God is in complete control without authoring sin or evil

 

God is in complete control of everything down to the atomic structure and beyond (Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together) while not being the author of sin or evil. God has given us free will to sin if we want and also lets us make mistakes for our own good. God overlooks some things (Job 11:6) but if we know we are doing wrong (if we don’t know, it is still sin and He will try and let us know that as He wills) and continue to do wrong without repenting we will pay the price.

 

When I witness He knows who will be in front of me at the grocery, for example, and who will be behind me. He knows what He wants me to do and say and works for the situation to bring it about (most of the time I just hand out scripture and a few kind words). Just as He does this when I witness I believe He does things for my good, continually. I have seen too many intricate things line up to say otherwise.

 

I have walked in the Spirit right to a place where Satan was already waiting with a temptation. In this case it was a worker of his (a nice looking girl in a particular pose) doing what she does best for my benefit or should I say downfall. I do not know how that happens (Satan does not know the future) but it does and God is fully aware of the looming temptation while not having set it up Himself (James 1:13). I was not tempted but just a very little bit when I saw her (other times I have not faired as well in my mind. I will tell you, I need my wife). I will be honest. It was a nice pose and that is just what Satan uses to attract men, especially. But, don’t think that when these things happen that it is God doing it because it is not. It is the devil.

 

If a fire is started by the evil one through a person, or just by accident, God looks down and can send rain to put it out or He can let it burn. That is His decision. If He lets it burn, He can then work through people to have it reported so that a fire truck arrives on time or late. It’s all up to Him. He can then allow things to work so that the Captain can say, “I have this fire contained within a perimeter.” Just as the Captain says that, God actually does that. God sets perimeters (boundaries) for events.

 

When evil happens God sets perimeters; always. If He did not this world would not be here right now. Evil would have eaten it up.

 

When someone is a harmed in a violent way it was not God’s original will for it to happen. God never wanted people to be harmed by anyone. It may or may not be happening because that person let it in by their sin. Not always, but I believe more times than not these things happen because of sin in the life of the person who is harmed. You may say that is insensitive but I have seen how I was harmed when I sinned as compared to when I did not. I opened doors for evil to come in so I was hurt by that evil. Sometimes, when people are harmed it is God’s will though. God causes harm to evil people doing evil and even casts them into hell.

 

God sees an evil man go toward an innocent or repentant woman and a person walks by and the evil man passes her by for fear of being caught. God sees an evil man go toward a woman who has a lot of unrepentant sin in her life and He can, out of grace, have a person walk by or He can choose not to intervene (let Satan have someone distract the person who would have gone by) and let the woman be harmed. Choosing to not intervene is not harming the woman nor does it make God the author of evil. I believe when this happens God has been talking back and forth with Satan (like in Job) doing everything He could to keep her from harms way but she just would not obey or repent and now Satan is allowed to send (speak to) this person so that he harms the woman.

 

Sin will take you from one boundary to another. If you continue to sin you will pass through one doorway to the next ever closer to the gates of hell. Finally there will be that last door before those gates. Will you repent and call on Jesus or not? If you do you will be saved (Romans 10:13) but yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15) and you will be in for some tough (fire) purification after that (Numbers 31:23) where your faith in Jesus is paramount over all things.

 

Sometimes we are tested by God and some of these tests are no fun. Sometimes also things happen and God is not in them:

 

1 Kings 19:11-12   11 So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD " And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. (Notice how it’s implied that God is in the gentle blowing).

 

God lets natural things, of His creation, happen and is just not in all of them (speaking through and/or causing them). If a ball is dropped from a high building, gravity will pull it to the ground and God is not saying anything then. He created the process and let the ball be dropped but He did not drop the ball. In the same way things happen that God had nothing to do with. He allowed but did not cause.

 

Sometimes was are persecuted for righteousness sake. When we do what God tells us sometimes we are harmed by Christians (like the Pharisees harmed the prophets) and non-Christians. Pain and suffering are not exclusive to sin on our part. So, there are definitely times when you will be harmed when you did nothing wrong but quite the opposite (Matthew 5:10-12).

 

in Christ,

 

Rob Norman

 

Note: After I wrote this (the next day: actually the same day since the above was written about 2:00 am) I heard of a fire in Australia, an earthquake in Indonesia and a tornado in Oklahoma. Is God saying anything here? Or, maybe He is testing me and there is no connection. Earthquakes and tornadoes and fires happen all the time and I believe God is in many of them. So, I do not think God is saying He is not in any of them, like these three events. I think I thought of this at this time as more of a test of me than a statement of God.

 

I did though also read in my Bible today how Jesus was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1) not remembering that (knowingly at least) when I wrote what I did about me walking in the Spirit to a temptation, above. That is how we identify with Jesus and the Bible. Seeing our lives tasting a small portion of some of His trails, Paul’s trails, the early Christian’s trials and trails of some of the Old Testament people and prophets. Do you see yourself in God’s Word?

 

 

 

If you’re not saved, Come to Jesus!