I understand why people ask this question. I asked this question repeatedly, as a child. I was being victimized at the hands of my step-dad Dick.
Here’s the answer:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
God hasn’t returned because he’s giving us more time to get right with him. He wants every single one of us to spend eternity with him in heaven. Heaven will be the perfect place so many of us long for now.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4
When God created Earth and everything in it, it was perfect. Man was perfect too. God created Adam and Eve and they lived in the Garden of Eden. They were naked but they felt no shame. They didn’t have to work to satisfy their needs. There was no pain. It didn’t last long because Satan twisted God’s words. Adam and Eve both chose to disobey God (sin) and ate the fruit God told them not to eat. Each subsequent human has had to decide whether to obey God.
Everything that’s wrong with the world is a result of our individual choices to sin.
Yes, God could have created mankind without the ability to sin. However, without the ability to choose, we become robots without the ability to have a relationship with another. That’s what God wants. A personal, individual relationship with each of his children.
I’m not going to lie.
I still wish I hadn’t gone through the bad parts of my childhood. I wish I hadn’t been so broken when I entered adulthood. I wish life was fair. I wish no child anywhere was ever cold, hungry, abused, hurt or hopeless. I don’t completely understand God’s plan, just a small portion. I fall into the trap of believing I would do things different (better) if I were God. And that’s just it! I’m not God. It’s sinful to put myself (or attempt to) above God. I’m a part of his creation. I have limits. I can’t see the future, I haven’t existed outside of time, I don’t know everything.
God is God and I trust him!
I also struggle at times. What if my step-father Dick is in heaven when I get there? Ugh! I don’t want him to be. I want him to be punished. Yet he may be and that’s between him and God. He may have repented of his sins before he died.
I’ve made some pretty awful mistakes (sins) in life. I’ve hurt people. What if they don’t want me to be in heaven when they get there? What if God listened to us and made his decisions about their eternal destination based on what we want? I might not be welcome. God knows our hearts in ways no one else can. I’m glad he’s the one who has the final say about my eternal home.
I choose to obey him in this area too. When I struggle with a desire to punish those who’ve sinned against me, I ask God to fix that shortcoming in me.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. Romans 12:19
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