God’s judgement

Here’s Mike Bickle’s way of explaining God’s “Principle of Judgement”:

God uses the least severe means to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest level of love without violating anyone’s free will.

The context of the quote is great tribulation sermon notes (all sorts of notes on IHOP’s Web site), but I think it could be said that in any act of judgment of by God, this framework is in place.

We often wonder why He allows terrible things to happen on earth… Why are millions starving to death in Africa? Why are millions killed before they even see their parents’ faces in America? Why have there been only a handful of years in the history of mankind where there wasn’t war somewhere on the earth?

Well… besides the fact that we live in a world cursed by sin, and the wages of those sins are death, judgments ultimately drive people back to God. We don’t understand how it works because we aren’t God. But somehow, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, God facilitates the most merciful judgments that will bring the maximum number of people into the closest love encounter with Him. All while respecting the law of free will.