Will you restrain yourself …, o LORD? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?
Isaiah 64:12

The question is asked repeatedly: why does God remain silent, if He really exists? Why does He permit all the injustice and all the wars in the world? Why does God allow accidents and catastrophes to happen? Many people have these questions and complaints.

God has spoken, however, and we can still hear His voice, even today! “God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1.2). Although few took the prophets’ warnings seriously in Old Testament times, God did not cease speaking.

Then Christ, the Son of God, came to earth. The fact that God sent His Son into the world is, in itself, a most powerful sermon. God was making, as it were, a final offer to win people over to Himself. Christ spoke “the words of God”, and “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (John 3:34; 2 Corinthians 5:19).

However, the world rejected the Saviour Jesus Christ. He was nailed to a cross and cast out of the world. Consequently, darkness, misery and unhappiness remained in this world. So who does the reproach above apply to: God or mankind?

God nevertheless provided a way of escape for everyone. He gave those who receive His Son, Jesus Christ, “who believe in his name the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Whoever believes on Christ is saved and becomes a child of God who knows his Father, even if he cannot explain His ways. Christ thus remains the key to understanding God. God speaking in the Son, as the Bible expresses it, is the answer to all our questions.

Today’s reading: Exodus 8:21-28 · Luke 3:15-22