"Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1)
Why would God allow evil? It's an age-old question, and one not easy for the human mind to claim an answer to.
The Atheist:
The atheist exclaims there is no God. He leans strongly on his own moral judgment. Yet, in regard to that moral judgment, there is no consistency from one standard / person to the next. Life, itself, is hopeless, pointless, directionless, and ultimately meaningless. His only possible god is Today.
The Deist:
The deist is more rational. He believes there is a greater power; one who has spun us into existence only to leave us hanging. He is not a personal god. He is not an interactive god. Either he cannot control the events of our daily lives or he simply doesn't care to.
The Believer:
Can it be possible, even feasible, that God is sovereign in choice and action, and His ultimate will spans generations, millennia! It reaches beyond our physical world and into the spiritual. The Scriptures (our only concrete basis for knowing and understanding the God of Adam, Abraham, and Father of nations) indicate...
"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12 ESV)
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In order to answer David's question for ourselves we need only to turn back to God's Word, and view it wholly, completely, not parsed and picked. Chapter 9 of Isaiah clearly demonstrates David's specific outlook on God.
His ways are not ours.
"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord , that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:6-8 ESV)
"Forgiveness" is not our nature. Our natural reaction is condemnation ....unless it involves one's self as the offendor, the aggressor against God. So why does God forgive evil? Well, you or I just might need that forgiveness ourselves.
Our ways are not His.
"For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD." (Psalm 10:3)
With either no god, or one who doesn't care ...one is puffed up and prideful; a god in his own mind, yet lacking the tools or the solution to actually play the part.
Seeking gain exclusively for oneself is antithetical to pursuing God.
"He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30 ESV)
So, is there a God .....or are we on our own?
"In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God." (Psalm 10:4)
"The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good." (Psalms 14:1 ESV)
If there is God ......does He care about our daily lives?
"His ways prosper at all times; your judgments are on high, out of his sight; as for all his foes, he puffs at them." (Psalm 10:6)
Jesus is God's "because"!
"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." (Romans 5:8-11 ESV)
We need to get back to balancing the checkbook of our lives; to "balance" back to an agreeable product .....not the balance "I" desire, not the balance the "world" desires, but the balance which our Great Common Denominator enacts. We have to trust "His" life-ledger. Jesus brings things back in balance. He "is" God's because, the answer to what the world asks "why".
It is often said that the gospel can be summed up in John 3:16 .....this "because" of Jesus Christ.
"For God so loved the world"...... He redeemed us while we were still sinning,
"that He gave His only begotten Son" ........instead of us paying for our sin.
"that whosoever believes in Him"..... His liberty applies to the just and unjust. The choice is freely ours,
"should not perish" .......for what hope is there otherwise?
"but have eternal life" ......a conclusion, a profitable conclusion, where God is sovereign and just, merciful and mighty, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Friend of sinners .......the Because to all our why's.
