What is God's permission? What mysterious and painful aspect of human existence does it touch? God's permission is those very moments when it seems He turns away from us, leaving us alone with our suffering, misfortune, and sin. More than one generation has asked: why does God, the Almighty and Merciful, allow evil, sorrow, torment, tragedy, and suffering in the world? Why doesn't He intervene when man falls into the abyss of lawlessness?
This question is perhaps one of the most tormenting in human spiritual life. And if we consider the meaning of permission, it reveals, first and foremost, the tragedy of freedom. God, having created man in His own image and likeness, gave him the greatest gift—freedom. But this freedom also carries with it a terrible burden: responsibility for one's choices. And so, man, endowed with this gift, often becomes hostage to his passions, desires, and mistakes. And God allows this to happen. Why? Is He indifferent to our suffering?
No, it's not indifference, but great wisdom, beyond human comprehension. God allows us to endure evil because He respects our freedom. He does not interfere with our choices, even if we choose the path that leads to destruction. Why? Because true love cannot be forced. Love for God is an act of free choice, an act of personal awareness and striving for good. If God intervened every time, correcting our mistakes, would that be true freedom?
The essence of permissiveness is a path of trials and overcoming. A person abandoned to the face of sin and evil is called to recognize their weaknesses, their mistakes. God's permissiveness is not a punishment; it is a school in which the soul learns to distinguish between good and evil, to choose the right path, even when the whole world seems to be against it. After all, in every trial, God leaves a path to salvation, a chance for correction.
But how difficult it is to comprehend this in moments of pain! How often does suffering seem meaningless, and evil all-conquering! And then despair rises within us: where is God? Why is He silent? But God's silence is not emptiness; it is a call. A call to self-knowledge, to the image and likeness of God within ourselves, to the strengthening of faith. God's permission is the abyss into which man gazes, and only by a free act of will can he choose whether to fall into this abyss or soar toward the light.
And here we see the great mystery of God's permission. It is not a rejection of man, but, on the contrary, a great trust. God believes that the soul is capable of overcoming evil, that in every soul there is a spark that will sooner or later ignite. He does not deprive us of freedom of choice, even when this choice leads to a fall, because in every fall there is an opportunity for rebirth. The pinnacle of the human response to God's permission is the triumph of the spirit of faith. It is the understanding that even in the darkest moments of our lives, when evil seems to triumph, God is with us. And He gives us the opportunity to find our own path to Him, to choose goodness ourselves. And this is the greatest wisdom and love, revealed through trials.