Why Bad Things Happen To Good People (Part 3)

So far, we've established that God cares (Part 1) and that He's given us free will (Part 2).

Today, let's talk about God's power.

In Christian circles, you often hear that God is all-powerful. That's true. God is the author and source of all power in the earth. But because of the concept of free will, God has voluntarily limited His power here on earth.

Don't believe me? Check out the following scriptures.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26-28).

“Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). 

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:14, 16). 

In each of these scriptures, we see that God has given power on earth to man. God has offered us His help but we must be participatory in the process. As we saw in the last post, God knocks - that is, he offers us the opportunity to take advantage of his assistance, but we must open the door and invite Him in (Revelation 3:20).

We certainly worship an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-encompassing God. But His overwhelming love for us and desire to have relationship necessitates a limiting of His power here on earth. Otherwise, we wouldn't truly have free will and would never suffer the consequences for our often selfish and unwise actions. That doesn't mean that God doesn't have all power to do His will on earth. It does mean, however, that we don't necessarily have access to that power automatically. We need to invite him in.

More to come. Stay tuned.

God bless,
J.W.