Daily Devotional For Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Good morning Southside! Today is Wednesday and it is a beautiful day in the neighborhood as Mr. Rogers used to say. Many times when tragedy happens, some well-meaning Christians will say, “Well, it must have been God’s will.” I really feel for God because He gets blamed for so many things that He did not cause. When teenagers walk into a school killing their peers, this was not God’s will to have innocent children murdered. Planes crashing, rapes occuring and etc. are not by God. We believe that God is sovereign and God is in control, but we also believe that God gave us free will.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin entered the world and our perfect world fell. Everything in what was a perfect world is now broken. God established laws for this world to function and when those laws are violated, people suffer and die. For example, if an airliner hits birds upon takeoff and loses all its engines as happened in 2009 with US Airways Flight 1549, the laws God created go into effect and an airliner goes into the Hudson River.
When teenagers drive recklessly at high speeds hitting another car and people are killed, God did not cause this, those teens did. They were arrogant to think that the laws of God in this world did not apply to them. Could God suspend these laws? Yes, but He doesn’t because He would be suspending them every second everywhere in the world. God is not the cause or the source of evil, sickness, disease, death and tragedy. We are. To say to a grieving parent who has lost their child by death, “Well, it must have been God’s will” or “God must have needed them somewhere else,” is wrong and insensitive. First, this was not God’s will and second, God has no need that has to be met. To make such statements is our way of attempting to cope emotionally with the tragedy. We must be careful not to blame God for things He did not cause.
That is bad and evil theology. The only way we can even intellectually connect God’s will to any of this is to say: “God has given us free will. Our free will is His will so that He can hold us individually accountable for our free will.” While God is not the source of evil, sin or tragedy in this world, He allows it in the context of each person’s free will. Theologians call this will of God: the decretive will of God, He decreed it; or the determinative will of God, He determined it; or the absolute will of God, it is inviolable, it is inflexible, it is unalterable.
Some want to blame God for the evil in this world due to the King James Version of Isaiah 45:6-7, “That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. (7) I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” The phrase “create evil” is not the best translation. The Hebrew word is ]רָ֑ע, ra]. A better translation would be “calamity,” as a judgment for the wicked and sin. God allows calamity as punishment for our sin and evil.
It is helpful, I think, to understand that sin is not itself a thing created. Sin is neither a substance, a being, a spirit, nor matter. So it is technically not proper to think of sin as something that was created. Sin is simply a lack of moral perfection in a fallen creature. Fallen creatures themselves bear full responsibility for their sin. And all evil in the universe emanates from the sins of fallen creatures. This is the point of Romans 5:12,”When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (NLT).
Though God did not create sin and evil, He is sovereign over it and from the beginning He had a plan for it (Genesis 3:15b). If someone decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, they are exerting their free will. And as they do that, God’s laws of motion, energy, gravity, and physics impacted their free will choice. Though it was not God’s will for them to die, it was God’s will that the laws of nature work the way they were designed, and in this case, the laws of nature working accordingly was God’s will.
In Scripture we read of times when God stopped evil dead in it tracks such as Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace. Then we are shown times God did not intervene with the martyrdom of Stephen, Jeremiah in prison, and Peter and Paul being released from prison. But Paul was eventually beheaded by Rome and Peter crucified upside down. The Bible says this in Romans 11:34, “For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give Him advice?” (NLT). How and why God intervenes in some situations and not in others is the mystery we must live with in faith.
Assignment: When have you or someone you know made a comment about some tragedy like this: “Well, it must have been God’s will.” Looking back on that now, how would you respond to that statement? Make a list of all the major tragedies in your own life. God’s will? Or, did you eventually see God working in these to bring about good (Rom. 8:28)? If so, how do you see God working for the good for you in these today?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Corinthians 2:16a, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him?” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I am so sorry for the consequences of sin and evil that my own free will choices have caused. When tragedy happens, I don’t want to blame You for it. So, help me see where You are working to bring Your glory, grace and good in it and through it. I need to learn to walk by faith in this and walk by faith in You. I know there is coming a day when all sin and evil will end. Thank You for that. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly