The Origin of the Lemon

As much as I want to jump right into the deep end going straight for the question we all ask ... why? ... I think it's probably best to back up and discuss where the lemon comes from.  I realize this is going to seem more like Theology 101, but I think it is important to lay a solid foundation in which all the other truths will rest upon.  So here goes ...

When God created Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden it was His desire to have a close relationship with His creation and to supply them with every good thing they needed (Gen.1:26-31).  But as we all know Satan tempted Adam and Eve, and they succumbed  to his manipulation, thus sin entered the world resulting in sickness, death, and all other aspects of the curse (Romans 6:23).  Then as prophesied throughout the Old Testament beginning with God himself (Gen.3:15), Jesus came to redeem man from sin and bring us into right standing with God which brought us out from under the curse and into the blessing (Romans 5:19).  *A complete listing of the curse & the blessing are listed in Deuteronomy 28. 

The obvious question then becomes, Why do God's people still deal with sickness and other elements of the curse?  (Again, we are dealing with the lemons life hands us not the jams we get in due to forbidden fruit!)  This is a lengthy topic of which I will go into deeper later, but for now let's discredit the options that tend to plague our minds.
1.  It IS NOT because He doesn't love you!  (Romans 5:8)
2.  It IS NOT because others are more blessed than you!  (Acts 10:34)
3.  It IS NOT because you have some horrible sin that God can't forgive you of!  (1 John 1:9)
ALL THESE THINGS ARE IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE WORD OF GOD!

So clearly we see the source of the lemon isn't God, rather it is Satan.  However, and here comes the twist, there is NOTHING that happens in our life that doesn't pass through the hands of God first.  This point is illustrated very clearly in Job 1:8 and again in Job 2:3.  In both instances God not only gives Satan permission to attack Job, He also points Job out and sets the boundaries of what can and cannot be done.  (I realize this seems harsh but God had His reasons, some of which we will address later).  So the Bible makes it clear that God has a hand in everything that takes place ... and of course He does!  To deny this fact is to say that Satan knows more and is more powerful than God.  This line of thinking strips God of being omniscient (having complete knowledge) and omnipotent (having unlimited power) which He absolutely is! 

I say all this to say that truthfully I do not believe it is God's desire for us to focus on why something has happened (Phil 3:13) primarily because it is stagnant thinking.  It paralyzes us in the midst of our storm and causes us to look backward instead of forward.  Do yourself a big favor and CHOOSE to trust God's sovereign plan even when you don't understand it (Eph. 2:10).  How precious our faith is in the eyes of the Lord!  Besides, how much faith does it take to trust God in the good times? ... probably the same amount that it takes to love the lovable and forgive the forgivable ... not much!  God is far more concerned with our character than our comfort.  He wants us to grow, mature, and begin to resemble His son Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18).  That requires us to be stretched, but as we begin to give thanks to God (1 Thes. 5:18) for whatever lemon we've been handed in life something amazing happens ... we begin to see the situation through His eyes and good starts to come from the bad until we can read a scripture like Deut. 23:5 and know we are experiencing it personally!

Deuteronomy 23:5   "... but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because the 
Lord your God loves you."