One woman asked me why God would allow such evil after my post reflecting on the murder of twenty young children. Ken responded to her comment and I wanted to let all of you read it since this tragedy is so difficult to understand ~
There is so much we all want to ask God when we get to heaven, and yet, like Job who was finally silenced, we too will likely never ask God face to face how He could permit such evil, especially if He had foreknowledge of the evil to come.
God is said of the scriptures to be All Knowing, and All Powerful. With such a resume we have no choice but to wonder why? Why such evil of abortion and of shooting babies, or not much older? Why not stop such evil before it begins? Why not put an end to all evil forever.
The answer is most likely found in a very ironic place… Love. God’s love demands that he gives mankind freewill, and apart from a choice to do evil, we cannot in turn choose to love God. Love demands a choice which can be forced on no one or love is lost.
God’s grand experiment in creating a family is a story of heart break and unmentionable evil. It is the proof that all apart from God cannot produce anything good, but instead mankind is hopelessly flawed without Christ Jesus. God made mankind and desired to live in an active and wonderful relationship with each and every person, but each one of us has walked away from God, so we needed the ultimate sacrifice. God enters into all of our pain, all of our despair as he watches his only and perfect Son be murdered on a cross by mankind. He knows what these poor parents are suffering and the scriptures say he hurts deeply and is angry over mankind’s sin and heinous acts.
So why not stop it all? It is the patience of God that allows you and me to live eternally as His children. If God starts entering into the business of controlling man’s deeds and stops all evil, he has then stopped his wonderful, yet sometimes awful experiment of creating the family of God. God’s family is built day by day with those who will believe in Him, even when they cannot understand at times. This is the essence of faith to trust God evn in the things unseen. Our God must know that the suffering of some, no matter how horrible is worth birthing more children into the kingdom. If God stopped it all at Hitler, would you and I be going to heaven? No, we have to live through evil times to be counted a "saint" and a child of God.
The day will come, and it may be upon us soon, where Jesus returns with a shout. I believe that the shout heard around world will be the word ENOUGH! God’s patience and love for His children will be overwhelmed by His demands for justice, and quickly and swiftly justice will be done.
I would hate to think that on that day of judgment we who have questioned God as to why he has delayed so long in controlling mankind's evils will instead ask the question. “Oh Lord, why did you not wait just one more month or one year longer so my friend or my family member might have been saved?” We may see clearly then that in the context of eternity, the only thing that counts is how many souls are birthed into God’s family. All evil and evil deeds pales in comparison to even one more soul being saved. Would not Christ have died for just you or me?
We think it would be so easy if we were God. Intervene on all major evils but let most of freewill happen. I would surmise that when God’s love, patience, kindness and justice are all held perfectly, it demands that he has set an appointed time for his grand experiment to come to an end, and until such time, freewill reigns for mankind. We, not God, are responsible for what happens on earth, for God has set mankind over the earth until such time as Christ returns when all things will be placed back under His sovereign rule. Until such time we, and God, must allow evil to be a part of life on earth, and hope and pray that such evils will drive mankind back to a Savior who we so desperately need to save us from our own sins, and to save us from this corrupted world.
We, like Job, may question God much while we are on earth, but like Job, when we see God’s face, we will turn silent. To see God face to face will cause all of our questions to disappear for we will know in an instant that God indeed is perfect and His love story for mankind was also perfect. We must leave room to see what glorious rewards are waiting for those who love God and seek to please Him; and for those little ones cut off way too young in life by evil. Faith requires that we trust God completely, even in the things that are hard to understand, recognizing that we live within time and space, and God sees the bigger picture that we are not yet privy yet to see. But some day… all will become clear for those who walk by faith and not by sight.
So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and
under the earth.
Philippians 2:10
Philippians 2:10
