Jeremy Polansky, Lockheart Ministries
I think the toughest reality for many people is of suffering in the world in spite of the so-called “loving God” in control of it all. Even Christians question this dichotomy. Many non-Christians cannot reconcile this, and since the suffering of the world is more in-your-face, they choose to not believe there could be a loving God up there. But the Bible paints a picture that does reconcile these two ideas. From human logic, it does may not seem like this is possible, but looking at scripture may help to accept not only the sufferings of the world but the unseen promises of the loving God who created all things.
From the beginning, God made His creation good. Most of us know the story of the fall of man, when the first humans sinned against God by not trusting Him and disobeying (going to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). And we’ve all had moment of distrusting God, even a lifetime of distrusting God. We’ve all disrespected God, each other, our parents, and even ourselves by dishonoring what God created for a purpose. Humans are created in His image, and we all have the potential for love, but so often we treat others as if they are not worth loving. When the fall of man happened in the Garden of Eden, God reminds Adam and Eve that they are now subject to death because of their choice. He then pronounces curses on the woman, the man, and the world. When natural disasters hit, and when it seems like a good God would not allow these things to happen, it’s because it’s not what God desires for us. It’s a curse that we are under. It’s not because someone sinned or not. No, the hurricane did not hit a certain city because they were worse sinners than anyone else. The Coronavirus and COVID-19 is not simply God’s judgement on America, but rather a reminder to all humanity that we are still running away from God.
After God cursed humans and the Earth at the fall, He also gave a promise of restoration. In the story, the serpent (“Satan” or “the enemy”) tempted Eve, and Adam gave in also. God make a promise to Eve that her seed (a child) will one day overcome the serpent and have his heal bruised by the serpent. Today we know this good new as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because Jesus was this seed who showed His divinity by living without sin and sacrificing Himself to atone for the sin of the world and save those who believe in Him. He also said that He is coming back soon to fully destroy the serpent. If we believe on Him for salvation, we’ll be on the correct side of that battle. Believing in God’s promise for us can be a vague statement. In other words, living out what it means to believe in Jesus is so often disconnected to reality and to what we should do in response. The Bible records a concise summary from God when He says “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” Humility, sincere prayer, seeking to know God, and striving to act right. This is what God desires of us. The promise comes with the result of acting in this way in which God says He will hear us, forgive us, and heal our land. In light of world tragedies, natural disasters, and the current Coronavirus pandemic, the last part is very relevant. God promises to heal the Earth from the original curse placed at the fall.
While we can acknowledge God promises to restore all things, it doesn’t make these afflictions enjoyable. Jesus wept when He was on Earth multiple times that are recorded in the Bible. It was not because He was weak, had bad motivations, or was sinful in some other way. It’s because experiencing the brokenness of the world hurts. God sees those who “lament over all the detestable things done” in their city. He lived through similar afflictions in the person of Jesus. Yet Jesus overcame them. Jesus, after going through affliction as we all do did not sin. He still overcame death. We all see the brokenness in the world when we are hurting, be it from our own shortcomings or simply loss as a result of death. But in spite of it all, Jesus can make broken people whole and He can make dead people live. While we may not understand why He allows evil, we can clearly see it is not bigger than God.
When God gave Adam and Eve the free will to listen to the enemy, He allowed them to choose to not love. God did not want us to understand good and evil, and so told Adam and Eve to stay away from that knowledge. But after pursuing it, they came away shameful and afraid. If we experience shame and fear in our own lives, it shows that there are areas where we do not trust God but rather focus on how we are bad or how others could be bad. That’s not good for us, but that’s the result without trusting. But what is God never allowed us to not trust Him like this? Imagine a relationship between two people which was forced. Think of someone who is controlling or manipulating in a human relationship. From our experience in the world, we know that love cannot flourish in that environment. For love to be present, there must be a choice to love from two sides. When we choose to turn back from our own ways to trusting in God (what is often called repentance) we are fully showing that we love God. If God had never allowed us to choose, which resulted in our punishment and curses on the world, we would have never been able to repent and show true love in the way we can.
We can run circles around the idea of God allowing affliction in the world. We can debate on if love can exist without affliction. We can debate if God’s punishment for menial sins is just. At the end of the day, God requires faith in Him. This faith that He requires is that which believes God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. At the heart, that God is good. We may not want to believe that because of what we’ve gone through, what our loved ones have gone through, or what we see in the world. But deep down, we can still believe God is bigger than what we see here. At the end of the day, as hard as crisis is so accept in this world, God is who He is and needs to give no explanations. Yet His promises tell a different story than we see in the world, one of hope and a bright future, and one in which we must receive by faith since we cannot see it. The return of Jesus to fully make things right is this hope, which is the hope of seeing God’s true love, the fullness of His glory and goodness, and the restoration of the world back as in the Garden of Eden with the serpent destroyed.