W-H-Y?

Just three letters: W-H-Y. 

Why? 

Why so much pain? 

Why so much wickedness? 

Why do people suffer?.. 

Why?Why,?Why? 

Have you ever wrestled with this question? Perhaps you've lost a loved one, or maybe you know of some innocent person who has suffered terribly. And just wondered.. Why?

Well, God's Word, the Bible gives the answer. What brought suffering and pain? Yes, it is the result of man's original sin in the Garden of Eden. 'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,' Romans 5:12, the Bible. But perhaps you wonder, why did God allow sin to continue? Couldn't He have stopped it at once and destroyed the sinners? 

Before we fully answer this question, let's understand this great principle. GOD IS LOVE.

So what God does, must be done in LOVE. If God does something that isn't done in love, then we could no longer say that GOD IS LOVE. Love is then revealed in all of God's acts, because GOD IS LOVE. God created the universe out of LOVE. 

This earth, mankind and all creation are testimonies to the LOVE of God. Now, when God blesses a couple with a gorgeous little child! What do you think makes that mother and father happy? Is it when they see their little one upset? Or when their little child is happy? You see, what brings joy to parents is to see their children happy.

With God it's no different. What gladdens the heart of God the most is to see His children happy. On the other hand, it pains God to see His children suffer. The Bible says: 'In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old,' Isaiah 63:7.

So then why is there suffering? Why does a God that delights in happiness allow such suffering to exist? What we must understand is, that force is against the principle of LOVE. God does not force anyone. That would be against God's LOVE, because real LOVE is a choice. You can create a robot and program it to repeatedly say 'I love you', 'I love you', 'I love you' all day long and yet these are only empty words. True LOVE comes from someone who loves out of free choice.

This is why mankind and the angels were created with freedom of choice. To instantly destroy those angels who were rebelling against God would only cause the rest of the heavenly host to serve Him out of fear. So to destroy the rebels would break heaven's perfect atmosphere of LOVE and result in a host of fearful, unhappy angelic beings.

So God in His infinite wisdom chose the only way to restore the universe back to perfect harmony which was in sending His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem mankind and to allow sin to run its course until all could see without a shadow of doubt that GOD IS LOVE, and that to turn against God only brings suffering and unhappiness.

So God has allowed evil to continue. It has caused Him great grief and cost the life of His dear son. John tells us in his first epistle:- 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son .......to be the Saviour of the world'. There is coming a time, very soon, when God in His GREAT LOVE will say enough! Sin will have run its full course and all will have seen its terrible results. Then sin will be no more, and peace and love will once again rule in the universe.

Let me finish with this beautiful statement by Ellen G White in her book, 'The Great Controversy', where she describes that day when sin will be no more. 'The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that GOD IS LOVE'.

This verse from the Bible explains what God has done and what you must to be free sin and death and to know eternal life in the world to come - 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' John 3:16.

God Loved

God Gave

We Believe (turn to God for forgiveness)

God Saves

Written by a Guest Blogger