A Question of Theodicy

The ever present question of, “If God is good then why is there evil and suffering in the world?” is one that have plagued man for many a millennia. The thing is, we are the ones that broke the world through our sin (wrong doing). I don’t think that we give ourselves credit for much of the evil and suffering that goes on in the world. God created a perfect world and gave us the right to choose to follow him or not. Then we rebelled wanting to be like him in knowledge of good and evil after he told us not to. Governments holding back food to the people, murder, rape, and other forms of evil are a result of our fleshly desires overtaking us at the expense of others. That is what sin really is. Sin is always at the expense of someone else.

As I was reading in Hosea 2 and God is condemning Israel for their “Harlotry” to the other nations gods. They had gone from the one that had delivered them from many troubles to ones made of metal, stone, and wood. There was no life in them. Hosea talks about those who forsake their God, and says that they are only going to be in a world of  hurt. God says that he will expose them for what they are. If she returned to him, like the prodigal son, he would receive her but the consequences he does not say he will take away. I believe that it is these consequences that many times are a rippling effect of the things we have done. It does not answer the question completely, but it does at least hit an aspect of it.

The best part of it though starts in verse 14, where God explains that he will restore her even after all that she has done. God has made a way, we just need to choose to follow it. The Good news is that Christ came to earth to connect us to His father through taking on the punishment due us. The Good news is that death could not hold him, and he now has given us a path – paid for our debt of evil in our lives. I need to focus on what He has done to bring me in communication with the Father and I am glad that now I can have the relationship that our souls desire to have with him.