Today in class, my lecturer posed an interesting question about the act of a father giving his child a bone to eat despite knowing it may be tough for the child to consume.
Is this an act of love or evil?
I shared that I believe it is an act of love, as the father likely sees the long-term benefits such as strengthening the child's teeth and bones.
This led to a further discussion where my lecturer questioned whether God is evil or loving for allowing us to endure hardships in life.
I responded with the belief that these challenges and hardship are ultimately meant to bring out the best in us, even if we may not fully understand at the moment.
It's a reminder that God, in his omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence, always has our best interests at heart. So, even when things may seem tough, we can find comfort in the fact that everything will ultimately work together for our good.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". -Rom.8.28
We may have so many philosophical argument that combat with this fact, but the truth cannot be defended.
MY EXPERIENCE
When I was young, I would complain about almost every hardship my father let me go through, seeing evils in it but being limited from seeing the greater good.
As I journey into maturity, I realize all the good in all the evils I saw and thought of then. The evil has now made a good person out of me, the hardships have now made a soldier out of me.
Put together, you can call me 'a good soldier.' I am pressing forward to fulfill my mandate on planet earth.
This confirmed the fact that "God is good".