The Wind in the Trees

Even those of us who have firmly decided to follow Jesus often don’t trust him unconditionally because of one big problem–pain and suffering. We can only trust someone to the extent we believe they are good and therefore have our best interests at heart. We will hold back from fully giving our hearts to God to the degree we question his goodness.

So there’s a problem.

If we have given any thought at all to it, we wonder why, if God is love,¹ has his creation gone so wrong. We will find it hard to trust him if we think God is responsible for anything like the following:

• parasitic wasps who lay their eggs inside living caterpillars and whose larvae slowly consume the host from the inside out
• male lions ruthlessly killing the male cubs of their rivals
• trematode worms entering a wildebeest’s ear and migrating to its brain causing the tortured animal to run in circles, shake its head violently, and collide with trees

Can God do such things to animals who have no capacity for doing anything either right or wrong?

Or is there someone else in charge of this world? In a recent post we considered the reality of dark spiritual forces and the cosmic war in which we find ourselves. Most of this transcends our understanding. We have no clue, for example, why the bible says evil powers are in “heavenly places.”²

However, we do have some light on the subject. The whole world lies under the devil’s power³ and scripture speaks in no uncertain terms about his ability to corrupt even the physical realm.

The powers of darkness afflict people with sickness and infirmities.⁴ They can apparently cause natural disasters as Jesus would never have rebuked the storm if created by his heavenly father.⁵ The devil even causes death itself.⁶

That Satan has power to corrupt creation is a scary truth. For many of us, it requires an adjustment in our thinking. Yes, God is all powerful but, as one writer puts it, the devil has “all but almighty power.” We dare not live carelessly.

Sober reflection on this reality leads me to contemplate the two great Christian virtues, humility and love.

Realizing that dark powers have corrupted creation can produce humility.

We may think to ourselves that God should have created the world another way, that we would have done it differently. However, such thinking gets us nowhere and elevates our wisdom above God’s. God would no doubt answer us the way he did Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.”⁷

As the Psalmist did, we must admit such matters leave us completely out of our depth.⁸ Our only option is humility and humility means surrendering to God’s wisdom in allowing the darkness to have such power in this present creation.

At the same time, however, we believe this world with all its pain and suffering is the theatre in which God has chosen to reveal his essence–pure love.

Knowing that God is not responsible for nature’s evils we can wholeheartedly agree with John’s bold proclamation, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”⁹ Nagging doubts about his goodness are gone. We can now fully give back our love to the One who created our essence out of the ocean of his infinite love.

Is that too much to believe? We may not experience this truth yet. But through faith, we see it.¹⁰

This, of course, brings up questions such as, “Does the devil having so much power somehow diminish God’s power?” or, “What does the bible mean by saying God cursed creation?” We will explore such questions in future posts.

1. 1 John 4:8 ↩︎
2. e.g. Eph. 6:12; Col. 1:20; 1 Kings 22:21-23; Job 1:6 ↩︎
3. 1 John 5:19; Luke 4:5–6; John 12:31-33; John 14:30; John 16:11-12; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 4:4 ↩︎
4. Luke 13:10-16; 2Cor. 12:7 ↩︎
5. Luke 8:22–25 ↩︎
6. Heb. 12:14 ↩︎
7. Job 38:4 ↩︎
8. Psa. 131 ↩︎
9. 1 John 1:5 ↩︎
10. Heb. 10:13 ↩︎