Why Do Innocent People Suffer? (1)
Monday February 6, 2017
Audio for WHY DO INNOCENT PEOPLE SUFFER?(1)
A parent dies when a child is very young. Sexual abuse is inflicted on an innocent child. A sibling is brutally murdered. A spouse is killed in a workplace accident. Stories of famine and injustice fill our newscasts. In the face of these circumstances, many people ask, “If there is a loving God, how could He allow such things to happen?” In the next few days let’s consider some factors that relate to this question.
What was God’s plan for human beings? God created humans to live in a loving eternal relationship with Him. God never intended that humans would know evil let alone experience it. God warned Adam that he would die if he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and his wife were deceived into eating the fruit anyway, Adam did not physically die, but he died spiritually and his relationship with God was broken. 
You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone… Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart. (Romans 5:12,14 MSG: Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT)
Human beings are made in the image of God and eternity is forever planted in their hearts. Today, it’s important to remember that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s original plan for an eternal relationship with us has been restored. If we believe in the finished work of the Lord Jesus, we become children of God and will have life with Him forevermore. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. (Romans 3:22 NLT)
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus to make us right with You. I place my faith in the finished work of Jesus to restore me to eternal life with You. AMEN
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