LET’S GET THIS CLEAR: GOD DOES NOT “CAUSE” EVIL! HE DOES NOT HAVE A ZAPPER THAT SHOOTS DOWN A LIGHTENING BOLT SIMPLY TO SEE HOW YOU SQUIRM.
We live in a fallen world! To fully understand what happened in the eons of time before the earth was created is above my pay-grade … and your’s, too. But this we know:
“when God created he “looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!”
Genesis 1:31
Human beings allowed themselves to be deceived by “wrong theology” – [so to speak].
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The Woman said to the serpent, ‘Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3 (msg)
“The serpent told the Woman, ‘You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.’”
Genesis 3:4-5 (msg)
Does anyone know how, what, when or why Satan rebelled against God? No! Apart from the Holy Bible we know very little, but speaking of Satan, Isaiah 14:12 says, ‘How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!’” And Isaiah indicates in vv. 13 & 14 that this fallen angel wanted himself to be something more than an angel through pride. “You said to yourself, ‘I’ll climb to heaven. I’ll set my throne over the stars of God. I’ll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon. I’ll climb to the top of the clouds. I’ll take over as King of the Universe!’” PRIDE!
Isaiah 14:13-14 (msg)
A shallow reading seems like God causes evil and makes bad things happen like an evil genius.
IT. WAS. SIN. and DISOBEDIENCE, NOT GOD’S PLAN!
God’s sense of justice demanded he give humans the freedom to choose. Otherwise, he would simply be a celestial puppeteer. So Eve chose to give in.
“‘The serpent seduced me,” she said, ‘and I ate.’”
Genesis 3:13 (msg)
“GOD told the serpent: ‘Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. I’m declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He’ll wound your head, you’ll wound his heel.’
He told the Woman: ‘I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth; you’ll give birth to your babies in pain. You’ll want to please your husband, but he’ll lord it over you.’ He told the Man: ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from, ‘Don’t eat from this tree,’ the very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you’ll be working in pain all your life long. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you’ll get your food the hard way, planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.’”
Genesis 3:14-19 (msg)
God didn’t cause Adam and Eve to receive bad things. It was a volitional choice on their part.
Therefore, in this fallen world Jesus [God in human flesh] says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Matthew 5:45 (niv)
This world is set in motion with immutable laws of the universe; some visible and some invisible; some tangible and some spiritual.
Does God always protect us in all circumstances? No!
Does God heal all diseases? No!
Does he give us answers to everything? No!
Is this an exhaustive study answering all questions about the subject? No!
But this we know: His eternal, everlasting love will be manifested in all things. He will not always protect you from cancer, but your faith in him will bring you a joy you have never known and bless people around you, maybe to their salvation.
As with HORATIO G. SPAFFORD. Successful lawyer and businessman in Chicago. Wonderful family. Living a beautiful life. Then, his son died with pneumonia in 1871. Later that year, the great Chicago fire occurred and he lost his business. In 1873, his wife and their four young daughters took an ocean liner to Europe. Mr. Spafford was to join them later. Four days into the crossing of the Atlantic, an accident caused the ship to sink and all four children drowned. Mrs. Spafford was found hanging on to some debris. Later, they had another son who also died. Through these awful tragedies and sufferings, Mr. Spafford wrote:
“When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
“Though Satan should buffet,
Tho’ trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed his own blood for my soul.
“It is well (it is well)
with my soul, (with my soul),
It is well, it is well with my soul.”
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7
Write It On My Heart 