Great Questions

I was asked this question, and I thought it appropriate to share it here also.

"Hey Osa, I don't wanna argue or upset you, just curious about your opinion.

"If God is all powerful, is he also all loving? And if he is all powerful and all loving then how do you explain the problem of evil, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters. If he is truly all powerful then why do bad things happen to good people? Why doesn't God stop it? If he is all powerful then He should be able to interfere. We have been talking about this in theology and just curious of your view on the topic. Don't get me wrong I am not doubting God just trying to grow my faith."

Before we jump into this, we must also address the erroneous assumption that there are "good people". We are ALL sinners, and only God is good. Bad things happened to a good person only once, and that was when Jesus willingly went to the cross.

Mark 10:18 NKJV

So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is,  God."

Those are GREAT questions. The answer lies at the core of creation and why we are here. The Bible says that EVERYTHING that was created, which is ANYTHING that is not God, was created by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus.

Colossians 1:16 NKJV

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

John 1:1-3 NKJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Romans 11:36 NKJV

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

These things create the foundation. All of creation is focused on Jesus, not us. The cross is God’s chosen focal point. Before the foundation of the world it was determined, and then everything was created to revolve around the cross to the glory of God the Father, through God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Spirit.

I Peter 1:20-21 NKJV

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Revelation 13:8 NKJV

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have NOT been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Even the vessels of mercy, whose names were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and the vessels of wrath, whose names were NOT written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, were created for the glory of God.

Revelation 17:8 NKJV

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Ephesians 1:4-6 NKJV

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Romans 9:11, 13, 22-24 NKJV

(for the  children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

I Peter 2:9-10 NKJV

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Everything that Jesus created that was given the ability to choose themselves or Him rebelled, and decided they would rather be God. This was not by accident, but by design. God knew what they would choose. This includes every man and woman, and the angels. The only ones that stayed loyal to their Maker were the elect angels and the elect men, and by God’s own power and will.

I Timothy 5:21 NKJV

I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.

Matthew 24:24 NKJV

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

God did not create sin, but God created beings that would sin. He allowed Satan into the garden. He allowed Adam and Eve to be deceived. These things had to come to pass so that there could be a cross. God uses the evil of men and the demons for His purposes.

Acts 4:27-28 NKJV

“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

Genesis 50:20 NKJV

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but  God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it  is this day, to save many people alive.

Isaiah 10:5-7, 12-13, 15 NKJV

“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it  is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that  He  will  say,  “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.” For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as  if  it  were not wood!

God is in COMPLETE CONTROL my friend, and He brings all things to pass to fulfill His purposes. He allows evil to have it's place so as to beautifully contrast His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and power.

Psalms 33:8-12 NKJV

Let all the earth fear the Lord ; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord , The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.