One of the most predominant questions for Christians and non-Christians alike is why there is suffering in this world. If there is a God, and if He is good, there should be no suffering. He should do something about suffering. When we lack understanding, we have no answers for people who have decided there must not be a God who cares. How can we understand God’s part in a world full of suffering?
Do you know God created a perfect world?
“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
There was no death, no sickness, no hatred, no war, and no fear. There were no disasters. Evil was not a part of God’s creation. Right before God completed His creation, He created His real purpose. He created man.
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).
God created the earth for man and gave it to man. Men and women were created to have dominion over the earth as God’s representatives.
“The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16)
God placed man in charge of His creation.
“What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:4-6).
After Adam and Eve sinned against God, the penalties were immediate. Darkness, death, destruction, sickness, violence, and lust entered into God’s perfect creation because man had chosen independence from God. Adam and Eve had banished the source of life and goodness from their lives. Through their sin, the enemy had stolen the perfection of their world.
God’s only way to intervene in men’s affairs comes through His gift of redemption in Jesus Christ. Man now has a choice to believe in God through faith in Jesus Christ. Only by faith in Jesus can God do something in our lives.
“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).
Suffering was never God’s intention. God’s intention was the perfect world He created for us. Adams’s offense brought death and destruction. It is now our responsibility as Christians to take back what was stolen. We are to “reign in life.” We are to “preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15) and live its truth. We are to “heal the sick” (Luke 9:2), “resist the devil” (James 4:7), and “believe and receive by faith” (Mark 11:24).
God wants us to believe His Word. Born-again believers are now the light of Jesus in this world, and we are called to shine God’s goodness into the darkness.
Mankind was given a perfect world and dominion over it. Even though Adam gave it away to Satan, God gave us His perfect gift of redemption to win it back. We are responsible for honoring God’s Word and exercising the dominion Jesus has restored to us.
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