Suffering and Evil

I want to share the following, written by my friend Denny Hartford, the director of a terrific organization I highly recommend, Vital Signs Ministries. As I research the subject of evil and suffering, and interview many people who have suffered much, my heart is being touched with God's grace, as well as with a longing for the day when at last He will make all things right in the new heavens and new earth.

Matthew Henry preached a sermon to young people from Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give me thy heart.” He then added in his diary the following affectionate and devout aspiration, “Lord, take my heart and make it such as it should be.”

The principle of authority is that we are in the kingdom of Christ. Jesus is Lord and head of all power and author­ity. Satan has absolutely no legitimate authority over the believer. 

This is a picture of Charles Haddon Spurgeon at age 23. Only a year previously, an event happened that brought on a severe depression that he nearly didn’t recover from. 

God is not the author of evil. Neither, however, is He ever the victim of evil. His hands are never tied by evil. He's never painted into a corner by evil. When Jesus went to the cross He didn't fall into Satan's trap—Satan fell into His. Wills were being exercised, but men weren't calling the shots—God was.

Shared Hope International began its ministry of rescuing and restoring women and children who have been victims of sex trafficking by opening the first Home of Hope in India in 1998. Asha Grahm, or Village of Hope, has since grown into a 72-acre development two hours north of Mumbai. It’s through this facility that a young lady named Ganga was given the opportunity to escape sexual slavery and begin a new life nearly eight years ago.

“There is a God,” Portland Trailblazer head coach Nate McMillan said when Portland won the NBA draft lottery, giving our city the number one pick. It’s an understatement to say that event dominated news coverage here. Had Philadelphia been vaporized by aliens, it might have made page three.