So, why doesn't God stop
bad people
from doing bad things?
It happens all the time.
It happens all around you.
They lie,
cheat, steal, kill,
manipulate.
And God isn't stopping them.
And there you are trying to do the Biblical thing,
the Godly thing.
Toeing that line that God says you are to walk.
And you are getting stepped on.
Emotionally beat up.
Passed over for the promotion.
And God isn't stopping them.
Where's God's power?
Where's God's might?
Throughout this week we're going to ask and answer some pretty difficult questions
in the Bible and see God's beautiful answers that he's going to give to you.
And we're going to start with that first question.
Why doesn't God stop bad people
from doing bad things?
I mean, you read through the Bible and you see God's power and his might, right?
Stopping evil.
But where's that now?
The Egyptians go into the Red Sea.
God crashes the waters down.
He stops them cold.
Peter
sees God's power, God's might,
when the evil's going against him.
And yet God pushes them back.
Saul is on his way to go kill Christians
and all of a sudden God converts him
and changes him into Paul.
Where's that power now?
Where's that might now?
If that's your question, you're not alone.
Three thousand, about 3,000 years ago,
the Psalm writer said this in Psalm 82.
Why does God let the guilty go
unpunished?
It seems like God
delays His wrath.
And, actually, God straight up admits it.
If we turn our Bibles and we move over to Isaiah.
In chapter 48, he says this,
So God admits it. He,
he delays his wrath.
That seems unfair.
That seems wrong.
Why doesn't God show his power and his might?
What if God did?
What if God listened to us and anytime anyone did anything wrong,
God's atomic elbow of justice
came down on them?
What if every single time anyone broke the speed limit in their car,
their car broke down and cost them $532.
A very specific amount.
But God could do it.
Pretty soon you'd stop speeding.
What if every single time you told a lie,
a tooth fell out?
Pretty quickly you'd stop lying.
What if every time that you had an
impure thought come into your mind someone would come
out of the bushes,
kick you where you really don't want to be kicked,
really hard?
Pretty quickly you'd stop having those impure thoughts.
But your change,
your change,
would come because of fear
of God
and not faith in God.
And that's not the kind of relationship God wants with you.
And so if we turn back then into
Isaiah, chapter 48.
Here's the second part of that verse.
God wants us to be drawn back into him because, here's the rest of it.
He doesn't want to cut us off.
God doesn't want us to have fear of him.
He wants faith in him.
And so we hear this.
2 Peter
gives us the final explanation.
God says this,.
The reason why God delays is because he wants the unbelievers
to have more time.
That God’s grace, the Holy Spirit's work, might come into their hearts
and change them.
The reason why God delays is because God wants us, as Christians, to realize our wrong.
And through the power of the Spirit,
to confess and grow in our relationship with God
and to be forgiven.
So, when you see evil happening,
it's going to continue to happen.
Don't scream out, "God, go get them!
"God, show them your might and teach them a lesson!
"Have them have justice!"
Instead, be thankful that God's a God of mercy.
And instead, say "God, go get them.
"Go get them and teach them a lesson.
"Not with justice,
but with Jesus."
So that more people know the peace,
the love that you and I have
in Christ.
Life is difficult.
It just, flat out is really hard.
And all of us know someone that's hurting.
Life just isn't going well for them.
Can you share this video with them?
Give them encouragement and realize that God hasn't forgotten them.
But God's showing patience
and God's showing mercy.
And that's the God that loves us and cares for us.
And hopefully, this video
can give them encouragement.
So, please send it along.
And may God bless your day as well.