Free Will Gone Awry

My musings for this week come out of an internet conversation I had with a friend who needed spiritual help in dealing with the current world situation and the war between Russia and Ukraine. She was experiencing a crisis in faith, wondering how God could allow this to happen. And furthermore, she asked why God wasn’t doing something to stop it when so many around the world are praying to Him to end it and bring freedom back to the Ukrainian people. I realized that many of you might have the same questions and be experiencing a similar crisis in your own faith.

Right off the start, I needed to say to her, and to you here as well, that I don’t have an adequate answer to those questions. In many ways, I too struggle with them as well. But I also continue to hold on to my faith in God and all God promises because without that, there would be no hope. God, through His Son Jesus, makes it clear that we are and will be saved from all that causes us harm, even death itself. And the ultimate gift God gives us is His Son Jesus Christ and the good news of His gospel. Even as we face the atrocity happening in Ukraine, we need to hear and internalize in the depths of our souls what Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Or as translated by Eugene Peterson in “The Message”, “That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.” Read More.

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