THE BIG PICTURE

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“If there is a God, why is there so much evil in this world?”

“Why poverty?”  “Why disasters?”  “Why wars?”  

The list goes on ad nauseam.

We’ve at one time or another asked these questions, right? I have. And they’ve boggled my mind.

Have many rejected God for these reasons? Would you, pretty please, bear with me and patiently read this introspection…  

I’m no brainiac, scientist or preacher, yet I see it clearly. This beautiful world we live in, and the universe we’ve come to know more and more because of NASA, speak loads about One so powerful and mighty, He must have made all of these possible.  

Any scientist worth his salt will attest: nothing comes from nothing; for every action, a reaction. Everyone’s quite agog about the big bang theory; yet who or what ignited the big bang, and what causes the universe and its milky ways to percolate as they’re doing so now? We’d surely be crushed to smithereens without someone powerful enough controlling them. Could only be God!

Image credit: NASA.com

Here’s the mind-boggling part for me: the nature of man. Dust, you and I are, right? (Ever peered at the cremation chamber and seen one’s material remains—maybe once an illustrious and powerful person—now burnt to a crisp, then to dust?) The bible is right, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Genesis 3:19b.

So if we’re mere dust, what are we really? God’s awesome creation—just like the mind-boggling universe. But God desired something better for this dust. He breathed life into it, Genesis 2:7.

Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” That’s what it means “to be created in His image”—not this body we pamper with age-defying enhancements and blings.

Our body is just the laminate. The breath of God in you—that’s the real deal!  

And being created in His image, we too have the same free will as God’s. Freedom of choice is the one distinctive which makes man stand taller than, say, elephants, whales, dolphins, dogs—no matter how smarty-pants they’ve been trained to be.

Free will caused man’s downfall. Adam and Eve fell for the serpent’s (actually the devil’s) ruse. Yet, God being God had prepared in advance a rescue plan. Jesus, who reigned with Him from eternity, came to save lost humanity. No one else could ransom sinful man from sin but God’s only Son.

He thus set aside for Himself a nation—Israel—through whom Jesus stepped down to earth. A man just like you and me, He became acquainted with our grief and struggles. By His dying on the cross, He ransomed us from sin, reuniting us with our Creator God.

Yet man is still given a choice. Salvation is not automatic. Remember, He has given us free will.

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That’s why today, those who have already believed in Christ are being sent to the ends of the earth to make Jesus known—the Savior of mankind. To thus reunite man with our Creator God. Jesus is our way back to the Father! History’s sinners, and today’s sinners—as long as they placed their faith in God, and later on, in Jesus—could now be back in His grace!

So, dear John and Judy, let’s circle back to our original question. “If there is a God, why is there so much evil in this world?”

You and I live in a fallen world. Sin abounds. It has caused us to abuse our limits, skew our sense of right and wrong, blur our senses from discerning truth from lie, enthrone dictators and autocrats who enslave and invade others to quench their thirst for power and conquest.

God is continuously calling us out. He’s still withholding His full wrath, patiently demonstrating His love through Jesus, and waiting for people to repent and accept His grace. This verse is key: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that those believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16.

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What about the tribes and nations who worship vain idols and false gods? Worry not. He promised that the end will not come until the gospel has been preached to everyone. Everyone!

Christian missionaries have infiltrated once unreached tribes. The internet has made it possible for the gospel to go viral, everywhere.

It’s a phenomenon! Throughout history, billions of I-me-and-myself-centered and prideful souls who’ve encountered Jesus have testified of changed hearts and lives. The living Word—Jesus—turns lives around, no matter their circumstance. In closed cultures and tribes—those who worship detestable  gods—no amount of beheadings, burnings and abuses could stop believers from believing in Jesus.  

So, is God a hard taskmaster, having let suffering to proliferate?

Ann Graham Lotz: “For years, we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools… government… our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

This book by Amir Tsarfati
might help you understand
the Book of Revelation.

God does not leave us in the dark about His plans. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 of the signs to usher in the end times, e.g., wars, famine, earthquakes, increased wickedness. Are we seeing these now? Most definitely, and with greater intensity. Yet, greater wrath is yet to come.

Read Revelation. More terrible times lie ahead, that’s for sure. Yet this shouldn’t surprise us or cause us to fear. His love and grace still abound. He’s still waiting for everyone to repent. Have you? Call on Jesus that you may be saved. 

That’s God’s whole s scheme of things. How do you see yourself in it?

God being God never misses a bit. His purpose will prevail. He wants everyone to humble himself before Him—that the curse of sin and death may vanish and we be restored to a relationship with Him, in the kingdom He originally planned for us to inhabit.  

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your great love. You’ve patiently waited for me. Today, I let go of my pride, forgive me. I repent of my sins. Jesus I confess I am lost without you. Be my Savior and my Lord. Save me from the wrath that is to come. Holy Spirit, help me to obey, in Jesus’ name. Amen.