The story is told of a young man who was carrying a placard with the letters “B.A.I.K. on it. Someone asked him what this stood for, and he replied, “It stands for, ‘Boy, am I confused”’. It was pointed out to him that you don’t spell “confused” with a “k”, to which he replied, “Well, that just goes to show how confused I am!” Many people feel confused about some of the things which are happening in the world — violence, injustice, war and terrorism, and often wonder why God doesn’t do something about it. Why do good people often suffer, while evil people seem to get away with doing all kinds of terrible things, causing heartbreak and suffering?
People
have been asking such questions for thousands of years. The writer of Psalm
73 complained: “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the
wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong... This
is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth. (verses
2–3 & 12). He wondered whether it was really worth the effort of trying to
live a good life after all: “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in
vain have I washed my hands in innocence.” (verse 13). He struggled with the
confusing evidence he saw. Did it really pay to be godly? Then he went to
the temple, and suddenly the truth dawned on him. He wrote, “Then I understood
their final destiny.” (verse 17). Those evil people appeared to be getting
away with it, and enjoying their ill-gotten gains, but they were forgetting
that even if they did not get their just desserts in this present world, they
would have to give account to God.
The Bible clearly teaches that we live in a moral universe, and that God will
judge everyone with perfect fairness and justice. This fact helps us to make
sense of what is happening in the world. It also answers the frequent question,
“Why doesn’t God do something?” The truth is that God will do something at
the end of time, and no-one will escape His justice, even if they have escaped
human justice. But there is another fact, without which every one of us might
live in fear and foreboding: God has already done something about the problem
of evil. He has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, so that we
can be free from sin and its eternal consequences. “Therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8: 1).
No-one can escape God’s judgment, but if our faith is in Jesus, then our judgment
is past not future, because He took our judgment when he died for us. In the
parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus said that both were allowed to grow
together until the harvest, to prevent damaging the good corn along with the
weeds. So, when we feel confused by what is happening in the world, let us
try to see things in the light of eternity. And let us remember, too, that
God is very patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to repent
and turn to Him. Those who reject God are living on borrowed time!
—Geoff
Chapman
