"No News Is Good News"

Over the past wee while I have begun reading a daily newspaper. The paper in question is the i paper, a kinda thinned out (or dumbed down in my case) version of The Independent. I thoroughly recommend reading this newspaper as you can get everything that's going in the world in around an hour.

But over the past while it seems that no news is good news, the paper is full of distressing images from around the world. If it's not civil unrest and the overthrow of General Mubarak in Egypt, then its the distressing scenes from Libya and the reaction against Colonel Gaddafi and his oppressive regime. Or more recently the terrible scenes from the earthquake in New Zealand. With so much evil in the world, with so many bad things happening (or good things happening in a bad way) how is it reasonable or coherent to believe in a God who rules the world and is in control of everything that happens? Let me suggest 4 reasons why I think the evil in the world doesn't rule out a loving, living God:

Firstly this isn't the way it is supposed to be. We are told in the book of Genesis that God created the world and when he created it is was very good. Now this doesn't mean that it was OK, that the world that God had created was better than average, it means the world that God had created was perfect, there was nothing wrong with it. But we all know that this isn't the way it is now? Events in Egypt, Libya and New Zealand show us that the world is no longer perfect and is stained with sin. But sin and all these bad things that happen are not the way it is supposed to be, they are an un-natural intervention into God's good and perfect world. Ever since Adam and Eve we have been living with the consequences of sin which unfortunately includes death and suffering.

Secondly this isn't the way its going to be forever. The bible also tells us that God has appointed a day in the future when he will judge the world, when the world will be returned to the perfect state that it once enjoyed. There will be a perfect world, a new heavens and a new earth, in which there will be no more sin, no more suffering and no more death. So this world is not all there is going to be, one day there will be a new heavens and a new earth which will be perfect. The only way to experience this new heavens and earth is to put our trust in God's son Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, God is sovereign and in control. The bible tells us that God works all things together for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. At times in our lives and times of extreme suffering in the world it can be hard for us to to see this and hard to believe this. But knowing that its all part of some larger purpose, knowing that God will somehow work good out of our suffering is one of the few things that give suffering purpose and meaning. Knowing that God will work out all things for our good enables us to endure and make sense out our suffering. I am not saying this to make light of the suffering of the Christian people in New Zealand or the Middle East but rather to try and encourage them that their suffering is not pointless, is not the product of simple bad luck but rather has been ordained by a sovereign God, who works all things together for the good of His people.

All this may leave us with one question, why doesnt God just wrap the whole thing up? If he is as powerful and in control as I say he is why doesnt he just put the world to an end? Which leads on to our fourth reason, God wants us all to come to know him and put our trust in Him. The bible tells us that God is patient with us, wanting us to repent and not wanting any of us to perish. Naturally we are all enemies of God and we all deserve God's punishment but God sent his son to die in our place, so that if we put our trust in Christ then we can experience this new heavens and new earth, which will be perfect. God is giving us opportunites to repent and come to know him for the mean time we live in this sinful fallen world waiting for our new eternal home...