Why has the God of truth permitted lies and deceptions to dominate human existence for millennia?

” In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways ” (Acts 14:16 NASB).

The apostle Paul in addressing the religious masses at Lystra, a Mediterranean city in ancient times, who tried to worship him and Barnabas for performing a miracle of healing in the name and by the power of the Son of God, reveals that the plan of God required an abandonment on His part on the spiritual state of the nations, with the exception of Israel, in times before the advent of Messiah. It is very interesting and shocking to understand that the God of all truth, who is the truth Himself, has allowed deceptions and deceivers to dominate, as the title inquires, most of human history. If we go all the way back in Biblical history to Eden, we find the first lie and the first liar, permitted by the Creator, to infect the creatures He made in His own image. From that event to the end of the Bible, we read God giving permission to the spirit of deceitfulness to pollute, stain, confuse and spiritually kill mankind. Again, my title question stands: why?

It is a very hard thing for me to harmonize these two concepts: the Omnipotent God of truth, who has dominion over every aspect of humanity, and the saturation of untruth that controls our race. I mean reading biblical and secular history yields this phenomenon, this obsession that humanity has to fall prey to falsehood, dishonesty and deception. Nowadays are not different either. If anything, it has become very hard at a communal level to distinguish right from wrong, lies from truth. My deep question is based on the character of my God. The matter of truth is so fundamental and essential to the nature of God that Satan had to attack the word of the Lord that had been spoken to our first parents by twisting it, and after Adam and Even disobeyed the commandment, they understood right away that God does not lie, when the sentence and principle of death was put into action in them as the Lord had promised ( Genesis 2:17). Again, truth and faithfulness are so precious in the sight of God that when He laid down His holy law to the family of Abraham, He commanded them to speak the truth only and always (Exodus 20:16) and that failure to totally obey this charge deserved cursing and death ( Deuteronomy 27:26). In addition, we see the Judge of all the Earth carrying out this law by exemplifying the destructions of people, nations and civilizations, from Cain to Annanias and Sapphira, as examples of His utter holiness and abhorrence towards untruthfulness.

Therefore, my struggle and frustration to understand this paradox is deepened. On one hand, the God of truth speaks only the truth, demands from us only the truth and condemns us to hell for our transgressions against the truth, yet He Himself has allowed and still permits the father of lies ( John 8:44 ) to subject us to a system drenched with errors and fallacies. Why Lord? Maybe the answer lies in the cross of Christ. Perhaps His cross can give meaning to this paradox, as it does give meaning to everything else in life and beyond. Much of the epistle to the Romans is given to expound the reason, meaning, power and ramifications of the cross. In chapter 3 specifically, the apostle Paul explains that our state of unbelief, unrighteousness and untruthfulness gives God the opportunity to show His faithfulness, righteousness and veracity (Romans 3:1-7). The apostle takes the nation of Israel as the supreme example of this contrast. These privileged and special people throughout their history, since the Exodus down to the arrival of Messiah, were disobedient and distrustful to the Scriptures, yet God used their rebellion to put on display His glories by fulfilling the Scriptures. Perhaps this revelation is the answer to my question. Although this is hard to accept, I could find satisfaction knowing that the state of the sinful world enables God to bring glory to Himself, which at the end is the goal of all things.