God Is Long Suffering.

     3.  The recklessness of Sinners:  Evil people do evil things to innocent people.  We call this crime.  "The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men:  they all lie in wait for blood' they hunt every man his brother with a net" Micah 7:2.  "One sinner destroyeth much good" Ecclesiastes 9:18.
    Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan.  An innocent man, minding his own business fell prey to a band of robbers.  He was beat and left to die.  Two men with no compassion passed him by.  A third came by and helped him, see Luke 10:30-37.
     Where was God in all of this?
     He did not send the thieves to attack the innocent man. Nor did He put it in the hearts of the first two passers -by to leave him for dead.  The tragedy was not the will of God.  The only part God played in the whole event was to inspire the heart of the third man with compassion.
     This is probably the most difficult aspect of human suffering for us to reconcile with the idea of a loving God.  Rape, Murder. child abuse.  War.  Why doesn't God step in and stop it all?  Is it because the Lord is heartless?  Is it because He is powerless?  No!  There is only one reason He allows this sinful world to continue another minute:  "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (to end the nightmare of evil) as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance....Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation"  2 Peter 3:9, 15.
     God's love sees beautiful potential in the vilest sinners.  His patience has paid off. Just think
 of some of the people He has been able to redeem and transform:
     Nebuchadnezzar, the ruthless murderous, haughty king of Babylon.  He may be your neighbor in heaven.
    Paul, formerly Saul, the cold-hearted persecutor of Christians.  Stephen will be surprised to meet Paul on resurrection morning.
     And there is you and me, as worthy of death as anyone else.  God waits because He loves.  If He had not waited so many would be lost who could have been saved.  In the process of the plan of salvation, He does not agree with, encourage, or in any way orchestrate the terrible things people do to each other. If we only knew His heart, we would find that He wants it all to end more than we do.
     4,  The Merciful and Wise Judgments of God:  In Scripture there are clear examples of divine power bringing destructive judgments on wicked men. The annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Flood are displays of direct divine retribution.  It is within the sovereignty of Gods' authority and within the boundaries of His love to use the forces of nature and the power of His word to execute judgment.  According to His own testimony He has done so in the past and He will do so in the future:

    (To be continued again tomorrow.  I am learning so much.  Even after reading it as many times as I have, I still see something new each time.  So thankful that God impressed Ty to write this book.  No need to rest in ignorance.  God does not want us to be ignorant of His word, does He?
Follow the texts and do your own study to make sure you are on the right track.  I haven't found anything yet that wasn't Biblical and I don't think you will either. Grandma Joan