Timshel

Why does a loving God allow bad things to happen?

If God is all-powerful, why does He let people lie, betray & kill? Why make a world where we can hurt each other so badly?

I believe the answer starts with who God is.

1 John 4:8 in the ESV says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Not just that God loves. God is love. & love has one thing it can never do. It can never force itself on anyone.

The First Brothers

Go back to Genesis 4. Adam & Eve are outside the garden now. They have two sons. Cain works the ground. Abel keeps sheep.

Both bring an offering to God. God looks with favor on Abel's offering but not on Cain's. Scripture doesn't explain every reason, though Hebrews 11 tells us Abel offered his by faith.

What Scripture does make clear is how Cain reacts. He's furious. His face falls. Jealousy starts eating him alive.

Now watch what God does. He doesn't write Cain off. He doesn't stand back & wait for him to fail. He walks right up to Cain & asks him why he's angry.

Then He says this. Genesis 4:7 in the King James Version:

"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."

Notice the timing. Abel is still alive. Cain is angry, but he hasn't done anything yet. Sin is crouching at the door like an animal. & God tells Cain he can master it.

That's not a God who wants Cain destroyed. That's a God who sees a man heading for disaster & steps in with the truth.

Your feelings don't have to decide your actions. Jealousy doesn't have to become violence. Anger doesn't have to become murder.

Sometimes love isn't a pat on the back. Sometimes love is the hard word you need to hear before you do something you can't undo.

Steinbeck's Word

In 1952 John Steinbeck published East of Eden. It's a novel about two families in California's Salinas Valley. Generation after generation, the story of Cain & Abel plays out again. A father favors one son. A brother burns with jealousy.

In the book there's a wise man named Lee who can't stop thinking about Genesis 4:7. He notices the translations say different things. The King James says "thou shalt," which sounds like a promise. The American Standard Version says "do thou," which sounds like an order.

So Lee digs into the Hebrew. He comes back with one word. Timshel.

He says it means "thou mayest."

Not "you will win." Not "you're doomed to lose." You may. The door is open. The choice is yours.

Now I want to be careful here. The Hebrew word is more accurately spelled timshol. Scholars debate exactly how to read it. Many modern translations read it as a command: you must rule over it. Timshel is Steinbeck's reading, not the final word on the grammar.

But the idea behind it is deeply biblical. God spoke to Cain because Cain still had a choice.

You Are Not Your Past

In the novel, a young man named Cal is terrified. His mother was cruel. He sees darkness in himself. So he wonders if he's simply destined to become her.

Maybe you've wondered that too.

Your parents shaped you. Your childhood left marks. Some of those wounds are real & deep. They matter.

But influence isn't destiny. Understanding why you lean toward a choice isn't the same as having no choice. You didn't pick the circumstances that shaped you. You are still responsible for what you do inside the freedom God gave you.

"Thou shalt" sounds like a life that's already written. "Thou mayest" is a life that still has choices in it.

Love Requires Freedom

So back to that hard question. Why would God give us the power to choose wrong?

Because love you're forced into isn't love.

1 John 4:16 in the ESV says, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."

Abide. Stay. Remain. That's a choice. God doesn't drag you into His love. He invites you to live there.

If God made us unable to say no, our yes would mean nothing. Freedom is what makes love real. The same freedom that lets us hurt each other also lets us forgive, serve & give ourselves away.

The Gift of Time

& here's the grace in all of it. God gives us time.

2 Peter 3:9 in the ESV says, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

That patience is a gift. Every new day is room to turn around. Yesterday's decision doesn't have to be tomorrow's decision.

You don't know how many tomorrows you have. But as long as you're here, the door to turn toward God is still open.

Your worst choice doesn't have to be your permanent name.

So Today

So where is sin crouching at your door right now?

Maybe it's a grudge. A jealousy. A habit you've decided you're just stuck with.

This week, name it. Open your Bible to Genesis 4 & read God's words to Cain as if they were spoken to you. Because they were. & if you've already gone through that door, don't stay there. God's patience is still giving you time to come home.

You are not forced to love. You are not excused when you don't. But you are free. & you are invited.

When you stand at the door with sin crouching on the other side, remember two words.

Thou mayest.