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Suffering for Others’ Evil
Children have an intense appreciation for fairness of treatment by their parents. They want an immaculately consistent system of rewards and punishments, and they strenuously protest when they believe that they are falsely accused. And they really, really hate blanket punishments when only one little sinner was at fault.
Well, they probably better get used to it. One of the features of our broken world is that innocent people get dragged into the painful consequences of the evil deeds of others. An abusive father or alcoholic mother will leave a lot of collateral damage on others in the family. A poorly run tavern can attract drunkenness, fighting, gambling, drugs, and prostitution, which blight the whole neighborhood. On a grand scale, governmental leaders like Hitler and Hussein can drag their entire country into reckless and destructive adventures.
Even King David, “a man after God’s own heart,” by his own selfish blunders caused a season of suffering for his beloved Israel: “So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead David said to God, ‘ . . . I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done?’” (1 Chronicles 21:14,17).
What will you do when these things happen to you? 1) Choose not to hate the person(s) who dragged you into their consequences, and 2) think about other people who may be hurt when you are attracted to risky life choices.
Children have an intense appreciation for fairness of treatment by their parents. They want an immaculately consistent system of rewards and punishments, and they strenuously protest when they believe that they are falsely accused. And they really, really hate blanket punishments when only one little sinner was at fault.
Well, they probably better get used to it. One of the features of our broken world is that innocent people get dragged into the painful consequences of the evil deeds of others. An abusive father or alcoholic mother will leave a lot of collateral damage on others in the family. A poorly run tavern can attract drunkenness, fighting, gambling, drugs, and prostitution, which blight the whole neighborhood. On a grand scale, governmental leaders like Hitler and Hussein can drag their entire country into reckless and destructive adventures.
Even King David, “a man after God’s own heart,” by his own selfish blunders caused a season of suffering for his beloved Israel: “So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead David said to God, ‘ . . . I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done?’” (1 Chronicles 21:14,17).
What will you do when these things happen to you? 1) Choose not to hate the person(s) who dragged you into their consequences, and 2) think about other people who may be hurt when you are attracted to risky life choices.
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About this Plan
The sin, violence, terror, and bad things in this world can lead us to be afraid. But knowing that our powerful God is on our side leaves us with no fear.
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