Learn more about darkness and light, and come out of “The Dirty Fishbowl.”
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
True Love Requires Freedom: In a world clouded by immorality, confusion, pain and suffering, the character of God is frequently questioned. How can an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving God allow evil into His creation? The answer lies not in a limitation of God’s power, but in the profound necessity of free will and the true nature of love.
Let’s begin in Genesis 1:31, where God surveys His finished creation and declares, “It is very good.” This was not a flawed experiment. God created a perfect environment, devoid of sin, death, or darkness. However, a “very good” creation includes beings capable of genuine relationships and love. God created the human mind with the capacity for imagination, choice, and action (“casting down all imaginations.” 2 Corinthians 10:5. While God foreknew that His creation would fall, He did not pre-program their failure. The imaginations, actions, and choices of individuals remain their own. God’s sovereignty does not negate human responsibility; rather, it encompasses the hope of redemption for those who choose the light.
God’s first creative act was to speak light into existence. He gave darkness its bounds, named it “Night,” and filled the void with His glory. This understanding transforms our view of human nature. As John 1:9 proclaims, “Jesus was the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Every human being is born with the illuminating grace of Christ.
So why is the world filled with evil? John 3:19 provides the sobering answer: “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The problem is not a lack of light, but a preference for the cover of darkness. Men choose darkness to hide their deeds. Evil is found in the free will of God’s creatures. Satan was “perfect in his ways from the day he was created.” Ezekiel 28:15. Iniquity was not placed in him by God; it was found in him, a twisting, a bending, a distortion of righteousness, arising from his own pride. Satan became the tempter by his own choices.
This is the crux of the matter: True love requires freedom. If God had programmed us to love Him and obey Him without the ability to choose otherwise, that “love” would be mechanical, like a robot executing code. It would be coercion, not love. For love to be genuine, the lover must have the capacity to walk away. God wanted children, not automatons, or He would have just created robots. He desired a relationship based on faith, love and voluntary devotion, not forced compliance. God did not want worship based on a lack of options (like Job whom God had given everything before he was tested). He wanted worship born of faith in Him and the redemptive power of His only begotten Son’s blood, even in the face of suffering and mystery.
The morality of God is not the question; God is the standard of morality.
God is Light: In Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5.
God is Good: Every good and perfect gift comes from above, James 1:17, echoing the “very good” of Genesis 1:31.
God’s way is perfect: “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.” Psalm 18:30
God Judges the Heart: “But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”. 1 Samuel 16:7.
We cannot possibly know why specific tragedies occur in our fallen world. We see fragments, but God knows the whole picture. In a fallen world, generational curses are real, but so are blessings, repentance, and the power of Jesus Christ to break every chain. When God searched Sodom and Gomorrah, He could not find ten righteous people in the entire city. The judgment was on a culture that had fully embraced darkness. The same with Noah: Noah built the ark and preached for 120 years while building it, and people scoffed at him. Then the rain came, and it was too late. They were locked out of the ark.
The existence of evil does not negate God’s goodness; rather, God’s goodness is the very standard by which we recognize evil as a tragic intrusion. We are free agents, born in light, capable of choosing light and love. The tragedy of free will is the darkness chosen by its misuse. But our story does not end in darkness. It ends with a Redeemer who entered that darkness to bring us back into the marvelous light of God’s “very good” kingdom.
We are not puppets (robots); we are co-laborers whose free choices are so significant that God built His eternal plan around them. He knew the path we would walk, and He prepared the grace we would need before we even took the first step.
Turn away from darkness, and turn to the light of Jesus Christ, whose entire message was love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself: the two greatest commandments ever written.
In the light and love of Christ.
Learn more about living in God’s light in Once Truly Saved Always Saved.
Learn also how the Holy Spirit Transforms believers’ hearts.
What does God expect from His children? Read about it in God’s Letters.
Last updated on July 31st, 2026