Advent Prepare Together - Week 2

Why is everything so obviously messed up? (Captured)

What the heck happened?

The beginning of our story is so beautiful. Behold the spectacular creation and its magnificent Author—an omnipotent God whose greatest, most cherished creation is the human person, made in his image, destined for eternal friendship, and known by him intimately.

If this God knows our name, knows everything about us, and is all-powerful, then the profound question remains: Why does such intense suffering exist in the world? Why the abuse, the cancer, the early death of a mother, the agony of divorce? Why do these devastating realities happen to us?

Perhaps the reason that many people have never been overwhelmed by the extraordinary good news of the gospel is they don’t know, understand or accept the “bad news.” 

Consider when something goes wrong in our lives, we shake our fist at God and shout “Why? Why did you let this happen?” This response, in part, occurs because we only picture two players on the stage of life: God and us.

But there is a third actor on the stage in our human drama, and he is our enemy. And the “bad news” isn’t just bad, it’s horrific. Our first parents unknowingly sold us into bondage and we’ve been captured by the likes of a human trafficker. The answer to the second question is remarkably simple: the world is messed up because the devil is real.

Here’s how it all went wrong:

• Besides man, God formed another creature with free will, one who chose to rebel against creator God and is ultimately responsible for everything that’s gone wrong;

• The angel Lucifer was created to be good, but envious in seeing humans lifted above the angelic ranks, he and a third of the angels now fallen seek to capture and enslave us, thereby destroying our destiny;

• The “enemy” (a.k.a. Satan or the devil) employs the same root strategy as a human trafficker: use flattery, lies and other deceptions to convince us that we will be happier without God in our lives, that obedience to God is repressive;

• The enemy gains control by accusing God (e.g., When you prayed, why didn’t he help?) and maintains control by accusing us (e.g., This was all your fault!);

• By their disobedience to God, our first parents sold us into slavery to the powers of sin and death—as if captured, hidden away, and enslaved by a trafficker—with no hope of freedom.

Make no mistake, Satan’s goal for your life is destruction. He wants you to die, and it’s very personal.

Moreover, at every moment of our lives we are either in the hands of God or in the hands of the enemy. There’s no middle ground. This is the biblical vision of reality. We can’t just hang out in some nebulous playground, planning to choose later.

This is the situation of the human race apart from God. At this point in the story, repentance, while essential, is not enough. There is no way for humanity, of our own accord, to escape our captivity and return to God’s domain of righteousness. It requires an invasion of the kingdom of darkness from the outside.

But God doesn’t want us to despair. A rescue mission is coming. It’s only because Someone has done something about our hopeless situation that the gospel is such extraordinary news.

Week 2 Reflection Questions

1. Do I believe the enemy is real?

2. Does the fact that the enemy is real help explain what is happening in the world and around me right now?

3. What is God trying to reveal about how the enemy is working in my own life?