Unseen

As a microbiologist, Louis Pasteur believed many diseases were spread by tiny organisms invisible to the naked eye. In the 1860s, he conducted a series of experiments on the relationship between these “germs” and disease.

Through his discoveries, he became known as one of the fathers of germ theory. While not the first to propose the idea, Pasteur brought germ theory into general acceptance. He was convinced that bacteria —which cannot be seen— cause disease.* Much of what is wrong in the world today is caused by that which we cannot see. Sin exists because a fallen angel came to this planet six thousand years ago and tempted our original grandparents to depart from faith in God’s Word. Today, a spiritual battle rages. Behind the veil that separates us from the unseen world, “spiritual hosts of wickedness” tempt us to fall as they tempted Adam and Eve (Ephesians 6:12).

Although unseen, the great controversy is real, manifesting itself in illness, death, violence, and pain. Satan knows that those who choose darkness over light will be lost and not saved. It is this spiritual war that provides answers for some of the most commonly asked questions about God. Why does suffering exist? Why do people experience loss? Why is there death and disease, and why do the innocent seem to suffer so much? Jesus answered this question clearly. When a landowner’s servants asked him how there came to be noxious weeds growing in a field of wheat, he simply said, “An enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28). Why did the accident happen? “An enemy has done this.” Why did the young mother of three get cancer? “An enemy has done this.” Why did a tornado devastate the subdivision? “An enemy has done this.” Life’s hardships remind us again and again that we are involved in a spiritual war.

The fact that we cannot see the main protagonists at work does not lessen the reality of what is happening around us.

Something we cannot see is trying to lead us away from faith in Christ.

Faith in Jesus will always keep us in God’s hands.