Yet, could there be another element to this dilemma? Maybe something or someone else is responsible for all the suffering and hardships people are facing in this world. Could it be that we all have another common Enemy. And could it be that this Enemy is skilled at deception and blame shifting?
God created the world perfectly, to begin with. He set boundaries for the first people He created. There would be consequences for violating those boundaries. God made His rules and principles clear to His people. Yet, the people He created chose to disobey and disregard the rules He made and the boundaries He placed around them.
And there were consequences. We experience those consequences today, as we speak. Chaos and disorder abound. Wars seem inevitable. We become so filled with ourselves, that we end up hating ourselves and others. We listen to the lies of the devil and take them seriously, as if our lives depended upon them. We hate, and we are hated by others.
This is not the kind of world God created for us to live in! There was a war in heaven, and the Enemy of our souls defied the true and living God. Although we don't know what that looked like or what exactly might have taken place, the Bible is very clear that it happened. The devil has no fear of God, and challenges God all the time. The devil tricks us and we fall into his traps. We believe his lies. Then he laughs at us and accuses us before God.
Yet, we are very sure that God is the one who intends to hurt us and make us unhappy. We blame God for the wars that have gone on throughout History. We blame God for the suffering in the world. Yet, who is the real cause of our suffering? Who is behind it all?
When God first created the world, the first man, Adam, lived in a Paradise type land. Every type of plant was available for him to eat and to look at. God created a woman for Adam and he called her name, 'Eve'. Adam was very happy with Eve, yet, there was a time when Adam wanted to test the boundaries that God had placed around him.
Adam walked with God. God had taught Adam many things and one of those things was that Adam could eat of any tree in the Garden. Any tree, except one, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If he ate from that tree, there would be consequences. The devil came up to Eve one time (notice, the devil did not come to Adam!) and he lied to her about what would happen if Eve were to take of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve was curious, and thought it would be a desirable thing to do, so she took. Satan lied to her about becoming like God, if she should eat of this fruit. Not only did she take, but she gave some to Adam, and he took as well. He knew better and was tricked into thinking he would get a better deal if he took the fruit. Instead of having to trust in God for wisdom now, he could have wisdom independent of God. So, both Adam and Eve took the fruit and there were consequences. God found them and told them the consequences. One of the things that happened, was that there would, from that point on, be enmity between human beings and the devil.
From that point on, the devil has been making war against people. But people don't understand that. They can't see the devil, so, they think the person they are arguing with, or the person who is hating them, is the bad guy. Yes, we all have to give account for what we do. And if we listen to the devil, which we will do, by default, if we are not listening to God, we will be deceived.
The devil is behind all the wars going on. He incites people and causes them to fight against each other. Satan is raging with hatred, and when people express this kind of hatred, they are carrying the devil's hatred for people in their own hearts.
I never want us to think that when we do something bad or wrong, that the devil made me do it. We still have a choice not to listen or obey the devil. But many times, even out of ignorance, we blindly follow the devil's instructions. We will be accountable to God, for disobeying God!
But you may ask, how would anyone even know what God is saying? Has God spoken to us? The answer is, yes! God has given us His word. His word tells us of His promises to us. Not only that, but, when we are in God's word, we learn to be discerning. We can learn to recognize when God is speaking to us, and when the devil is tempting us to believe a lie. God's word helps us to be discerning. It helps us to separate the truth from the lies.
The devil is like a puppet master. He is behind the scenes orchestrating the activities of people and nations. He is the Father of Lies and lies to his people continually. But we don't see them as lies, because they appear to us as the truth. Again, that is where knowing what the Bible says can help.
There is a term used by magicians called, misdirection. What the magician does, is to make the audience focus on something in a particular direction, while the magician does something that could be visible, that will make his trick work. He doesn't want the audience to see what he is doing, so, by some action, he gets the audience to focus on something elsewhere. That way, the audience won't see what he is doing in order to get the trick or illusion to work out right, because they will be focused on the other thing. The devil is like that as well. He gets us to focus on the wrong things, while he accomplishes many things behind our backs, or while we aren't looking.
Satan causes a lot of suffering in the world. But none of us has to be subject to the devil. We can put our trust in God, and we can turn to Him in repentance and faith. When we trust in what Jesus did on the Cross, then we can be forgiven of all our sins, and we can become a new creature in Christ. The power of God will live in us and give us victory over sin and the devil. God the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. Then we will more easily be able to separate the truth from the lies. Plus, the love of God will be in our hearts, and we will be able to be reconciled to people around us.
When we are born again, we are born into God's family. Our spirit, which was dead, is now alive. We are alive spiritually and have eternal life with God.
Isn't living like this much better than living in a world filled with hate and fighting? In the kingdom of God, there are no bullies. God is the God of peace and reconciliation.
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