Evil

After this, David defeated and subdued the Philistines by conquering Gath, their largest town. David also conquered the land of Moab. He made the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed for every one group to be spared. The Moabites who were spared became David's subjects and paid him tribute money. David also destroyed the forces of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when Hadadezer marched out to strengthen his control along the Euphrates River. David captured 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and 20,000 foot soldiers. He crippled all the chariot horses except enough for 100 chariots. When Arameans from Damascus arrived to help King Hadadezer, David killed 22,000 of them. Then he placed several army garrisons in Damascus, the Aramean capital, and the Arameans became David's subjects and paid him tribute money. So the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. (2 Samuel 8:1-6 NLT)

Perhaps the greatest struggle we face in our walk with God is one of trust.  Do we really trust that God is good?  Do we believe that He will take care of us?  Does he really work things together for our good?  Why, then, is there so much evil in the world?  To be sure, there is no easy answer to the presence of evil in the world.  I do, however, have a few observations that have helped me come to terms with things over the years.

First of all, God designed the world in such a way that we would experience good and blessings.  Every desire He placed in us was met with an abundance of satisfaction.  Air, food, purpose, and companionship were all provided by God.  He even offered to protect us from temptation, sin, and death by teaching us how the world works.  God wants good for us.

Part of His design is the opportunity to make decisions on our own.  The very fact that we question God is a gift given by God.  We are allowed to ask question.  We're not zombies or robots.  We're free to learn and grow and make decisions.  This is a part of the beauty of His design for our lives.  With great freedom, however, comes great responsibility.  God wants us to choose wisely.  He freely, openly, provides that wisdom and direction.  We decide what to do with it.

When we go against His design, God has put in place an appropriate retribution system.  We will pay the price for the evil that we contribute to the world.  He teaches us that over and over again.  Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden.  Cain was punished for killing Able.  The animal sacrifices included in the Levitical law reminded us that sin deserves death - and that we will pay the price.  God even showed us how much he detests evil by wiping out the world in Noah's day, destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and commanding the Israelites to wipe out the people in the Promised Land (they were sacrificing their children to gods - burning them on altars - Leviticus 18:21).

God does not want evil in the world.  He warns us against it.  He punishes us for doing it.  However, He allows us to choose it.

Why, then, does evil exist?  Because He doesn't destroy us.  We choose evil and inflict it on ourselves and others around us.  While we will pay the price for what we say and do, God isn't just holy and fair.  He also loves us.  He wants us to come back to Him.  We call this Mercy (not giving us what we deserve right away), Grace (giving us a gift we don't deserve), and Love (choosing to what is best for us - no matter what we choose).

By allowing evil to continue in the world, God is giving you the opportunity to change.  He gives us time to change our minds.  He's waiting for us to come back to Him. He gives us an opportunity to knock it off.  

God patiently waits for us to stop evil in the world - our world.  It's the only world we have control over.  We can stop speaking evil words and doing evil things.  We can choose to be Holy as He is Holy.  When we do, we stop evil in one place in this world.  

What is His plan?  

Come back to Him.  

Stop doing evil.  

Empower one more to do the same.  

Then, and only then, will we stop seeing evil in the world.

Don't blame God for evil in the world.

Do your part: Stop contributing to it.