Thursday: Love and Evil?
Daily Lesson for Thursday 13th of February 2025
God has granted creatures free will because it is necessary for love; misuse of this free will is the cause of evil. Again, many questions remain. God allows evil (for a time), while passionately despising it, because to exclude its possibility would exclude love, and to destroy it prematurely would damage the trust necessary for love.
“The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22.
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
Without free will, there could be no love, and if God is love, then it seems clear that it is not really an option for God to negate love or the freedom needed for love to exist. One could suppose, too, that if we knew the end from the beginning, as God does, we would not want Him to get rid of our freedom. After all, who would want to live in a loveless universe?
Read Romans 8:18 and Revelation 21:3-4. How can these texts give us confidence to trust in God’s goodness, despite all the evil in our world?
Even when we cannot see through the darkness, God can see the end from the beginning. He can see, too, the eternal bliss promised to all who place their faith in Jesus. According to Romans 8:18, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (NKJV). Do we have the faith and trust to believe this amazing promise?
Also, so sacred, so foundational, was love, and the freedom inherent in love, that rather than deny it to us, Jesus knew it would send Him to the cross, where He would suffer greatly. Yet, He granted this freedom to us anyway, knowing what it would cost Him. Why is this such a crucial thought to keep before us always?
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How does keeping in mind the fact that God grants us free will help protect us from thinking that everything that happens is God’s will? |
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There is an enigmatic theorem attributed to Ginsberg that helps describe thermodynamics.
Those of you with enough science to know about thermodynamics will recognise the laws in this statement. For the rest of us, it is a fairly apt description of life. Someone with an existential sense of humour has added a "zeroth" law to this:
And that about sums up where we would be without a loving God. I once proposed the idea that God was the law of reverse thermodynamics
There is a lot that we do not understand about thermodyamics and about the battle between good and evil, but, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus gives us the will and purpose to play our part.
The game was won a long time ago:
Is free will absolute independence or the ability to make sensible/meaningful (good) choices within limits set by God? Does free will operate outside the sovereign power of a loving God? Do we need God’s guidance to exercise free will sensibly/meaningfully?
Like a loving parent who sets a good/sensible/meaningful set of limits, our Father in Heaven knowing what his children need has given us “guided freedom”. Free will does not operate outside the sovereign power and authority of a loving God. Free will operates within divine control. The Bible explains a complex relationship between free will and divine control. God allows free will, however, ultimately God’s divine purpose will prevail (Romans 14:10-12, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20:11-12, Ecclesiastes 12:14, Matthew 12:36, Acts 17:30-3). Human choices will never surpass God’s divine plan. Therefore, humans need God’s grace to exercise free will sensibly and meaningfully. Free will is a gift from a loving God which ought to be exercised for the glory and honour of Him who is above all things (Isaiah 46:9-10, Daniel 4:35, Ephesians 1:11, Acts 17:24-26). Given God’s sovereign power over free will, the Bible gives us wise counsel to live in faith, humility, and obedience, knowing that His plans are perfect.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 2 You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” – Deuteronomy 30: 19-20 (NLT).