Is God Too Good?

     Someone is bound to challenge such a view of God as too good to be true.
     "Wait a minute, I know God is good,, but this sounds a little too good.  Surely He doesn't have such a favorable attitude toward everyone and certainly God has stopped a few people in their tracks by making horrible things happen to them.  What about Sodom and Gomorrah and the Flood?"
     This is a good question, and it deserves a good answer.  Let me attempt to give one.  Follow me carefully.
     As I have traversed the Holy Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, four types of ill-fate have surfaced:
     1.  The Natural Results of Sin:  Sin has tragic effects.  Just like touching a hot stove burns, and jumping off a cliff compresses flesh and bones to the ground, so sin is painful and destructive.  "Whatever a man sows that he will also reap" Galatians 6:7.  "The curse causeless shall not come:  Proverbs 26:2.  "Sin entered into the world and death by sin" Romans 5:12.  "The way of transgressors is hard"  Proverbs 13:15.
     Bad things happen because of sin.  Imagine if sin had no painful or destructive effects.  Then it would not be an evil force.  The problem with sin is that it's wrong, and it's wrong because it hurts us.  Sin violates the laws  God has designed for our happiness and well-being.  If God were to miraculously prevent the destructive results of sin, He would in effect do away with His law and excuse sin.  There would be no reason for us to view sin as evil.  When the tragic effects of sin are felt, they are just that, the effects of sin, not the will or work of God.
     2.  The Result of Violating Natural Law:  Heat burns.  Gravity pulls.  Pressure explodes.  All the natural laws God has set into motion He intends for our blessing.  If there was no heat, we would freeze.  If there was no gravity we would float away.  As much as we complain about the results that follow the breaking of natural laws, we would not want to live without those laws.  We would like to be able to fall and not get hurt, but we like even more the fact that gravity holds our feet to the ground when we walk.
     Taking the subject of natural law into a diabolical context, we must remember that the devil and evil men do tamper with nature and try to harness its power to suit their destructive agenda.  When the war between good and evil is ended, many natural disasters that were attributed to God will be seen to be the work of the evil one.
     Improper care of the earth and disrespect of its boundaries produce destructive effects as well.  Fires, floods, and earthquakes often cause mass destruction as a result of our careless and foolish ways of pursuing life on this planet.  Apart from God's wisdom, we simply do not know what we are doing  And often nature lets us know we are not as smart as we think we are.  God does not want us to get hurt by nature.  He would much rather we turn to Him for wisdom and live in obedience to nature's laws  Another option would be for Him to banish all natural law, but we wouldn't be happy with that either.

     (Number 3 will be continued tomorrow, so tune in for the rest of the story.  It is so good you won't want to miss it.  And neither do I.  Grandma Joan)