God and Evil -The Why

The Why

                Romans nine talks about how God is in control of all things. It talks about how God has predestined certain people to go to Heaven, and how He created certain people with the intention of sending them to Hell. The problem with this is not, “how is it possible,” because it simply is. This is the way things are.  The question for Christians is, “why?” Why would God allow such a world to exist – a world where He allows evil to exist and even flourish when He has absolute control – a world full of what appears to be needless pain and sorrow. The Bible says that it was so that He could show us His mercy. That God allows evil – Death, Hell, and Sorrow, so that He could “make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.”

In order to understand His mercy and His glory, it is necessary for us to understand how bad sin is, by looking at its consequences. Another thing we need to understand is God’s justice, and His just response to our sin.  We also need to understand that we are all sinners, of our own wills and by our own desires, and that we all deserve Gods just response to our sinful selves and actions. Knowing these things enables us to understand the fantastic unbelievable mercy of God, that He would sacrifice Himself for us! And not only that, but that God would invite us to live with Him for eternity, count us as sons and co-heirs with Christ, AMAZING LOVE! HOW CAN IT BE?

Death

 

Talking about death, as an example of evil in the world and how it is part of God’s pre-ordained plan, and NOT an accident by any means. This should give us hope, peace, and even joy about the fact that God is actively involved in the process of our deaths.

But not being able to see how our death fits into His plan should also inspire us to trust Him. Dying for something we feel is worthwhile is somewhat easier than accepting what might seem to be a meaningless, unimportant death. Look at certain people in the Bible who were martyred and God gives no apparent explanation. (John the Baptist, Steven) The book just moves on without ever making you feel that person’s sacrifice is worth it. No earthquakes, no masses coming to Christ, just cut to the next scene. And its not like this stuff doesn’t happen all the time. Christians are martyred all around the world and we never hear about it. No one ever hears about some of them.

 This is where the rubber meets the road, and we have to decide that we  really do trust God even more than we trust our ability to decide whether or not the sacrifice He is calling us to make is worth it or not. We must be willing to die for Christ, whether we can see the good in it or not. How hard is that?