God’s Glory and Evil
Some wonder would God’s glory have been revealed without sin? Indeed, evil was never part of God`s plan for us. It entered earth as a consequence of Adam and Eve choosing to disobey God. However, the origin of sin was with Lucifer. If you are not already aware of this, I encourage you to study the Bible verses in the following link:
The Bible verses here form a basis for the following: Satan did not just want to be like God, he wanted to be God. He did not want to be like God in character, he wanted to be worshiped like God. Pride got into his heart and led him to revolt against the Lord. And he convinced many angels to join his rebellion. As a result of this discord, there was war in Heaven (Revelation 12:7-9), and Satan was cast out with the angels that joined him.
But God did not immediately destroy Satan. The Lord gave him the opportunity to illustrate out his theory that the law is not needed so that other created beings can fully see the extent of going down the path of disobedience. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve opened the door for sin to enter our world, and since then suffering has existed. God’s glory can be fully seen in the absence of suffering, yet we know it only in the context of suffering. It is not a yin-yang relationship, this mode of thought is not supported by the scriptures.
God sets boundaries that Satan can not exceed. However, these boundaries are constantly pushed back at by Satan. The classic story is Job. Satan’s main accusation against God is brought to light in the book of Job, which answers why bad things happen to good people. Satan basically told God that the only reason Job worshiped God was because of the protection Job received (Job 1:9-11). God allowed Satan to bring calamity on Job to prove a point: that Job would remain faithful to God even without protection. This is the essence of the whole controversy. Would we love God no matter what?
Jesus proved to us by His death on the cross that He loves humanity and wants to save us (John 3:16), the question is, would we reciprocate this unconditional love? In Job’s case, he did. And this story is in the Bible to encourage us when we go through hard times. If we keep in mind that we are going through hard times because Satan is trying to deter us from the Lord, we can glorify God by being faithful to Him, come what may. We can take trials and persecutions as an opportunity to glorify God in being faithful to Him.
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In His service,
BibleAsk Team
