Why Do Innocent People Suffer? (2)
Tuesday February 7, 2017
God never intended that we would know evil, let alone experience it. God created humans, placed them in a beautiful garden, gave them freedom to enjoy everything in it, with one warning – they were not to eat the “fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” (Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17 NLT)
God desired that humans would live in loving relationship with Him and with each other. God gave humans the ability to think and respond to His love and goodness as they chose. He wanted them to trust His infinite knowledge and, through relationship with Him, receive guidance and direction that would result in a good, pleasing and perfect life. It’s like a parent wanting the best for their child and through wise teaching the child is kept from harm. A protective parent will tell a child not to touch a hot burner on the stove. In doing so, the parent is seeking to shield the child from the danger the child is not even aware exists.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, Today, I chose to turn my will and my life over to Your care and to obey You in all my ways. AMEN
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