healing journey was discovering the Truth about myself and God. I mentioned before that it's not so much what we experience in life that harms us, as do the lies we believe as a result of what we experience.  These "strongholds", or as Pastor Les calls them, "demonic logic", are what eat away at our minds, bodies, and souls, and wreak terrible havoc on our ability to live and enjoy life.  Sometimes the lies are pronounced, but some are more subtle, and we don't notice that we are buying into them until Truth comes blaring through.

 Paul talks about this concept in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (just so ya know I'm not making this up)

  "The world doesn't fight fair.  But we don't live or fight our battles that way - never have and never will.  The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture.  We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of a life shaped by Christ." (The Message)

In context, Paul is speaking in defense of his ministry, so the weapons he speaks of are Truth, God-given Understanding, the Scripture, and our Authority in Christ.

With the help of some great mentors, I was exposed to the truth. I wrestled with it, argued with it, and saturated myself with it until the Holy Spirit began to turn head knowledge into a real revelation to me.
I had "head knowledge" for years. I could spout off a ton of memory verses about how "God so loved the world" and we are "created in His image", but it never changed my life. I still, at the core of me, believed that I was an exception. I had a sneaking suspicion that while God loved the world, He was angry with me. Maybe God had great plans for other people, but for some reason, I was sub-par and would fail at even the most mediocre plans He had for me.  And it was just as well.  As long as God and I had a handshake relationship, He couldn't expect too much of me, and I couldn't expect too much from Him.
But when God in the Holy Spirit turns head knowledge into heart revelation, it becomes woven into the fiber of who we are, and untangling it becomes near impossible. That is when real change occurs.

One of my great passions in life is to see people (and hurting girls specifically) discover the Truth.

All of that said, here's one lie we're going to disassemble today:

Lie:  "My existence is an accident. I am on this planet by chance / happenstance / fluke / mistake." 

Truth: "I was created by God on purpose, for a purpose."

There are so many things that I could say regarding this simple truth. It's profound in its simplicity. But it makes such a HUGE difference when we start to understand that we are here by divine will. 
Now, if we believe this, Satan will throw a bunch of things at us regarding God's intention, His decision making skills, our ability to do what God has purposed for us, what it says about us if we aren't walking in God's purpose, or how we've failed in one way or another by simply breathing in and out every day.

FORGET THAT NONSENSE. We'll get there. There are truths to refute all of those arguments.
Today, just revel in the fact that you are not a mistake. You were brought forth from the heart of God, intentionally. He wants you here right now because He has amazing things in mind for you. And no matter what that looks like or how it plays out, His plans for us match our personality, our preferences, dreams, hopes, and abilities. We can be excited about our future, because He's right here with us, glad that we've hung on this long, and excited to show us the next thing.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9


"Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love." Ephesians 1:4 (The Message)


"You did no choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last..." John 15:16


"This is the kind of love we are talking about - not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God." 1 John 4:10 (The Message)


I think people like the girl in this video are a special wink from Heaven. How can anyone argue that this precious girl with her amazing abilities came together by a random grouping of cellular energy? There's a Creator at work, here. And while my life may not look at all like this, (although I can hammer out a mean "chopsticks") my life is no less significant and I am no less talented in the area of my destiny.




Addendum:

A dear friend of mine, Tempy, is an awesome example of a heart pursued by God. She has survived horrific abuse and has found herself on the other side sifting through many of the same lies I did. Tempy is a courageous and eloquent woman, and I'm glad to know her. Here's a link to one of her most recent revelations. 

Crackers & Juiceboxes

handy man

It’s hard to have a “savior” unless we recognize our need to be saved. It’s hard to be grateful for a rescuer if we don’t feel the need to be rescued.  I don’t know if it was my pride or my stupidity that made me blind to my true condition. Maybe it was utter hopelessness or having been let down so many times in life... I had no real faith that God or anyone would ever come to my side and help me. But somewhere along the line I stopped looking for a redeemer. I stopped praying for a savior and tried to save myself. And when that failed, I tried to end myself. 

Life is not all bad, all the time. I know many, many people that are perfectly happy - seemingly oblivious to the fact that they are dead or dying spiritually.  Maybe, like me, they have a sense somewhere deep inside that there “has to be more to life”.  Maybe, like me, they’ve given up hope and decided to be content with the emptiness. Or maybe, like me, they’ve come to despise the emptiness, and after a string of vain attempt to fill the hole, they come to despise their very existence. 

Whatever level of awareness, whatever level of “drama”, I think we have to come to a place in life sooner or later where we realize that we are absolutely without hope in this life without God.  

I had a relationship with Jesus from the time I was a little girl. I went to church, read my Bible, and said my bedtime prayers. And because I had accepted Christ, I had a free ticket to heaven. But it wasn’t until I found myself face down, pinned to the floor with absolutely NO way out that I met my true Savior. Coming into the truth of my real condition brought me into an awe, appreciation, and love of my God that I had never before experienced. 

People ask me sometimes how I got to a point of intimacy with God. It’s definitely not because I’m "awesome" and I’ve done this or that to “get close”.  It’s simply that I was reduced to a place where I stared into the blackness of life without Him, and I chose to beg God to meet me. I stayed still and listened, I learned to trust (HUGE), and I LET Him rescue me. He longs for us. He hurts for us. He did all of the work. I just cried out, and He heard me.

David the psalmist king, was amazing at crying out, and I believe it’s one of the reasons he was considered “beloved of God”. 

Psalm 31 is a token passage for me.

“In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; 

let me never be put to shame; 

deliver me in your righteousness. 

Turn your ear to me,

come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,

a strong fortress to save me.

Since you are my rock and my fortress,

for the sake of your name lead and

guide me.

Free me from the trap that is set fore me,

for you are my refuge.

Into your hands I commit my spirit;

redeem me, O Lord, the God of truth.

It’s interesting to me that Christ used these exact words on the cross. An act of complete, obedient surrender... “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit...” (Luke 23:46)

God, let me be so completely yours that I can confidently release control and say the words of your beloved... “Father, I place my life in your hands!”

Intentions and Affections

I liked the passages for today. (See the reading list for Jan 25 below) I've read them before, but each time, God brings new insight and new understanding.

The story of Joseph is amazing. It's been popularized and plagiarized to the point I think it has lost its power to some of us.  But I really relate to this guy. And I want my life to shine with the example his did.

Starting in Genesis 37, Moses recounts the coming-of-age story of Joseph. Long story short, this boy could not catch a break! He was gifted and despised for it. He was betrayed and left for dead by his own family. He was sold as an object, taken to a place where he knew no one and no one knew him, thrown in jail for trying to do the right thing, abandoned by someone who promised to help him, ignored, displaced, and then asked to help the very brothers that had so badly mistreated him.

There are plenty of counts that prove Joseph's humanity. He wasn't some noble, arrogant, shoo-in for the throne of some foreign country. He was deeply emotional, deeply intuitive, and deeply in love with his God.  The part of the story we read today is one of my favorite promises in the Bible.

Joseph is placed in a position of incredible power. He had the ability, motivation, and clout to have his entire family executed. And frankly, his brothers were afraid of him.

They come to him, begging his forgiveness.

I stop here and think, because of the pain in my own heart toward certain people. And I have forgiven them as an act of obedience to God, but the wounds in my soul are harder to heal. Honestly, I think that's ok! I think it's normal. I have to constantly pray for God's heart toward someone... to see them through His eyes. And I know the emotions will follow. Forgiveness does not mean it's "alright". It does not mean forgetting.  Forgiveness means that I have forfeited the right to revenge (and eye for an eye), and given the power of justice back to my heavenly Father, trusting that He will make everything "alright" in the end. And that's exactly what Joseph did here.

Genesis 50:18-20 "His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.  But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid.  Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

After all he'd been through, Joseph recognized the sovereignty of God over his life. The story of God does not begin and end with me. It just doesn't. The story of God is an epic that plays out over eternity, and my role is what it is, even if it means that God has to take something heinous and turn it out for the good of "saving many lives".

The word "sovereignty" is big for me. When I don't understand, and I want to ask God "why?!", I know that He knows the answers, and He is in control. And that only works if I understand His heart and His intentions toward me.  The story of Joseph is an awesome example of life just smacking... and God's intentions in the midst.

What do you think God's intentions are? Do you really believe that He is good? Really?

Do my own words hold more meaning because you know that I have greatly suffered?

grace is enough

My counselor at Mercy was big on the phrase, "Be sick like an adult". Identify what my needs are, express them and get them met, and then stop whining. Yeah. I'm only partly winning. After eight days of random symptoms, low grade fevers, and extreme fatigue, I decided to finally go to the doctor this morning. Everything looks great except that my lymph nodes are swollen. She said I'm definitely fighting off something, but she suspects it's viral and that I should feel much better in the next 2-3 days.
They ran a CBC and a Blood Chem just to make sure every thing's copacetic.

As much as I've given my best effort to continue with life as normal even though I'm so tired and achy that all I desire is my bed, It's super frustrating to be "under the weather". But I'm learning more and more to watch the thoughts that assault my lil tired mind.
Our Psalm for today in Psalm 19:14 says "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer". 
That's all well and good, but how?  2 Corinthians 10:4-5  "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
The Message Bible writes "We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ." (emphasis mine)

I gotta admit. The last thing I've wanted to do over the past couple of days is study the Bible. My flesh is screaming, "OUCH! SLEEP!"  And I definitely don't want to over-spiritualize things. I'm an etherial being living in a concrete world. (that sounded like a Madonna song) It makes no sense to forfeit our present, natural reality completely... hence, my visit to the doctor this morning! But I also know that there is more to this life than what we can see.
So, while my body does its work to fight off this virus of sorts, it is my responsibility to keep my mind fixed on things above. To do my part in the Spiritual sense so that I stay on top of the real battle. That battle is in my mind.
Speaking the Word aloud - quoting scriptures - just hearing them come out of my own mouth builds my faith. Praying in honesty and reading the Bible, even when it seems to make little to no sense. It's going in, and the Holy Spirit is doing a work whether I see immediate results or not.
I'm sharing this because I needed the kick in the butt I got from God this morning. No time is wasted unless I allow it. And just because I feel icky doesn't mean that I have the right to remain idle in my quest for Him.
I sound really holy, huh? :) heh.  Yeah, I'm going to finish this blog, finish my Bible reading, pray and take a nap. Shield of faith up, sword of the spirit armed and ready. God, you gotta do the rest.

"My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness."
-2 Corinthians 12:9

He hears!

I think sometimes I don't pray because I'm not sure what to say. Things get so jumbled up in my mind, my emotions are all over the place, and the words will not come out. I'm more comfortable curling up in a ball and trying to "sleep it off" than calling out to God. But it is SO profound to me how much God hears!

Genesis records the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain. In essence, Cain was jealous of Abel's relationship with God, and he let it fester into a murderous rage. He lured Abel into a field and killed him. Genesis 4:10 records God's response: "The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground."
That's intense.
There are many, many references to God's alertness to our condition.  Exodus 3:7 says "God said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain."  Then He sent Moses to "let His people go..."

One of my personal favorites is in Romans 8:12: "God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along.  If we don't know what or how to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans." (The Message)

My heart goes out to the Haitian people. They might not know what to pray or whom to pray to, but there is so much Biblical evidence to prove that God hears them. The blood of the innocent cries from the ground. And I know His heart. In a time where there are SO many questions about the character of God in the face of this tragedy, I know that His heart breaks. He sees their pain, hears their cries, and intervenes in many ways that aren't immediately evident to us.

And as for us, this subject is so close to my heart. Because, when I don't know how to pray - I've been in situations where all I could do is moan - I know that God's heart is postured toward me. I am significant to Him. You are significant to Him. You don't have to be a priest or Bible scholar to be heard by God. He sees you, and He promises that you'll never be alone.
Selah

tsk tsk

Shame is an incredibly powerful human emotion - one that I have struggled with most of my life.  The reason that shame is so devastating, is because it the number one hinderance in relationships. Shame keeps us alone and isolated, unable to reach out in our perceived inferiority, and unable to even ponder God as we cower in His holiness. Taken to its logical extreme, shame is a killer. People say, "I just died." And it's not far from true. Shame is what drove me to try to take my own life several times.

dictionary.com defines it:

shame

 [sheym]  noun, verb, shamed,sham⋅ing.–noun

1.

the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another: She was overcome with shame.

2.

susceptibility to this feeling: to be without shame.

3.

disgrace; ignominy: His actions brought shame upon his parents.

4.

a fact or circumstance bringing disgrace or regret: The bankruptcy of the business was a shame. It was a shame you couldn't come with us.

I was struck this morning while reading in Genesis (doing a little OT catch up), by the count of Adam and Eve's eyes being opened in the garden.

The first human emotion they experienced after sin entered the world was shame.  Genesis 3:7 "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."   So many times, when I would find myself ashamed, I would try to cover it up. Backpedal, make excuses, hide, even run - physically run. In extreme cases, I buried the shame so deep inside of me that it became a festering wound, causing me to live injured year after year. 

What was God's response to their shame? He covered them properly and "made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." (Gen. 3:21) 

To cover the first sin and the first shame, God saw that Adam's feeble attempt to cover himself would be entirely inadequate. So He shed blood and covered Adam and his wife with the skin of an animal.  And to cover our shame - we, being no less naked from a spiritual perspective - we were covered by God through the shed blood of His Son.         

Christ bore our shame, and the Bible says that He despised it.  Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (emphasis mine)   And in that act, God was able to cover us.  Isaiah 61:10 "For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness"  It's an awesome parallel. We are covered in garments by God. 

And as far as our shame, as disciples this side of the cross? Psalm 25:3 "No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame"  It's restated in Romans 10:11  

Conviction? Yes.  Humility and Repentance? Yes. Shame? Never.

Thank you, God, that we do not have to scramble about trying to cover ourselves for the shame of things done to us or decisions that we have made. Receive the covering that God has given you through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. 

We do not have to carry shame. And that is so liberating.

Has Satan ever tried to trap you in the lie of shame? What have been some of the results of shame in your life?

Don't Hold Your Breath

IHOP-KC was amazing. We had a great time road-tripping (one of my fav. things to do), and once we got down there, we went to the Awakening service at the Forerunner School of Ministry. You can watch them Online from 6pm-12am CST Wednesday-Sunday.  It was awesome to get the opportunity to sit in the presence of God and receive.  Life can suck the life out of a person, ya know? LOL  But there are places of Oasis in the desert, and IHOP-KC was that for me.
2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

It's true. I can't really describe it any other way except that it's like coming up for air.  Sometimes, in a really intense movie or conversation, I'll find that I'm holding my breath and I don't even realize it. And all of the sudden I get uncomfortable and unconsciously suck in this huge gulp of air. And it's such a relief!
I guess in life sometimes I hold my breath. But entering into a sanctuary of God's presence - there are people who have prepared the way, so all I have to do is engage - is like taking a deep, refreshing breath.

If you haven't experienced the manifest presence of God, I'd really start praying about it. We can't go too long without air. Getting into reading God's Word every single day is a huge part of that. The Bible is God-breathed. It's His Breath of Life. Like an oxygen tank for our spirits. I know it might seem boring and foreign, but that's why I do this blog. To create a community where we can all read together and talk about what we're getting, questions we have, or just know that you're not the only one chasing hard after God.  Our church is doing the Bible in One Year program, and I've decided to post the listing here. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the Blog to find it. I was doing another program, but I'm excited about reading the same thing at the same time as my community. I'm inviting anyone who would like to join on in. There is an oasis in Omaha, NE, taking in this air together. (Did I just mix my metaphors?) And there's power in unity.

I'm also going to post the link to my pastor's last few sermons on the importance of God's Word. Trinity Omaha I think he does a really good job of breaking it all down to where it makes sense. I tend to ramble. :)  He even played with swords today in church! LOL (Annie, you know you want one...)

It's only the 17th of January. It's SO not too late to start. Start with today's reading, and then go from there. And, if you have a day off in the next YEAR, maybe use some of that time to go back and catch the first 16 days. :) Then come share. We're all in this together (insert High School Musical theme song).
God's doing something huge.

I didn't forget about my curiosity on John the Baptist. I'll come back to that for sure.
For now, thanks for reading! Love you all.

(Oh, and PS: some of you email me or message me on Facebook instead of replying to the blog, and that's totally awesome, too! I love hearing from you.)

Prophets, Priests, and Kings

Mark 1:1 - 4:25

Mark opens his gospel with the story of John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. (The gospel of Matthew opens with the account of John's prophetic birth and specific anointing, and Mark's gospel opens with John's ministry.)
I'm reading this in The Message - by Eugene Peterson, and it strikes me that I really don't know anything at all about this "John the Baptist", except that he was a little off... he was different and a little wildish, and that he had this thing for dunking people in the River Jordan.

Mark 1:4-6 says, "John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life."

Isaiah said that JtB had come to prepare the way of the Lord. After 400 years of silence from heaven (the space between the Old and New Testaments in the Christian Bible) God sends one last prophet to Earth in John the Baptist. I'm so interested in this antiquated role that God gave specific people for specific times. These weren't just men who had the "gift of prophecy". They came with the voice, power, and authority of the Living God - in a different way then anyone after the cross.
I once heard a talk on Prophets, Priests, and Kings.  That in the days before the Christ, God assigned certain people to do His work here on Earth.  The role of the prophet was to speak FROM God TO the people. They carried the heart of an untouchable heavenly God to a world that did not understand Him. Prophets were God's ambassadors.  The role of the priest was to speak TO God FROM the people.  They carried the mantle of the sins of the nation of Israel before a Holy and terrifying God to seek atonement and blessing. They were sanctified (set apart) and considered "pure enough" to come before the presence of God and reunite Him to His people.  And Kings were set up with the Authority to rule over God's people, communicating God's will in the form of the practical and every day. They spoke to specific circumstances and worked to unify and expand God's people's territory.

JtB was God's last prophet, because with the entry of the Messiah, Jesus encapsulated all three rolls - Prophet, Priest, and King.  King David of the Old Testament (you know, David and Goliath) carried all three rolls as well (starts in 1 Samuel 16), but he carried them in the body of a fallen son of Adam. Jesus came as the perfect Son of God to carry these rolls without fault and usher in a new era of God's interaction with man. That is why David calls Jesus both Son and Master.

Ok, stick with me here, 'cause I'm really intrigued by this.
Here's what I'm curious about.  Sometimes it helps me to define my role on this planet - my global part of God's story - by looking at the rolls of other great people that God chose to further His kingdom. Obviously, I have not been called as the Messiah. There can be only One. (insert Highlander theme song)  But, like John the Baptist, I have been called to proclaim the way of the coming King.
I'm just different in that I am operating this side of the cross.

So I want to know,
1) Who is John the Baptist and what was the significance in his calling as a prophet of God?  JtB was a key player in the pre-Christian Kingdom, and I want to know more about him. Jesus described him like this:

Matthew 11:11-13 "I tell you the truth:  Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist... From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John." (NIV)
"But if you read the books of the Prophets and God's Law closely, you will see them culminate in John, teaming up with him in preparing the way for the Messiah of the kingdom." (The Message)

2) Jesus also says that "he who is least in the kingdom of heaven (the Christian Kingdom) is greater than he (JtB)". That's me...  So what does that mean for my role in preparing the way for the Return of The King? I wana study John the Baptist, and I wana study the commission of the early church, because I feel that God is calling us to ramp it up and speak out in a new and different way in these days.

Christ is coming back. What is my role in that?
Follow me, if you want, as I stumble through this discovery. :) And please contribute your thoughts and revelations!! I'm just a journeyman. Same as any other disciple. (And that's you...)

Religion or Relationship?

Matthew 22:15 - 24:31

Israel and the Jewish people have such a rich and profound cultural heritage that I love to study.  To be an upstanding Jew of faith, one had to follow a very lengthy, very specific set of laws put in place by God to keep the eyes of His people on Him. But Paul, a religious guru in his day, writes a lot about the law, regularly taking the stand that the Grace brought by Christ sets us free from the demands of a legalistic religion.
Galatians 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."

Do a word study at Bible Gateway on "the law", or "the covenant". It's mind-boggling to think that in order to close the gap between man's sin and God, the Jewish people had to take such extreme measures.

Jesus was raised in a Jewish family. His early life was recorded to have followed all of the traditions of his religious heritage. But Jesus also knew that He had come as a fulfillment to the law. He knew that He was led by the Spirit of God, and that after His final atonement, the rift between God and Man would be closed.  He came to proclaim God's kingdom come to Earth by grace. In that, He attempts to shift peoples' focuses from religion to relationship.


In Matthew 22:23-33, Matthew records a time when some religious scholars attempt to trick Jesus into saying something that would justify His death.  They ask Him an inane and complicated question about how the law operates in the after-life. I don't understand very much about this "Sadducee" sect, but it looks like they don't even believe in an after-life!
Jesus' answer is awesome. "You're off base on two counts: You don't know your Bibles, and you don't know how God works." (The Message)

I give all of that back-story to make this point:

It's so easy to get caught up in these ridiculous justifications of the Bible. To find ourselves arguing semantics and comparing inconsistencies, when we really don't "know our Bible".
We have a responsibility as Christians to get to know our Bibles.  Like, REALLY, know. Cover to cover.  And not what some theology prof says, or some preacher/teacher, or some random mom with a blog ;), but what the Holy Spirit reveals to us individually as we dig in. I want to get to know my Bible with an open heart, expecting God to do something great in my life as I draw closer to Him. Even if I've read the same passage 50 times, the Holy Spirit can always teach me something new. The Word of God is living and active. It's more than words on a page, it's the breath of God.

I think sometimes, too, we find ourselves demanding answers from God. A self-proclaimed atheist once asked me, "If God is all powerful, could God make a rock so big that He couldn't move it?" (I know he read it somewhere) First of all, if he didn't believe in God, then his question was irrelevant. Duh.  Secondly, "he doesn't know how God works".
I think my two biggest questions have been "WHY?" and "WHEN?" And asking questions in the context of relationship is fine! It's healthy! But when asked in sarcastic skepticism... "Well, if God's so great, then why do horrible things happen to good people?"... the real issue is that "we don't know how God works." We don't have a relationship, yet, where we can hear the heartbeat of God. Hear His tone of voice when He speaks. We don't know His method or His character.
If someone came up to me and said, "Your husband stole $50 from me."  I'd be like, "No way. He wouldn't do that. (It's not in his character to behave that way)".  If they insisted and pushed and seemed completely convinced, I would probably respond with something to the effect of "I'm certain there's an explanation for all of this. Let's talk to him about it." I know my husband. We are intimately acquainted.  Sometimes our toughest questions can be answered by understanding how God works.

And most importantly, when we think we know our Bible and how God works, but the answers still elude, that is where faith comes in. I don't know all of the answers. (of course!) But I know my God is good. And I know that in the end... the real end... every thing's going to be alright.