If God Loves?
“If God Loves, and is in control of all things, then why does He allow so much pain and suffering to take place?”
BAM! One of the number one questions that Christians fear being asked, and rightfully so, because no one really knows the answer because none of us are God. Which means surprising as it may seem neither do I. The point of this post is not to give a definite answer, it’s just me giving a few possible explanations that have eased my mind and might ease yours. So even though I’m not an expert maybe this could help. So to the question:
“If God is Love, and in control of all things, then why does He allow so much pain and suffering to take place?”
1. No Good People-
First we need to understand that none of us are good. I know what you're thinking, "WHAT?! I go to church every week and was even on a Bible Bowl team!”. Well that's good but hear me out. God’s standard of good is perfection and anything less than that is bad. Now I haven’t tested this theory out yet and I don’t want to drop a discovery bomb on you but here we go, nobody is perfect . I know, I know, revolutionary. My evidence: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). So since everyone has sinned, no one is perfect, which means no one is good. Well let me back up, there was one, it was Jesus. Now I understand that this may offend some people. Some of you have known really amazing people. Trust me, my Gran Pati (my grandmother) is the most amazing person know. And to the world’s standard those people aren't just good they're great. But to the standard that counts, God’s standard, the only good person to live was Jesus because he lived a perfect life. So since we aren’t perfect we aren't good people, sadly we're bad people. Many people ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people". But since no one is good, the bad things in life aren’t happening to “good” people, the bad things are happening to bad people. So the only time a bad thing has happened to a good person was when Jesus was crucified. Let me say it one more time. Good to God is perfect and anything less is bad; we are not perfect therefore we are bad. We need to fix this in our heads for a few reasons: it puts us in the correct mindset to understand our need of Grace and how amazing it is to makes us perfect in God’s eyes. It shows us how much God loves us to bless bad and undeserving people. And it puts us in the right place to understand that we, the bad people, caused all of this suffering in the first place.
2. It all Started in Eden-
It all started in Eden and we continue it now. If you read Genesis you’ll notice that in the first 2 chapters everything is hunky dory. No pain, no sickness, no death, no natural disasters, and another element is missing… there’s no sin. But in chapter 3 this all changes, Adam and Eve disobey God and bring sin into the world. Shattering the prefect painless world God had planned. And that’s why the bad things in life happen. Sin being brought into the world didn't just mean that from then on people would do wrong, even though it does mean that, and that’s one of the sources of our pain. But it also means that with sin came pain, sickness, death, evil, and overall brokenness into the world. When Adam and Eve sinned the wholeness of the Earth was shattered, bringing into the world all the things we consider bad. So it isn’t Gods fault that bad things happen to us, that people die, that people get sick, that wars are fought, that people are raped, that there is homelessness, that children starve, that people gossip and start rumors, that “good” people get cancer, that miscarriages happen, that people get bullied, that innocent people are abused, the list goes on and on. It’s our fault, the human race, the bad people; we sinned and messed up the perfectness God had planned. Some might say, “But it wasn’t me that ate the fruit”. But it is you that eats the fruit everyday by sinning, aka disobeying God just as Adam and Eve did. So yes it’s all of our faults because we all have sinned.
“Fine we cause it, but God could still stop all the hurt and pain!” and you’re right He could. God is all powerful and in control of everything, so yes these things that happen God allows them to, God could say stop if He wanted but sometimes chooses to allow some things. But have you ever thought that maybe just maybe the things that happen to us could be worse, that bad things could happen to us more often, or that the world could be a much more horrible place? The truth is that it could. The brokenness of the world is tremendous, it’s absolutely horrible. We live in a fallen world, where Satan wants to make us as miserable as possible, and that means that bad and awful things should be happening every second of every day, but they don’t. Why? Because God is a loving Father who hates to see his children and His creation suffer. He offered you ultimate soul protection by His Son's death on the cross for your sins. But God in His love also protects us from the complete brokenness of the world, He protects us from the majority of things that He could allow to happen to us. He protects us from the severity of things that He could allow to happen, but He doesn't. Why? Because He loves you more than you will ever know. “But why then does He allow the things that do happen?"
3. No Pain, No Growth
So we caused it, and God protects us from a lot of it, but why does the little bit that happens happen? My opinion is that it’s God’s way of bringing us closer to Him. God, since the beginning has desired a close relationship with each of us, and Satan tried to make that impossible by introducing sin to the world. But God in his powerfulness is using the brokenness caused by us to bring us closer to Him. Let me explain, if life were simple, easy, and painless. If life didn’t have any hiccups or bumps. If nothing bad ever happened to you or a loved one. And if life were perfect, what need would we have for God? Sometimes pain and suffering is exactly what the Doctor ordered to help us realize our need for something greater than the mess we are in, and that something is God. I’m not saying God is punishing us, I’m saying that He allows the suffering we go through to make us dependent on Him. To make us realize “Hey I can’t handle this, I need someone who can”. He uses the struggles to make our relationship with Him closer, think about it, when do you seek God more? When do you notice your need for God more? When life is easy with no problems, or when a storm comes and you need God’s help? God allows storms in life so that we will seek refuge and shelter in His arms and in His love. He allows the trials and pains we go through in hopes that we will scream out, “God I need you, I can’t do this alone, please help me”. He wants you to run to Him, He is "a stronghold in times of trouble"(Psalm 9:9), He allows the pain but He wants to deliver you from it too. And when we turn to Him, He holds us in His arms and carries us through the tough time. And through the trial, if we act in faith, we will come out of it better, stronger, and most importantly closer to a true and real loving God who wants nothing more than to be in a relationship with you.
But wherever you land, or if you have your own ideas and opinions of your own, one thing’s for sure, we will never in this life know why things happen the way they do. We will never know why our loved ones have to die, why natural disasters have to occur, or why there is so much pain and suffering to be had in this world.
But we can rest a little easier knowing that we don’t have to know why. We don’t need all the answers. All we need to know and rest in is that God is in control, God is all powerful, and God is Love. And one day the plan He has had since the beginning of time will finally be complete and all the horrific brokenness of this world will be made whole. We won’t even care about what happened in this life, because the eternal life we will be living then will outweigh it so much. And we will find that what Paul says in Romans 8:18 is true: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
-Zach Hollifield