Dear Àdùnní,
Have you ever wondered why there is evil in the world? Why does GOD allow evil even though GOD is good (all the time)? What does it mean for tragedy, destruction, aches, pain, evil-looking situations, harmful circumstances, and sheer bad luck to be part of GOD’s Will? Can we say evil comes from a good GOD? Do we say these things to keep up hope? Do we sometimes think GOD lost control, and then something bad happened? And does our faith oblige us to say it is what GOD wanted even if it is hurtful? How do we make sense of this inevitable paradox?
We don’t. We may try, but making sense of it may not come to us as we hope it would. What we do is find out what is and not necessarily why it is. “Why” is for the moment that eternity begins and life conquers death. In view of that, here’s what it means for something bad to come out of a good design. The same thing happened in the Garden of Eden when imperfection sprouted from a perfect place.
In Genesis 2:16-17, we are presented with the balanced view of what GOD’s Will is and how we can understand what it is for ourselves. These verses reveal to us that the Will of GOD is embedded in the character of GOD, which HE presents to Adam as an instruction. In Genesis 2:16, GOD presented the idea of bountiful liberty:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.
Adam, the Man, could eat everything. This aspect of GOD’s instruction to life shows the openness of GOD’s Love. The care, the blossoming love, the character of a parent to nurture and nourish, to provide but also protect. It represents HIS mindfulness to provide for the one HE has created. We can take a cue from this to realise that GOD has indeed made arrangements for us, so much so that there are countless opportunities for us to be who we need to be.
Have you taken time to realise that you can do anything you set your mind to do? As humans, we were created to be great at anything we intend to be great at. It all boils down to motivation and intent, both of which are personally rooted and nurtured and can vary in their percentage of expression.
However, the command does not end there. With the vastness of possibility comes the caveat of responsibility, which we see in Genesis 2:17:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
The verse begins with a ‘but’. This conjunction helps to show a demarcation between what was and what is. In terms of implication, they go hand in hand. If one fails, or if one is ignored, the other is affected. Such is the kind of instruction which GOD gives Adam.
In verse 17, GOD gives a limit to the liberty of our consumption of HIS Blessings. HE says there is a tree in the Garden which is out of limits. It is out of bounds. Adam was not to consume the fruits of this tree. This kind of reminds me of times when I visit a boutique or a restaurant or any display shop and showroom. There is always a door in plain sight that shows a sign: Out of bounds to non-staff or something of that nature. A door that suggests the customer cannot access the room or area. In any case, you can go everywhere you see, but that door is off limits to you unless you are a member of staff, and this is what Genesis 2:17 looks like.
The command showed (us) that Adam was restricted from partaking in the tree, which would lead anyone to ask: Why was the tree so accessible if it was not meant to be accessed? Why not put up a barricade, or a fence, or a wall, or anything to stop access to the tree? Why keep it in plain sight in the middle of the garden (Genesis 2:9)?
Among the many design reasons, GOD kept the tree in plain sight to establish balance between what we can access and what we should not. It is the same reason GOD makes sure that we have options between what HE has set up for us to do and what we can do which is not part of HIS laid-out life for us. This aspect of GOD’s Character is what we can term HIS WILL.
It is GOD’s Will to give us everything and the ability to do everything, but also to give us a guiding instruction on how to interact with the possibilities of ‘everything’ and ‘anything’. The vastness of GOD’s Will is that everything is in GOD’s Will: the things which are good for us, terrible for us, and those which are waiting, quite simply, in the middle. Everything is in GOD’s Will, and that is what Genesis 2:16 and 17 shows us.
However, beyond everything being in GOD’s Will, we can learn that there are at least two sides to GOD’s Will. I say ‘at least’ because what are the odds that we have figured it all out when it comes to GOD?
There is a side of GOD’s Will which contains what HE proposes. This is the Purposeful Will of GOD. This aspect of GOD’s Will is full of GOD’s Purpose. It conveys what GOD originally has in mind, which ultimately leads to peace and wholesomeness. This is GOD’s Purposeful Will:
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat
– Genesis 2:16
On this side of GOD’s Will, HE presents what HE has set out to do and what HE has made provision for. In this Purposeful Will, you cannot go wrong. While on this side of GOD’s Will, everything good is a ‘giving’ and is giving. It is here that we find HIS protection, we see HIS provision, we witness HIS preservation, we can observe HIS perfection, and we can see HIS Grace and Love. On this side of GOD’s Will, what GOD says is a priority, a necessity, and a default.
The other side of GOD’s Will is what HE permits, which may not be ideal. This is the aspect that covers what we decide to do which is not in line with HIS perfect design for us. This is the aspect of GOD’s Will where HE lets our ability to decide roam freely among the available choices and options. On this side, GOD’s instruction is a suggestion, something to be ignored at best. Here, we are masters and mistresses of our fate. We own our (own) lives, our bodies, and our choice. We decide because we can. We act because we can. We take preferences ‘just because’. Sometimes, the only reason why we do anything on this side of life is because we can. This is the Permitted Will:
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
– Genesis 2:17
How do these sides affect us now? Well, in everything that happens, the first point of call is to identify what side of GOD’s Will this is. It is also important that we understand what side of GOD’s Will we are located in or living our lives in. You see, in GOD’s Will, there is sorrow, pain, aches, hardship, suffering, waste, lack, destruction, chaos, sickness, curses, anguish, obstacles, temptations, retrogression, anxiety, depression, and all the other bad stuff I would run out of typing space to list. These are aspects of GOD’s Permitted Will. GOD allows them to be, but they are not what HE originally intends for us to experience.
In the same vein, there is joy, love, peace, good, health, wealth, patience, fulfilment, hope, protection, justice, righteousness, holiness, humility, strength in service, bliss, and all the good stuff I would gladly use up my ink listing, but we do not have the time. GOD’s Will is balanced. This means that there are no after-thoughts with GOD, just thoughts, just levels and degrees to HIS thinking. As scary as it sounds, Heaven is GOD’s Purposeful Will, but hell is HIS Permitted Will. What GOD permits may not be what HIS purpose is. In other words, because it is allowed does not make it the purpose of GOD. In all this, GOD’s Will is the Balanced Scale of Justice.
Because GOD created such a thing as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, it is safe to understand that these things were in the framework of what GOD created.
Now, it is certain that GOD did not create hardship for us. He did not intend it for you and me. But hardship existed, at least in some form. If HE did create hardship for us, HE would not have instructed us to avoid the source of it in the first place. So it is not that the possibility of hardship was not created; it is just that it was not created for us. So while evil existed, it was GOD’s Design that we stay good. It is GOD’s Purposeful Will that we stay good in the face of evil. It is GOD’s Purposeful Will that we bask in the liberty of all that is good but keep away from evil, to stay out of bounds, so to speak. This is the beauty we see in the ultimate command for obedience in Genesis 2:16-17.
GOD’s Will is a choice presented to us for our decision. We can either go with the Purpose of GOD, where we are limited to HIS provision, protection, and preservation, or we align with what GOD permits, which gives us the freedom to do what we like but also the responsibility to live by the consequence of the absence of GOD’s direct involvement in our lives.
GOD is hopeful that we stay in HIS purpose, but HE is not surprised when we go with HIS ‘Permission’. This is not to say that what GOD proposes HE does not permit; rather, it is that if something happens but is not part of HIS purpose, HE allowed it because if GOD refuses a thing to happen, said thing will not happen; yet if GOD refused our choice then we would not be free in the first place. And freedom is what GOD’s Love affords us.
If HE did refuse everything outside HIS purpose, we would be left without options. It would mean an imposition of HIS Purpose on us. The idea of true love is that you choose it. True love is not rooted in the absence of choice but in the presence of it alongside a conscious decision to go for what you love. So GOD’s Will is established after the ‘test for true obedience and love’ has been given and the choice presented. Every day we have a choice: to go for what GOD has proposed or to go for what GOD will permit.
Everything is in GOD’s Will. It is either a part of GOD’s Purpose, or it is a part of what GOD permits, which is outside HIS scope of protection, preservation, and provision. It is callous to reject GOD’s Purpose and then ask why GOD permits the consequence of the absence of HIS Grace. That is the gist, my friend.
I recognise this comes at a difficult time, but I appreciate your understanding. I’m always praying for you.
Stay blessed,
Olatunde
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