So over the past two months our youth ministry has been going through the Dare 2 Share curriculum "The Gospel Journey Maui." Yesterday, we dealt with the problem of evil. So I thought I would share my thoughts and give a little insight into what the Bible teaches us.First, we have to distinguish two types of evil Moral and Natural evil. Moral evil results from the actions of free people. An example is murder, rape, drunk driving, robbing a bank. Natural evil results from nature as it runs its course and things that are examples of this are hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, Tsunamis, tornadoes, you get the point.
Everyone has their opinion about the problem of evil. As we look to Scripture, I believe that it has a number of answers that highlight the issue or problem of evil.
First, according to II Cor 4:4, Satan is the god of this age or world depending on your translation. Now, this is not without God allowing him to do this. God has allowed Satan this opportunity ever since the fall. God doesn't force his ways on people, but calls them to repentance and acknowledgement of Him. Remember Psalm 14:1 says, "The fool says in his heart there is no God." So God has allowed satan the opportunity to do what he wants in this world, but God also shows himself to be patient, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9. That is way he is patient in coming back. He desires for all people to know who He is and what He has done.Second, since satan is the god of the age he has a method, purpose and plan and that is seen in John 10:10. Satan has no other purpose than to steal, kill and destroy. He doesn't care about you or anyone else. He has one thing he wants to make sure and that is to steal your joy, your meaning in life, to make you think that life is stupid or useless. He desires to kill you any way he can. This may come through various violent acts, (murder, rape, drunk driving, etc.) or it may also come through trying to kill you spiritually. Trying to blind your mind so you don't respond to the Holy Spirit. If he doesn't kill you physically, yet can keep you from your relationship with the creator God then he has accomplished his purpose.
Third, many of us tend to think that because we are doing great things for God, or we have a really strong relationship with Him that bad things won't happen to us. There is nothing in scripture that promises that. God always promises to be with us, but never promises everything to work out the way we want it. Read Job. Job was blameless and upright. In other words Job was a righteous man. He was everything God expected in a Christian. He put God first and other second. He lived out God's commands and loved God with all his heart. Yet Job still loses everything. Why? I think Job shows what it means to follow, obey and honor Christ no matter the cost. He could have easily turned his back on God, questioned God's existence or even renounced him, but he remained faithful. The lesson to be learned is that
Righteousness is not a hedge of protection against bad things.Bad things happen to the righteous and unrighteous alike. The difference is that the righteous have God to rely on and to gain strength from in times of need (Phil 4:13).
I hope and pray that this helps you the next time you face trials, trouble, evil or difficulties. Remember that the Lord is faithful and desires to help us through every situation we face. He promises never to leave us nor forsake us. You are loved and cared for. YOu have a purpose in life and God is going to accomplish things in and through you, things you may never have imagined.
2 comments:
I think you need to write a book. I have done a lot of thinking on this whole evil thought. I was thinking though satan is god of this world and God allows him to tempt us because God wants to see how we will react. If Job would have lost everything and then cursed God, satan would have one. But Job still praised God and satan lost that battle. I think a lot of the battle is our reaction in the end. If another natural disaster happens and tons of people die but everyone touched by this natural disaster praises God then satan would lose and he will keep tempting us harder and harder but it matters how we turn to God in the end. Satan is going to lose in the end and God will win. Oh what a happy day!
I was having a hard time and thinking about why did God create us? It really bothered me to know that God knew I was going to fail him over and over again but yet he still created me and loved me more than I could ever imagine. If I was to have a choice in having kids and before hand i knew they would turn out to be murderers I would not have those kids. God knew the same exact thing but yet still created us. Why? I know he created us to give Him glory and to praise Him but we are causing Him a lot more greif aren't we? I know his love is like none we can fathom but he has some of his children cursing his name and denying he even exists. He doesnt get anything out of that except hurt. Why did he create us then?
I don''t think God allows Satan to tempt us to see our response. I think that God has allowed satan a period of time to ATTEMPT to mislead and hurt people. But I also believe that God gives us everything we need to withstand the struggles, difficulties and temptations we face.
The other thing to think about is that God's grace is sufficient in everything. Read II Cor 12:5-10. Paul said he was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me. I believe that in the midst of the torments and trials, God wants us to rely on him. It keeps us connected to God our creator and redeemer. God's grace is unlike anything we can imagine or even fathom. If it wasn;t for grace all of us would be in trouble, but because God is so gracious then we all receive the freedom to choose to follow Him.
Yes God grieves when we struggle or fail, but one thing we often overlook is that when you sin or fail and are in Christ, all God sees is Jesus Blood covering your sin. He doesn't hold grudges or remember things you did he see the perfect sacrifice of the one he sent to provide a way for us to be with God forever. And on the contrary, God receives all the honor and glory when we fail and then change. You see God is the only one who can take something bad and change it for good. When you sin and fail, God is going to use that to make you a better person for Him. Does that mean we should sin willingly in order to become better, or to learn more? No. God created man to be in a perfect relationship with Him, and sin has got in the way. He is still striving for the perfect relationship with us, and that is why Jesus died. To offer us the perfect unblemished relationship with God. That is why you were created.
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