For everything God created is good…
Summary: “Good,” it is said, “is relative.” That can mean a lot of things, but mostly it means we need to see things as God sees them.
“If everything God created is good, why is there so much evil in the world?”
The existence of evil presents an obvious question and one that is bantered about by the faithful and skeptics alike. How should we answer it? In fact, how do we reconcile Paul’s claim about God’s creation being “good” when it obviously isn’t?
I say creation “obviously isn’t” good because from my perspective, there is a lot of evil in the world. But you know what? The only real “evil” that I have seen comes from one source — people.
God’s commands for us are simple: Love God (agapē) with all your heart, and love (agapē) your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40). Evil is what happens when we ignore God’s commands and love our “self” above all else.
From God’s perspective, his creation is good. The stars in the sky twinkle just the way they’re supposed to. The Earth rotates around the sun, and the moon orbits the Earth like parts of a giant, perfect clock.
The animals, too, function as God intended. Plants and animals that God created for food are good for food. A lot depends on whether we bother to listen to God’s instructions about life. If we do, things tend to go better for us.
Which brings us to things like sickness, accidents, deformities, and death. What causes these?
This is a huge topic and contains much more than we can address here. However, we can look at three interesting examples that will give us something to think about.
First is the strange story of Jeroboam’s son. Jeroboam was the ruler of the northern kingdom after Solomon died. Instead of honoring God, he defied God and made idols for the people to follow. For his effort, God caused Jeroboam’s son to die. What is strange is that the son is the only one in the family that God “has found anything good” (1 Kings 14:13).
The second strange story has to do with a man who was blind from birth. When asked who sinned to cause the man’s blindness, Jesus answered, “‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him’” (John 9:3).
Finally, the strange story of some people who died when a tower fell on them. Were they more guilty than other people? The text suggests the answer is “No” (Luke 13:4-5). Apparently, accidents happen. I can only guess that if God had built the tower, it wouldn’t have fallen.
Application: Trust God, even in hard times.
Food for Thought: How do human failings affect the world we live in?
How do human failings affect the world we live in?
I don’t know if we could ever come up with a comprehensive list of the ways human failings affect the world we live in. One that I was led to this morning is wrath and how that affects how we treat each other. Wrath is a product of being dead to sin. Those who are alive in Christ put away wrath. Seems to be a lot of wrath spreading around these days, especially with online “prodding.” There is a self-righteous projection to human wrath, causing many to be slow to listen and quick to speak in anger, treating each other dismissively and viciously. This affects the world we live in because it isolates people in fear and anger, rather than building each other up in love. The only antidote to this is to know the love of the Father through Christ, and then to let that love work through us. One cannot choose the love of Christ and wrath, they do cannot co-exist with one another.
Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you
James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Thank you, Chris!
That is such an interesting point. The poisoning of social discourse with “wrath” is a real thing. It would be wonderful to live in a world where God’s love (agapē) overflows to the point where human wrath is limited to two-year-old’s.
I reread what I wrote and the line “Wrath is a product of being dead to sin”, should read “Wrath is a product of being dead in sin.” Those in Christ are dead to sin, we are alive in Christ and put away wrath.