Can God Really Handle This?

When someone says “keep the faith”, or “you just need to have faith” the immediate question is “faith in what?”

Faith that God is in charge. Faith that He controls the universe. Faith that God is good and that He loves me. Does that faith even make sense?

Psalm 56 declares:

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.⁴ In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 56:3-4

But does he really control the universe? Can I really trust Him with my daily life?

The Problem of Evil

What about all of the painful, evil things that happen in our world? How can He be in charge with all of that happening?

So the next thing we need to get settled is whether God is really all that powerful. If He is not, perhaps we walk away. But if He is ultimately in control, then we need to reconcile that with the fact that really bad things happen.

The story of Adam and Eve provides at least part of the answer. Genesis tells us:

“The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground … In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:9

Now if you read that sentence closely, you will see that God intentionally placed that tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, right in the middle of all of those trees with fruit that was good to eat. Genesis 2:16 continues:

¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:16 (NIV)

He did it on purpose. He set them up. It was not a trick, but it was a test. So clearly, God was not surprised when Eve broke the command not to eat from the tree. He set up the situation so she would have a choice. She made her choice. Adam followed right along.

Evil and sin are not a surprise to God. They are not something outside of His control. The God of love, the God of peace, the God of holiness planned this. He chose to allow evil and sin into His carefully crafted creation. So no, He is not powerless to stop it.

So why? Wouldn’t the world be better if there were no hatred? No racism? No greed? No murder? Maybe.

We are Created to Choose Life Or Death

But a world without hatred would also be a world without love. Why? Because love has one fundamental characteristic. Love is a choice. If the creator wanted a world in absolute obedience to Him, He would need to build a world without choice. And a world without choice is a world without love. As a living, breathing, independent soul, I cannot be forced to love God, or anyone else. The consequences of our choice, however, are eternal.

So where does that leave us? Enduring evil and sin? Well, yes, to a point. But there are limits to evil. The Father decides how far to let things go. There will be an end to it. And there will be justice.

There is a Plan

Part one of the plan is to give us a path away from the evil. God showed His love to us by sending His Son to pull us out the pit that we chose to jump into. So not only does He allow us to get well and truly lost, He gives us the path back to Him.

The next part of the plan is to grow us into powerful, spiritual beings that will actually enjoy the New Kingdom.

The reality of evil gives us a daily set of choices. How do we deal with it? Do we ignore it? Or do we absorb the power of God and work to counteract it? This is our exercise yard, where we become vigorous lovers of God and people. This is our choice. This is our love of God.

Keep the Faith!

So yes, God really does have it under control. As we align our priorities to His priorities, some of His decisions make more sense. We can see how that tough time as a teenager made us stronger today. Or how the frailty of our child made us more compassionate to others. But we will never be able to figure out all of the reasons. Ultimately we just need to trust that Daddy knows what He is doing.

And that, my friend, is “keeping the faith”.