Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Terrorists. Murders. Rapes. Child abuse. Fatal car amd motorcycle accidents. Plane crashes. Robbery. Adultery. Betrayals. Cancer. Lies. Drug abuse. Alcoholism. Cruelty to defenseless animals. The list goes on. Evil, both physical and moral, occurs in our world - it’s a fact. If God loves us so much, why does God let evil happen? How many times has a tragedy struck and we mutter the words "God why did You let this happen?" The truth is that only God knows why things happen like they do. We are not God. He is. It would be easy to say "God is in control. What evil does not kill you will make you stronger." But let’s go a bit deeper than that.
As you read about Job, what are you thinking? Does your thought logic go something like this: "Poor Job. He was a faithful man and lost everything. Even his friends turned against him. None of what happened was Job’s fault. Where was God in all this and why did God let these things happen? I thought God loved Job!" Or does your thought logic go something like this: "Poor Job. He was a faithful man and lost everything. Even his friends turned against him. None of what happened was Job’s fault. Praise God that Job remained faithful and trusted God to ultimately bring him through these trials! Praise God that Satan has no power that is not given him by God!"
Let me ask you this: What is the definition of evil? You quickly realize that evil is a broad term difficult to define. Let me offer to you this: "Evil is the opposite of Good." If the Bible is true, and I believe with my heart, mind, and soul that it is, all things that come from God are good. So, Evil is the opposite of Good. God can only do Good. OK, so if Evil is the opposite of God’s Goodness, then did Evil come from God as God is the Creator of all? The answer is yes. But not as you might think so read on before you think I’m crazy and turn off your computer. J
Evil is an active force. If Evil is an active force and if Evil is the opposite of God’s Goodness, we are logically led to satan; the devil; the Evil one; the deceiver; the accuser; the adversary; the prince of this world; the beast; the father of lies; the god of this age; the liar; the murderer; the wicked one; the thief. Satan was created by God and was cast down from heaven for his rebelling against God as ’evil was found in him’.
Wow! Now let us think about that and do a quick re-cap: God is Good. Evil is the opposite of God. Evil is Satan. God created Satan. Therefore, God created Evil? In God’s sovereignty, He is in control of all. All things that exist or have been or ever will be were created by God. Even that which is directly opposite from His nature, He allowed to come into existence. It is often difficult to wrap our brains around these type things.
So, why does God let Evil happen? Evil occurs because Satan will do anything and everything that he can to drive a wedge between you and God. But Satan is limited to what he can do by God Himself - so God is in control of Evil. Now we are getting to the crux of this commentary: The question is not really why does God allow evil to happen but it is really "When Evil occurs, how do you respond?" God allows evil to happen because the cornerstone of our relationship with Him is Faith. God allows evil to happen on earth because of our options. What? Pa Pa Joe, are ya nuts? No, I’m not. We have the option of blame or faith. We either choose to blame God for the evil that occurs or we choose to have faith that God will use evil for good. God provides examples of His doing this throughout the Bible: Joseph, Job, etc. Remember Joseph’s choice of faith when he said that what men meant for evil God meant for good?
’Evil’ has been called a ’mystery’ but I pray that as you have thought about these things, you no longer consider evil a ’mystery’. Evil is real. God allows it to occur. God looks to us to see what choice we will make: have Faith in Him and draw closer to Him or blame Him and turn away from Him. There are many scriptures that encourage us when evil occurs. Too many to go into in this commentary but I’d like to close with this thought: Life on this earth is but a vapor; a morning mist that vanishes when the "sun" comes up. One day, THE Son will return! And when He returns, Evil will be ended for all of eternity as Satan and his followers will be cast into the fiery pit of hell. But until that day, remember that what Satan means for evil; God means for good. It’s our choice as to how we receive it! Be blessed!
Papa Joe Mac's Commentary:
Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Terrorists. Murders. Rapes. Child abuse. Fatal car amd motorcycle accidents. Plane crashes. Robbery. Adultery. Betrayals. Cancer. Lies. Drug abuse. Alcoholism. Cruelty to defenseless animals. The list goes on. Evil, both physical and moral, occurs in our world - it’s a fact. If God loves us so much, why does God let evil happen? How many times has a tragedy struck and we mutter the words "God why did You let this happen?" The truth is that only God knows why things happen like they do. We are not God. He is. It would be easy to say "God is in control. What evil does not kill you will make you stronger." But let’s go a bit deeper than that.
As you read about Job, what are you thinking? Does your thought logic go something like this: "Poor Job. He was a faithful man and lost everything. Even his friends turned against him. None of what happened was Job’s fault. Where was God in all this and why did God let these things happen? I thought God loved Job!" Or does your thought logic go something like this: "Poor Job. He was a faithful man and lost everything. Even his friends turned against him. None of what happened was Job’s fault. Praise God that Job remained faithful and trusted God to ultimately bring him through these trials! Praise God that Satan has no power that is not given him by God!"
Let me ask you this: What is the definition of evil? You quickly realize that evil is a broad term difficult to define. Let me offer to you this: "Evil is the opposite of Good." If the Bible is true, and I believe with my heart, mind, and soul that it is, all things that come from God are good. So, Evil is the opposite of Good. God can only do Good. OK, so if Evil is the opposite of God’s Goodness, then did Evil come from God as God is the Creator of all? The answer is yes. But not as you might think so read on before you think I’m crazy and turn off your computer. J
Evil is an active force. If Evil is an active force and if Evil is the opposite of God’s Goodness, we are logically led to satan; the devil; the Evil one; the deceiver; the accuser; the adversary; the prince of this world; the beast; the father of lies; the god of this age; the liar; the murderer; the wicked one; the thief. Satan was created by God and was cast down from heaven for his rebelling against God as ’evil was found in him’.
Wow! Now let us think about that and do a quick re-cap: God is Good. Evil is the opposite of God. Evil is Satan. God created Satan. Therefore, God created Evil? In God’s sovereignty, He is in control of all. All things that exist or have been or ever will be were created by God. Even that which is directly opposite from His nature, He allowed to come into existence. It is often difficult to wrap our brains around these type things.
So, why does God let Evil happen? Evil occurs because Satan will do anything and everything that he can to drive a wedge between you and God. But Satan is limited to what he can do by God Himself - so God is in control of Evil. Now we are getting to the crux of this commentary: The question is not really why does God allow evil to happen but it is really "When Evil occurs, how do you respond?" God allows evil to happen because the cornerstone of our relationship with Him is Faith. God allows evil to happen on earth because of our options. What? Pa Pa Joe, are ya nuts? No, I’m not. We have the option of blame or faith. We either choose to blame God for the evil that occurs or we choose to have faith that God will use evil for good. God provides examples of His doing this throughout the Bible: Joseph, Job, etc. Remember Joseph’s choice of faith when he said that what men meant for evil God meant for good?
’Evil’ has been called a ’mystery’ but I pray that as you have thought about these things, you no longer consider evil a ’mystery’. Evil is real. God allows it to occur. God looks to us to see what choice we will make: have Faith in Him and draw closer to Him or blame Him and turn away from Him. There are many scriptures that encourage us when evil occurs. Too many to go into in this commentary but I’d like to close with this thought: Life on this earth is but a vapor; a morning mist that vanishes when the "sun" comes up. One day, THE Son will return! And when He returns, Evil will be ended for all of eternity as Satan and his followers will be cast into the fiery pit of hell. But until that day, remember that what Satan means for evil; God means for good. It’s our choice as to how we receive it! Be blessed!