Weekly Devotional 11-7-16 God Is Not Guilty
Some have asked the question, “Why does God cause persons to be born that are deaf, dumb, blind, or that are disabled in some way or another?” Some have asked, “Why does God cause some to be affected with some disease or another?” Still, others have asked, “If He is a God of love then why does He not put a stop to war and strife? The short answer to these questions is that God is not guilty. He did not directly create deafness, a tied tongue, blindness, a disabled body or limb, or disease. He did not directly create strife or war, and even though He allows such, He will bring an end to all of it. God did not create any of the above mentioned maladies. They are a result of sin and a cursed earth. Moses writes that everything that God created was created good, (Genesis 1:31) and without any of the aforementioned. God did allow these things, but not without purpose. God created man as a temporal creation with a body, with a soul and gives him a spirit. A spirit that is eternal, ever existing from the time of conception and into a never ending eternity for the purpose of eternal fellowship and worship. Fellowship and worship that was and is not coerced, but from choice and love.
For man to have a choice of fellowship with his Creator, and a determined worship of Him, man was endowed with a will; a will and a freedom of self-determination. After spending some time in the Garden and enjoying all that God had created for him, Adam (man’s federal head) was allowed to be confronted with a choice. The choice was to be obedient to God’s one prohibition or to pursue something that was foreign to the blessing of the garden. When tempted by Satan, Adam decided to follow his suggestion. This suggestion was that Adam (man) would become like God himself. Adam chose to disobey God’s prohibition and to experience that which was not allowed. He chose to experience evil as well as the good (see Genesis 2:15-3:7). Adam’s choice changed his relationship with God. He became different from when he was created. When created, he worshipped God and desired fellowship with Him, but when he followed the suggestion of Satan and took of that which was forbidden, he no longer worshipped God or desired fellowship with Him. He became a man of self-worship. He became alienated from God. Since God knew that Adam’s self-worship and alienation would repeat itself in his offspring, God cursed the earth. From the cursed earth come the calamities mentioned above; deafness, tied tongues, blindness, disabled bodies and limbs, and disease. From man’s self-worship and alienation from God comes war and strife. This is terrible news if this were the end of the story, but it is not. God loves man and He has made a path by which man can be restored to his original state. Man’s alienation from God can be overcome and man’s self-worship can be turned to worship of God.
This path is through God Himself. We are informed that “16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17 NKJV). Furthermore, God Himself took upon human flesh in order to do what He as Spirit God could not do. We read from John 1:14 and Hebrews 10:4-14;
John 1:14 ( NKJV ) “14And the Word [God the Son] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Hebrews 10:4-14 ( NKJV ) “4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.’ 7 Then I said ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ 8Previously saying, ‘Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the law), 9then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
So, God has created a path, but because of the hardness of self-will and man’s alienation from God, God has to cause in man a desire, a longing, to be relieved of all the aforementioned calamities. Perhaps this is why God allows some of these things. From personal experience and from the reported experience of others, when things are going good we have a tendency of being satisfied and set eternal thoughts aside.
The bottom Line is that God is not directly guilty of the calamities of this present life, but is at work rectifying through Christ that which man has brought upon himself.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man