The Lord is on my side...what can man do to me?

“I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” ~Ps. 118:5-6

Nick,

Many times in our lives we will encounter temptations, depression, stress, and trials. One of the questions most, if not all, people ask is, “If there is a God who is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-good, why is there sin in the world?” Obviously God could get rid of it because He is all-powerful. He is all-wise, however, so there must be a reason He allows it. Yet if He is all-good, why does it exist? Realize that this is not a theological paper or a heavily-researched project, merely my thoughts on the issue. I believe that God allows sin to remain in the world because: 1) That is what will bring Him the most glory; 2) To show us our dependence upon Him. Ultimately, we can’t know, or even guess at God’s plan. We are human beings who try to fit explanations in with our flawed human knowledge. However, I think these may be two reasons why. The first one is obvious: God is always seeking to glorify Himself. Not in our form of glorifying: doing great deeds or saying great things, though He does do both of these. This is the glory of the Creator of the Universe. His glory puts joy and fear in the hearts of those who love Him and horror and fear in those who hate Him. His glory is made up of holiness, majesty, perfection, wisdom, and any good thing you van think of. His glory is not composed of one or a few good or heroic deeds, but of all good things. We do not know the full extent of His glory, for if He revealed it in its fullness to us, we would be overcome. The second reason requires more explanation. We are born sinful, live sinful lives, and say sinful things. The Bible tells us that we are dependent upon the Lord, but we often leave it at that. We do not want to think more about it. As a question within a question, why does it always say in the Bible, and why do we always say, “God tested so-and-so?” Is it to find out who loves Him and who doesn’t? Of course not! Our names have been written in the Book of Life before the world was created. He knows who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. So why does He test us? My thought is that it is to point us to Him. God never sends us trials without giving us the strength to overcome them. But it often seems to us that we can’t defeat temptations of trials. It’s true; we can’t conquer sin on our own. But when temptations come, we are sent running to God for help. God could have kept sin out of the world from the beginning, but I think He allowed it to show His great love for us. Sin entered the world through one man and sin was conquered by one Man. God gave the ultimate gift of sacrifice and love.

I often imagine our lives as if we’re walking along a road, when we are faced with evil. When we turn to flee, we run rights into the arms of the Lord who has been keeping us from stumbling or turning aside the whole time. God does not allow sin to remain because He can’t do anything about it. On the contrary, at one word from the Almighty, the heavens quake and the earth trembles. We do not serve a weak God; We serve the Maker and Ruler of the Universe!

Your brother in Christ,

Corey