We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded by your direct support for ReKnew and our vision. Please consider supporting this project.

Fruit

Enduring an Evil-Infested World (6 Principles) —part two

In the previous post, I introduced the first three principles that will help you find peace and even a sense of victory in the midst of the evil we face in this world. Here are the final three.

Principle #4: Let Go of the “Why” Question and Confront Evil

In the midst of suffering, we often want to know why it is happening. However, in most cases the why question is utterly useless and unanswerable. There are just too many variables that have contributed to any particular episode of suffering. As I explain in many places, the variables that contribute to any one thing occurring extend throughout history and may have nothing whatsoever to do with the wills of the people afflicted or with God’s will for their life.

In addition, asking the “why” question was systematically discouraged by Jesus. We need only to repent of our sin and seek to glorify God (See Luke 13:1-5 and John 9:1-5). When we confront circumstances that reflect the will of Satan, we are not to seek the reasons for that evil. Instead we are to do everything possible to bring them into conformity with God’s will. “Why” questions are actually a distraction from this calling to confront evil.

Principle #5: Live in the Spirit

If we are called to participate in bringing everything into conformity with God’s will, how do we know what we should accept as good and what we should confront as evil? The most fundamental answer is found in “living in the Spirit” (Gal 5:16). While we know God’s general will for us in Jesus Christ and through Scripture, usually we don’t know God’s specific will for particular circumstances except through the Spirit. The Spirit alone knows the mind of God, and he will lead us if we are willing to listen (1 Cor 2:10-11).

When we appreciate all the variables that lie behind every situation, we become fully aware that there is no way we could figure out the right thing to do on our own. Living in this sea of ambiguity, we realize that we need to look for God’s guidance all the time. There is no fixed set of principles, no exhaustive rule book, that covers all of life’s situations. This forces us to constantly attend to our relationship with God—which is our central calling, after all.

Principle #6: Live in Hope Knowing It All Will Be Worth It

The Bible never assures us that things will go well for us in this life. To the contrary, the NT teaches us that Christ followers should expect to suffer (John 16:33; 1 Thess 3:4). Paul assumed that angels, rulers and powers, are at work against us and can negatively influence our lives (Rom 8:39).

However, Scripture offers us the peace of knowing that Christ is with us in all circumstances and we can have the assurance that God is at work to bring good out of the situations we face.

One more thing: Ultimately, there will come a time when God has conquered all suffering and evil. At that point, God’s home will be or home. The earth will be rid of all sin, sorrow, sickness, and death. We will continually live in the presence of God’s triune love. All our desires that are frustrated in this war-torn epoch will be fulfilled. The most fundamental hope the Bible gives us is not that everything now follows God’s will but that someday God’s purposes will be done on earth as they are in heaven.

—Adapted from Is God to Blame, pages 157-164

Related Reading

Baby Universalism and Reasonable Infanticide

 Here’s a perfectly random brain stimulator: In contemporary western Christianity it is almost universally assumed that deceased babies automatically go to heaven. I call this the doctrine of “baby universalism” (similar to “canine universalism” = “all dogs go to heaven”).  There are a few scriptural passages that can be used to support this perspective (e.g.…

A Calvinist Take on the Problem of Evil

Carnie Lewis via Compfight Here’s a Calvinist view on the problem(s) of evil in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings. It’s the old God-as-author analogy. In essence, this is how Calvinism views God’s role in any instance of radical evil (quoted from the Desiring God article): But, of course, the Bible says more than…

Podcast: Is It God Withdrawing OR Is It a Scheme of Satan?

Sometimes evil is attributed to God withdrawing. Sometimes it is attributed to a scheme of Satan. We are called to respond to each differently. So, must we be able to discern which is the case in any given situation? http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0189.mp3

Romans 8:28: What Does It Mean?

The Bible is very clear that God has nothing to do with evil. There is “no darkness” in God. (I Jn 1:5). Far from intentionally bringing about evil, God’s “eyes are too pure to look on evil” (Heb. 1:13).   All evil, therefore, must be ultimately traced back to decisions made by free agents other than…

4 Reasons to Wake Up to the Warfare Worldview

Image by postbear via Flickr A view of the world that grounds the problem of evil in spiritual warfare is not one that many modern people find easy to accept. To many contemporaries, the notion is preposterous that real, semi-autonomous, self-determining, and invisible spirits exist that can and do influence our lives. The whole thing sounds…

When Free Will Meets Unfathomable Evil

In the face of tragedy Christians unfortunately tend to recite clichés that attempt to reassure people that, however terrible things seem, everything is unfolding according to God’s mysterious plan. We hear that “God has his reasons”; “God’s ways are not our ways”;  “God is still on his throne”; “God doesn’t make mistakes,” and things of…