“God I don’t understand…” “Couldn’t you have stopped it?” “God are you really Good?” “God, why?” Some label these questions as doubts, which further strengthens Faith. “Doubts are the ants in the pants of Faith”, it gets us up frantically searching for answers, searching for a response in the midst of our pain from The One who created the whole universe. The One who died for the sins of the world, The One who gave His one and only son in order to restore everyone back to Him. We demand answers and explanations for our pain, because pain demands to be felt. Could a God whom we all know as good and loving be possibly involved with the origins of our pain? Did He cause it? More importantly why didn't He, the Almighty God, stop the bad things and allow only good things? (Stay tune for the next chapter!) Our Judgement on God A dialogue in a film that I watched recently seemed to capture the essence to the question with great resonance of heart. “What is good? and then what is bad?” “Good is when the ones I love are kept safe and Bad is when I lose the people and things which I hold dearly” “So you are the judge of that?” “……..” It is no doubt that we are able to identify for ourselves what are the things that we want working out well, the people we want safe and the situations we want to avoid facing or experiencing. Through the “Good” we praise God, through the “Bad” we question God. When there is an abundance of “Good” we do not question but when there is a lack of “Good” we yearn for more. Without having an understanding of God’s heart, we take our high seats as judges and convict God of being guilty of letting the “Bad” happen. Have we ever pondered about why the “Good” things happen as compared to the “Bad”? Maybe that would slow down our pace of judgement on God for the "Bad". "God placed me in a bad situation so I can learn" I hope that whoever reads this do not feel that I am creating excuses to justify God or your pain. God doesn't need anyone to defend Him and that your pain through the “Bad”, God wants to heal. I have heard countless statements about how God puts people in dire situations so that He can show His power, “God must have placed me in this situation so that I will learn something”. Before we form our own conclusions, we must understand that God does not require evil to accomplish His good purposes. Rather God works through our hurts and reveal certain aspects of His character that we internalize within our hearts. "18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Isaiah 30:18 The heart of the Father genuinely wants good and longs to love all of His children. That cancer tumor, that accident, that wave of depression...God did not intend. The consequences of sin in this world has rendered us being helpless in an environment in which life is sucked out of our souls. The evil that we are witnessing in a world that is growing darker by the minute is due to Sin. The reason why we pray over people, places and even our daily schedules is to restore the Father's dominion. His dominion of love, providence, healing, hope and our eternal salvation. Heaven may not appear as appealing to us if we do not know the Father and His heart for us, not mentioning that we will have endless days with Him. Sin and Love Divine Let us go back to the Garden of Eden. We ask ourselves the question on why did an almighty God allow the serpent to come into the garden. Subsequently deceiving Eve and Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit, causing the fall of humanity. As humans, we were given the choice as to whether we want to love God or not, God desires for His people to love Him wholeheartedly not as robots. Now, for a choice to be validated, it must have alternatives. There must be options for one to love and for one to NOT love, then it is a fair deal. Eve was able to make a choice. However one choice was all it took to ruin the right relationship with God, each other and creation. Here we see how the serpent deceived Eve into eating from the knowledge of good and evil. “5 For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5 How the serpent deceived Eve it appealed to her that she would be able to understand what is Good and what is Evil. leading to the desire to have autonomy from God. Autonomy is free will exercised in the absence of God. Autonomy from God not only distorts our perspective of God, but it also destroys everything good God has intended. Our relationship with God was lost, our relationship with others was lost. That was Sin's gift to humanity. Deception also means to give someone a mistaken impression. The serpent targeted Adam and Eve's identity when it enticed them by saying that they will be like God, but the reality was that they were already like God! They enjoyed perfect communion with each other and with God. Though they were naked, they felt no shame. How pure of an encounter would that be? Doesn’t the situation speak of how perfect their communion with God was? They were living with the creator in perfect harmony. Despite their choice to be apart from God, He was still interested in their welfare and desires to love them. Adam and Eve tried to cover their own nakedness but God stepped in and made garments of skin and clothed them. Through it all, He promises restoration. God had to banish Adam and Eve out of the garden lest they take also from the tree of life and eat, living eternally in separation from Him. He took their guilt and shame on Himself, so He could deliver us all from sin. A Father who longs for the return of His children. To restore us back to Himself, He gave His Son to die for the sins of the world. A Father's Love. A Love So Divine. Jesus, we thank you for Your work on the cross for all of our sins. We your children apologize for the moments we have misunderstood you and deviated from Your love. Today we choose to surrender our mind, soul, heart and emotions to You. Come and transform and renew our hearts back to a posture where we are able to fully give You our trust and surrender our lives. In Your Glorious Name, we pray. Amen. Personal Testimonies and Stories Up Next! Stay tuned for the next chapter! "Why doesn't God stop the "Bad" things and allow the "Good" only?"
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