Why is their evil in the world? Why would a good and loving
God allow such things to happen. Why would he let that little boy be killed,
that little girl be kidnapped and sold into slavery? Why are these things
happening in my life when I am trying so hard? These are the kind of questions
we have all asked or pondered at some time or another. These are the things
that keep many of us questioning, doubting, maybe even the things that keep us
from placing our faith in God and trusting him with our lives.
If we take a look at the word of God and the history of
mankind, I believe the answer becomes all too clear. Genesis tells us that in
the beginning, God created everything, the heavens and the earth, day and
night, water and sky, animals, plants and people. He looked at all he created
and said "it was good". God had created a perfect world. There was no
sin, pain or suffering; this was how he intended for us to live. But something
happened in the Garden of Eden that would spark a question, a question that
would remain in the hearts and thoughts of man thru out this life, a question
we are still asking today.
You see in this perfect paradise God had created, he placed
a tree, a tree that he said we were never to eat from, and he allowed a serpent
to come onto the scene, who would tempt us to eat from that tree. So here
begins the question, why would God do this? Why would he allow this opening for
even the possibility for evil to enter this perfect creation? The answer is
simple...choice. God did not want us to serve him because we had no other
option. He desired that we would choose to love and obey him. The tree
represents our choice. A choice to either trust, love and obey God or to rebel
and choose our own way, our own selfish, sinful desires. The choice was God or
evil. See God is good. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift
comes from above. From the father who made the sun, moon and stars. Everything
good comes from God, and without God there is nothing good. Evil is the absence
of God. So our choice was God or no God. God or evil. Mankind chose evil on
that day. On that day God's perfect creation was cursed and broken. Truthfully,
God would have been perfectly justified then to destroy all of mankind or to
leave us to our own destruction but in his immeasurable love and grace, he
chose to give us another chance. He chose to make another way for us to still
have a choice. He wrapped himself in the flesh, stepped down from his heavenly
throne and became a man, the man Jesus. He willingly trudged up a hill called
Calvary, with the weight of a cross and the sins of all mankind on his shoulder
and he gave up his own life to pay the wages of our sin. He did this so that
once again, we could have a choice.
Today, there is evil in the world. There is hate. There is
greed. There is sickness. There is death...but there is a choice. We today are
faced yet again with the same choice God gave Adam and Eve in the garden. God
or evil. In fact I believe that is one of the primary purposes for our time on
this Earth. An opportunity to choose. If you've ever said or thought, why am I
being punished for the choice Adam and Eve made? It's not the choice I would
have made. Your life, right now, is your chance to prove yourself. For those
who choose God, to love, obey and trust him, there will come a day when evil
will be no more and all things will be made perfect again. Thank God for such
grace and love!
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