~C. S. Lewis
I am often asked why prayers, petitions, and requests are not answered by God, immediately.
In our loving relationship with God our patience is always rewarded, despite not fitting in to our expectation that an urgent request demands an immediate response.
“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him” ~Psalm 37:7
The key to understanding God’s timing is trust in His plan for our life, for “The LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts Him” ~Psalm 32:10
When faced with distressing troubles we often question God's timing, and apparent inaction while overlooking our own responsibility for the dilemma from which are seeking deliverance.
Where was God during The Holocaust is a question posed often by atheists demanding black, and white answers to why God's love appears not to have helped millions of innocent victims of Nazi Germany's extermination programme.
We may also ask why God allows criminality including murder, violence of all descriptions that we are obliged to hear on the evening news. More wars, more deaths of the innocent. More traffic accidents, and natural disasters when thousands of people lose their lives.
Free will is a universal constant feature of the human condition. Free will to choose love means that there must be the possibility to choose not-love - to choose indifference and hatred. The Taoists speak of the Ying, Yang balance that reflects all aspects of human behaviour. While life appears unfair it must be as it is in order for consciousness to emerge, and reveal the image of The Creator, alive in the lives of every human person loving their neighbour, as we expect to be loved.
Elie Wiesel wrote, “After the Holocaust I did not lose faith in God. I lost faith in mankind.”
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