Many people tell me that they cannot keep their faith in God any longer. They argue that there are so many sufferings and evils in the world. What God is doing? How can God be an all-powerful and sovereign God, who is loving, just and kind? If there is God why is there so much innocent suffering of people all over the world and in every age, society and culture? Cannot God hinder people from doing evil work? Should such arguments necessarily lead any to lose faith in God? Perhaps there can be other reasons behind that.

People should sincerely do what is possible within their ability and strength. God intervenes where man is not able to do for him. God created man, the corn of god creation endowed with all his moral attributes of love, justice, kindness, free will, reason or imagination and so on. This is why we pray to God to provide us with strength and wisdom with which we can do our work. The Holy Bible says that Man is the faithful steward or manager of God’s good Creation. God has given man dominion and authority over his creation. But has Man proved to be faithful here?

God is all-sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, loving, kind and just. God wants us, people to do whatever we can and should do to alleviate our sorrows and miseries. The fact that God is all good does not guarantee that everything in our lives and in societies will go on as we wish it to go on to suit our sweet will. We need to bear our responsibility as God’s vice-regents.

Every day horrendous crimes are being committed. Innocent people suffer from injustice and evils perpetrated by the wicked ones. A sinner destroys much good, says the Bible. Man must stand up to his cause. God may not punish evil-doers and the perpetrators of crimes instantly. He has his own timing for vengeance. The Psalmist addresses God thus: “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong, You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors” (Psalm 5:4-6). Again the Psalter exalts God for his justice and protection of the poor and the sinned-against people with such words: “My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.  If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword: he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons. He makes ready his flaming arrows.”

Faithful

Because of human sin, our world is not any perfect world. Sufferings must there be and they are. The power of Satan, the Evil one is there frustrating the good design of God. But the holy will of God will in the end prevail. Innocent and upright people may suffer and they do suffer at the hands of the wicked people without a cause. We are suffering and God is testing us our faith and trust in him. And in the end, God rewards our faithfulness and trust in him in multiple measures. The life of the greatly upright and faithful ancient man, Job is a striking example of this.

We suffer often because we do not live our lives faithfully and uprightly. God originally created Man upright. But to quote the wise king, Solomon: “This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes”. The Holy Bible says that because of sin-nature man is God’s enemy.  So he fails to duly respect Man, the Image of God.

With all that God has created us, i.e. God’s moral attributes, we are supposed to take our inalienable responsibility for justice, peace and harmony in the society. But often fail to do so. This is because of our moral failure inherent in us as a result of what is known as “proclivity” to sin.

The Psalmist describes Man in great laudatory words. Psalm 8 furnishes a clear example of how great Man is in the Creator’s eye. To quote from the same great hymn, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care from him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him the ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet; all flocks and herds; and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, all that swims the paths of the seas. O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the world” (Psalm 8:4-9). And Man is his image-bearer! Man and his society must individually as well as collectively translate into action his God-given attributes and abilities as sacred trust for the well-being of themselves.

Crimes and evil flourish where people of goodwill and love do not bear their responsibilities for the common good. Albert Einstein said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” And how alarmingly true what M.K. Gandhi said about the condition of our world today. He said that the seven deadly enemies of our time are: Wealth without work; Pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; Commerce without morality; Science without humanity; Religion without sacrifice; and Politics without principle”. The reason behind our unjust condition and our miserableness resides within us. God has given us enough, but we are not faithfully using them enough for our common well-being.

____________________________________________

The writer is a Christian Theology teacher and Church leader