God’s Mega-Phone

Genesis 3 is perhaps the most tragic of the 1,189 chapters found in the Bible. Why? Because it records the moment when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God. It would be like a brand new Lamborghini Diablo being run over by a tractor-trailer two seconds after driving off the lot. Or like a beautiful work of art like the Mona Lisa being slashed with a machete. Yeah, that’s how tragic Genesis 3 is – only 1,000 times worse!

In a real sense, the world we inhabit is not the one God created. Our world today is filled with bad stuff. But this was not the case in the beginning. God did not create or cause evil. This was something that entered into the world through man’s free choice to rebel against a holy, righteous God.

So why, if God is fully in control, did He allow it to happen? Perhaps it’s because God respects our dignity and chooses not to program us like robots. Or maybe it’s because God will one day be most glorified by showing himself mightier than all the evil forces of darkness – in the same way that David’s victory over Goliath is memorable precisely because the Philistine was so enormous.

Who knows for sure? But this one thing is true: pain serves as God’s mega-phone proclaiming His cry for healing. If there were no pain, there would be no purpose for a wonderful counselor, healer, or Savior. Pain is a prerequisite to pleasure; they are not opposites but intimately related.

Got pain? Good! You were not created for this world but another. The great news of the Gospel, is that when we trust Jesus Christ he rescues us from the wages of sin and begins to mend all that is broken.