VOICE OF HOPE
6 July 2022
Genesis 1:1-4
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, "Let there be light; and there was light."
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
From the beginning, God desired a world where the brilliant light of His presence would fill everything. A world where the goodness of God reigned in the hearts of every man. God desired a world where there would be joy and peace everlasting. A world without suffering and pain or death. Since the beginning, God made His will and His desire for mankind known when He placed the first man Adam in the garden of Eden, a place of pristine beauty as the light of the glory of God filled everything. In this place, God created especially for man, a place where man dwelled in the presence of Elohim His Creator there was no suffering or pain, no sickness or death, no heartache or tears. God provided man with every need and God loved and took care of the man. The creator of heaven and earth loved man more than all of His creation and He foreknew and predestined man to be blessed and to rule and reign. God’s plan for man from the beginning was not to harm him but give him hope and a future. But something happened as time passed that altered the world that God desired for man and everything changed. Darkness, where evil dwelled, came into the garden and man partook of this darkness and he allowed evil to come into his heart for his desire was to know not only good but also to know evil. God sent the man out of the garden, the place where His presence and His goodness reigned and he sent him into the world where darkness covered the earth and evil reigned. The man was no longer dwelling in the presence of God protected against the darkness.
The man now had knowledge of good and evil and the man had the will to choose. The world we live in today is a result of what happened in the garden of Eden when Adam allowed evil into his heart and disobeyed and sinned against God. Since that time everyone born of Adam is like their father knowing good and evil. Everyone has been given the will to choose this world or the world that God intended from the beginning. Since the fall of man, evil has increased upon the earth not because of the will of God but because of the will of man. Evil is found in the heart of every man and only by allowing the light of God to shine into our hearts to reveal the truth of the state we are in can we be changed.
Now the world is filled with violence and hatred, sickness and disease, suffering and affliction, heartache and sorrow and it is ever-increasing and again I will say it is not by the will of God but because of evil men. It is not God who is causing all of these things but rather it is man afflicting one another because of the evil in their heart. We now live in a fallen world filled with evil because man even today is disobedient against God and live sinful lives.
John 1:4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
God send His Son Jesus to be the light that would shine into the heart of every man to make known the truth of the will and the goodness of God. Jesus came to give us the opportunity to choose between the world that God desired from the beginning or we can choose this fallen world we live in today. This world filled with sin and evil is passing away and will be destroyed and so will everyone who chooses this world. God who is gracious and full of compassion invites each of us to choose the world He desired for mankind from the beginning a world filled with His goodness but He makes it very clear that we must give up our evil ways to be able to live in the world He created for us. The truth of the matter is this world can only change and all these bad things that we see happening around us can only come to an end if the hearts of man are changed.
So, if you ask me why does God allow bad things to happen? God allows bad things to happen because His love for us has given us free will to choose and sadly men choose evil above good, they choose darkness above the light and the consequences are clearly seen around us. It breaks God’s heart into million pieces every time He sees the pain and suffering of one of His children. We who are parents understand the pain and sorrow when our children suffer because of bad choices and at times they suffer because of someone else’s bad choices. Our Father in heaven feels pain and sorrow far beyond that which we can ever feel so I ask you this, how do you think our Father in heaven feels about what is happening in this world? I believe when we see the rain pouring down and we hear the thunder it is when God’s heart breaks over the bad things that people go through and they will not allow Him to intervene because they reject Him, disobey Him, and care nothing about Him.
Thereze Catherine Barnard
Editor-in-Chief
Voice of Hope Blog