Pandora’s Box

Most of us have heard the story of Pandora’s Box. It was a beautiful box that held evil, sickness, and death. When Pandora let her curiosity overwhelm her, she opened the box and released all kinds evil into the once perfect world. Terrified with the evil pouring out of the box, Pandora snapped the lid shut, trapping hope inside.

 I am no expert in mythology, but this particular myth helped me to grasp the magnitude of what happened in the Garden of Eden. God created a perfect world for us. (Genesis 1-3) He intended for us to have a perfect relationship with Him. However, He knew that if He forced us into that relationship, we wouldn’t be truly His. He gave Adam and Eve a choice: enjoy a perfect relationship with Him OR sacrifice that relationship to eat from that ONE forbidden tree. Just like Pandora in the myth, their untamed curiosity, encouraged by the tricky serpent, destroyed the perfect world God had made. Those bites of forbidden fruit opened the “Pandora’s Box” of sin and pain into our world.

When I saw my friend’s anguish after losing two pre-born babies in a year, I did not believe that God caused her pain. God doesn’t kill babies. He LOVES them. When another friend buried baby after baby, I did not believe God was punishing her. She was a victim of a cursed world. When my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I knew that God didn’t put the tumor in him. When another family friend died from brain cancer, I knew that God didn’t cause his disease either. We all did. We all chose sickness and disease when we chose to sin.

SIN CAUSED ALL THIS PAIN. That stupid Pandora’s Box of evil caused every ounce of pain and sickness and death in this world.

So are we supposed to lay down and give in? NO! We only have to open our own “Pandora’s Box” to find the true Hope inside. Jesus paid for our sin with His own blood. By accepting His sacrifice, we have the right to cling to the Father. Through faith, God will make us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37)….

·         He creates beauty from ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)

·         He restores the years the locust has eaten. (Joel 2:25)

·         He makes all things beautiful in His time. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

·         He gives us His perfect strength when we are weak. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

·         He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. (Psalm 23:4)

The Father doesn’t cause pain. He redeems it. He didn’t leave us without hope. He takes what Satan meant for evil and works it out for good. Some of our greatest growth comes in the seasons of our greatest pain.

One day, we will get to live with the Father in His perfect home. We will no longer experience sickness or pain. Until then, we have a Hero who will walk with us through the mess.  He will bring beauty where sin brought ugliness.

Carol