Reconciliation
Among one of the biggest misconceptions that I believe unbelievers have towards the existence of God is the existence of pain and suffering in the world. Most people know or can grasp the idea of how sin originated. Adam and Eve disobeyed the clear commands of God to not partake in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is how we developed a sin nature. Hang on to this. To have a sin nature is to have the natural inclinations toward the things that displease God. Before sin entered the world through our actions and behaviors, we knew no sin because we had not been exposed to it. So how exactly do we end up living in a fallen world where God is sovereign? In the beginning, God created. God is Creator and Satan is imitator. Because the enemy has no power to create, he can only take what has been created and use it to his benefit. The question is how did Satan enter the earth without a hand in creating it? Temptation. When Eve disobeyed, she opened the door for Satan to introduce himself and influence God's people to turn away from the things of God. I can imagine, when this happened, Satan thought he had completely destroyed God's plan for His people to live in perfect harmony with Himself because he had now caused Eve to do evil in the sight of God. God is good and anything contrary to God's Will is evil doing. Therefore, God punished Adam and Eve and they had to suffer the consequences of their actions which we still reap till this day. But for God, our story would have ended there.
When God created us, He didn't arbitrarily mix us together and send us off into the world. No, He created us in His image. Which means, despite our disobedience but because of His mercy, we still had power to overcome because of the remnants of DNA we still had left of our Father. We weren't holy anymore, but we weren't completely without an identity. When you see and experience hurt, pain, suffering, or injustice, it has never been because God was/is unjust or indifferent to our situation. It was because of our initial and continued disobedience to Him. Understandably so, temptation is like a gravitational pull. It tugs and seduces at our sin nature. Thats why, without the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross at Calvary we would have been sentenced to death, eternal separation from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is also why the scriptures tells us we fight not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, principalities, and spiritual hosts of wickedness. (Eph. 6:12). Temptation may come in the form of a person but that is not who you're fighting against. You're fighting against the unseen nature of the enemy. But the thing about Satan is he just recycles old tools, so there's nothing that should really catch us off guard when it comes to his tactics. Interestingly enough, he used the same tactic (temptation) under similar circumstances to try and seduce Jesus in the wilderness in order to prevent us from again living in perfect harmony with our Father.
We must suit up and put on the whole armor of God and tap into the power that still resides in us, but this time by way of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
