Man life sure can be tough some times.
Amen?
Amen (I’ll go ahead and credit you that one).
Just recently I have spoken with friends and relatives who have been through tough times:
cancer, job loss, marital infidelity, death of a loved one, friend whose parent is sick, job cut back, lay off, loss of trust from a friend, family corruption, drugs, alcohol, disease, unwanted pregnancy, heart problems, broken bones, mower won’t start, car wreck, and the list could just go on…
Some people have asked me and I could tell some were thinking it but just did not ask – why does God let bad things happen? Some will even ask – why does God let bad things happen to good people?
I submit there is a simple answer that is hard for some to believe or even accept.
In Genesis 2 God told Adam and Eve to work and watch over the garden of Eden, but not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 3 we see their disobedience and followed the advice of satan by eating the forbidden fruit. And we assume sin entered earth then. But the more difficult question if you think about it is this – where did that serpent come from? How did satan get to the middle of the garden that God made to tempt humans? If satan had not tempted, then maybe humans would not have sinned and we would be in a much better place. Maybe so.
But the fact of the matter, is that God did create all things – even satan himself. Now why on earth would God do that? And even more so why did He allow him here on earth?
I think the answer to many of the questions I have asked here can be answered by three words.
This ain’t Heaven.
In Heaven there is no sin. There is no pain. There is no death! There are no wasps, snakes, hornets or skunks. There are no jobs, and our only desire will be God! Man that is heaven!
But this earth just ain’t Heaven. Do you see? Do you agree? Here on our 3rd rock from our sun we have a lot of things that make us uncomfortable. And they will always be here on earth. We do however, have a comforter here who is the Holy Spirit. He will guide us and help us in our daily walk – while we inhabit this earthly vessel we call a body. But one day this body will expire for all of us.
And when it does – we will all end up in one of two places. Heaven or Hell That choice is ours to make while we are still living and breathing in this earthly vessel.