This question of why has to be one of the most difficult that we ever confront as we journey through life.   Why would a loving God allow such horrible evil to happen to good people?  In all of the years that I have walked with the Lord and served Him in ministry, this is one of the questions I have been the most frustrated about when I have heard even theologian's weak attempts at an answer.  I will acknowledge it is a question that does not have an easy or a simple answer.  But it does have an answer.  The answer comes from scripture.

 

     Genesis 1:26-28a is a good place to begin: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  And God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule…"

 

     The significance of this passage may not be readily seen, but look deeper with me… The most obvious is that when God created man, He gave him tremendous power and authority.  He said about man, "Let him rule."  God gave man oversight and authority in the earth.  One of the sad weaknesses of our present day culture is a failure to really understand some of the most basic concepts of  the order of life.   The kind of spiritual order from God which causes  the universe to spin and all things hold together.  One of those concepts is that when someone is entrusted with authority, they are also charged with the responsibility that goes with that authority.  For example, parents have authority over their children and with that authority they carry great responsibility.  Police have authority in our communities and with that authority, tremendous responsibility to protect and to serve.  These are just two examples to illustrate the concept, but what does that have to do with our scripture passage?  Well, this may be very hard to embrace if you've never heard it in your religious training, but when God made the earth…..He gave it to man and gave man authority to rule in the earth.  How ever uncomfortable it might make us, that means that we, as human beings in the earth have responsibility for what happens here.

 

    The second treasure in the above scripture passage is that our great and wonderful God chose to create us (mankind) "in His image".  "What in the world does this mean?", you might ask.  What is it -  to be made like God?  Oh, my…..we could spend eternity on that one, couldn't we?  But, for the purpose of this discussion, may I just say that after almost twenty years of study of the scripture, I've learned that one way God created us to be like Him was that He gave to us a free will.  Most of us spend the better part of our lives either talking about or wondering about God's will  regarding this or that.  We know that God exercises His will.  What we have not often considered is that when we choose to do this or that, think this or that, or say this or that,  we are exercising the freedom of will that God created in us when He made us like Him. God has a free will and so do we. 

 

     So, then in light of the recent tragedy, we see that when a free human being, (created free to choose by the divine providence of God), chooses to use that freedom for evil, he has the right and the ability to do that, because God made him free.  But, because God is also perfect and balanced in all things, when He gives man the right to exercise the power and authority of a free will, He also charges him with the responsibility of the consequences of those choices.

 

     But if God is so great and so powerful, wouldn't it just be better in these kinds of situations, for Him to over-ride the evil person's freedom of choice and prevent them from doing evil?  Again, as hard as it may be to embrace, the answer in a word is no.  Shall God, Who is so great, go back on His own word which He spoke in the beginning --  that He would give the earth to man?  Shall He now dishonor mankind, the crowning achievement of His creation, and withdraw from man the honor and majesty of the freedom to choose?  Shall He withdraw from him that characteristic which so completely identifies man's creation as in the image of God?  Shall He now, in violation of His original vision, make man nothing more than a programmed robot who bows down to the goodness of God not because he chooses to, but because he is controlled and dominated?  No, to descend to this kind of dominating control would cause God Himself to step down to the level of evil man. The glory and the majesty of God's handiwork in His creation of mankind lies in the fact that He made us free -- free to choose.  Therefore, He said in His word to man, "I set before you this day life and death, blessing and cursing -- choose life."  (Deuteronomy 30:19)

 

    But with the privilege of choosing comes the responsibility of the choice made.  The Lord also lays out in His word the consequences of choosing evil and the blessing of choosing good.  Not because He is a God that delights in wrath or punishment, but because these are universal truths that hold the fabric of the universe together.  Thus He said in Romans 6:23 that the wages (or consequences) of sin (or evil) is death.  In other words, evil brings about the result of death.  It is destructive.  It will kill what ever it touches.  Even the person doing the evil.  This simply is true.  So, God says, "Choose life."  Choose good.  But …. man is free to choose.

 

     So, when we say, "Why did God let this happen?", we demonstrate that we do not really know God.  For He, Himself reverenced  mankind so greatly that He made him free to choose and then gave him the guidelines for how to choose blessing and life.  When we assume God abandoned us and did not protect us, we are refusing to face our human responsibility for the gift of free will that God has given us.  This includes those who did this evil deed.  It includes every race and every nation.  For all are called to know God and exercise our free will in a way that honors Him and honors all that is good.  So, God did not abandon us on September 11th.  He did not allow this evil in the sense that He could coldly stand by and just "let it happen".  God allowed for the freedom of choice which He gave to man.  God is good.  And these men were evil.  Evil men used the blessing of God's gift of freedom to do evil.

 

    But those who are people of conscience can respond by a deeper commitment to all that is good.  Romans 12:21 encourages us, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  The Bible says that God is good.  Goodness is a force, a spiritual energy which can be released out of our hearts and out of our lives to combat and overcome evil.  It would be evil to judge and condemn God for what has happened.  Justice will come to those who have done this evil.  But, we must know in our hearts that God has not done this to us.  He loves us deeply and honors us greatly. To the extent that we have lived our daily lives separate from the goodness of God, we are each one responsible for our own portion of evil in the world.  But, there is forgiveness and we can return to closeness and fellowship with God and recommit our hearts to the force of good.  He will strengthen us, heal us and guide us to His place of blessing.

 

     Perhaps you need to return to God and seek His help in living a life that is good and pleasing to Him.  All of us should be evaluating where we are in our lives right now.  Perhaps it would help you to pray this prayer:

 

     Father in heaven, I come to You right now very aware of my own weakness and the evil which lurks in my own heart and life.  Please forgive me Father, and cleanse me from my sin.  Heal my hurt, take my fears and deliver me from evil. Set my feet on a pathway of good and help me to choose life as I accept the responsibility of ruling over each of my days.  I entrust myself to You, Lord and ask You to help me be a light to others too. Thank you for your love and kindness, God.  I am depending on You. In Jesus' name, Amen

 

Please e-mail us at Praise On Fire Radio, and let us know if you prayed this prayer today.  We want to uphold you in prayer too!

 

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