I often hear people say, “If God exists, why doesn’t He do anything about all the war, death and destruction?”
The most terrible things are blamed on Him. Although it touches me to the depths of my soul, I somehow understand it. I, too, lived a life without God for a long time and really understood nothing about God and the Bible.
Isn’t He Omniscient and Omnipotent? Why, then, does He not do anything about all the misery in the world? Well, without the help of God and His Holy Spirit, it is hardly possible to understand how spiritual things work.
But see the world as a very big ship. We are all on this ship; there is illness, misery, poverty, quarrels and wars on the ship, but we have nowhere to go! Worst of all, it’s also going to sink! So one big box of misery. But God sends a rescue boat!
Hallelujah!
Lots of people get on the lifeboat, but most people, for whatever reason, don’t trust that boat. They chose to stay on that big ship. That sinking ship is the world, full of its misery. You’re in it, and without God, you can’t get rid of it. Jesus is our lifeboat! The only question is, will you get in? The lifeboat that can take you safely to the other side. It seems scary and unreliable on that big open sea, but do you dare to take the step?
Our free will
Look, we can’t put the blame on God, as He already offered us a way out; Jesus our “Lifeboat”.
He gave His Son, and He let Him be born with the mission to die the most gruesome death there is, the cross, for us. He was mocked, spit on, tortured and nailed to a wooden cross all to save us, to give us a way out of that miserable sinking ship and to become our lifeboat. 
We also have our own responsibility and our own choice whether we get on His boat or not. Calling out uncritically that everything is God’s fault and thus ignoring His sacrifice on the cross is not very fair, and the way out is right in front of you.
We are responsible for our own choices and actions. God did His part; we must do our own part.
God created us with free will so that we could enter into a relationship with Him out of that free will. That is love. Without free will, it is not love, but slavery.
You cannot force your partner to love you and stay with you until death. That’s not love, and I don’t think that’s a relationship you want. If I had to force someone to be with me, I would think in advance; never mind. Well, that’s how it is for God, too. That’s the reason He gave us our free will in the first place, to have a relationship with Him, based on love.
God IS love; therefore, He does not interfere with your free will, and does not force Himself on you. He will try to get your attention all your life, as, for example, the fact that you are reading this now is no coincidence, but at the end of the day, it remains your choice to go for Him or not. To get on His lifeboat……..or not.
We can also use that free will for bad things. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who allow themselves to be seduced by money, power, lust or whatever, causing them to abuse this free will and do the most terrible things. This causes wars and all other troubles. Not because God wants it, but because it is people’s choice to make bad decisions.
“Then He can do something about it,” you might think again. He has already done that, several times. When you read the Old Testament, you see that God tried for hundreds and hundreds of years to help and convince people to return to Him. He was constantly trying to show people that they were not doing well, but the man was, as usual, stubborn.
Ultimately, God had no choice but to send Jesus. That was, and still is, the only lasting solution to all misery. He changes us from the inside out. He works with your heart so that you want to do His will more and more and look more and more like Jesus. You will increasingly hate the things He hates and love the things He loves. Jesus is the light of the world and light drives out darkness (John 1:5, John 8:12).
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it"- John 1:5
Cycling on the sidewalk
God has given us His Word, the Bible, with enough boundaries, wisdom and guidance to live a good and happy life together with Him. These are not rules, as people sometimes say: “Oh, if you are a Christian, you are not allowed to do this; you are not allowed to do that.”
But it’s not like that; think of it as a little child who wants to ride a bike outside. 
It wants to take the big road, but that is obviously not very smart. What are you doing? I assume you are saying, “No, you can cycle on the sidewalk, but you are absolutely not allowed to go on the road”. That child sees no danger and can think, “Mom’s stupid rules.” But you and I know as adults that these are boundaries based on love.
So it is with God. He loves us; otherwise, He would not have given us His Son. From that love, He gives us boundaries to build a safe and happy life with Him.
A child who learns boundaries from his parents, knows who he is, where he stands in life, and where he stands with his parents. He will also be a happier child than a child who knows no boundaries and never knows where he stands in life or where he stands with his parents. It may seem nice if your parents allow you everything, and don’t pay any attention to you, but in the end, you are not helping a child. God’s boundaries are like an instruction manual for life, drawn up out of love.
What about all the nasty things that we basically have no choice about, such as illness, you might think? That ship we are all on, it was perfect! It was an unsinkable ship at first! Yet, we made a mistake; we sailed into a sailing area where there were ice masses below sea level. Even though we had been warned, we thought it wouldn’t be too bad, and we set our own course. We hit the ice, and a big hole opened in the bottom of the ship! Irreparable damage and an unstoppable amount of water are flowing in. We are doomed.
The choice that Eve made and then Adam also caused all the misery, like the hole in the ship, and all the rubbish that entered the world, including disease. Sickness is not of God, and obviously we don’t choose to be sick, yet it came through that hole in the bottom of the ship. Adam and Eve had also been given free will. And God had also clearly warned them, but they were deceived and chose their own path. The unstoppable flow of misery and everything that comes with it, everything that is not of God such as sickness, came into the world, and is now unstoppable.
Thanks again, Adam and Eve!
There is no way back. It can’t be stopped anymore, the hole is there and the ship is sinking, period.
There are two options left: stay on the sinking ship, or get into the lifeboat. We may still be sailing on the same sea as the sinking ship, but on our lifeboat there is peace, joy, love and healing. No matter how intense it can sometimes be at sea, this boat is unsinkable!
Jesus is the bridge between God and us. Without Jesus, God cannot reach us (John 14:6). But from the lifeboat anything is possible (Matthew 19:26)! Also healing.
Jesus still saves! He is still ready for anyone to board His lifeboat! It is not too late; it is only too late when you are still on the great sinking ship when you breathe your last breath. Since no one knows when that time will come, I hope and pray this is your sign to get on board with Jesus.
If you want to get on board, and invite Him into your heart, say the following:
“Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Come into my life.
I acknowledge You as the Son of God, and I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and that You rose again on the third day. Forgive me for my sins, I want to know You as Lord of my life and Savior of my soul.
Thank you, Jesus!”.
If you have declared this with your mouth, and believe it in your heart, you are now saved (Romans10:9).
Now one more task remains. Find a local church or ministry where you can be baptized, that is extremely important. (Acts 2:38) (www.frontrunners.nl)
“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters” -Psalm 23:2
Trust the Lifeboat that God offers you, get in and sail to still waters (Psalm 23:2).
