Where is God when
our greatest fears become a reality?
When tragedy
strikes or the unthinkable happens, where is God?
Does God hear us when
we beg and plead Him to prevent something bad from occurring in our lives?
Is God aware of the
terrible things that go on in this world every single day?
Why doesn’t He stop
them?
Doesn’t God care
about the evil in this world or the tragedies that take place?
When we face trials
that overwhelm us, where is God?
Where is He when we
face suffering and trials that feel way too much for us to bear?
Why doesn’t God
relieve us from our sufferings?
Is the world and
mankind’s behavior spinning round and round out of His control?
Why doesn’t God put
an end to evil once and for all?
I do not propose these questions lightly. I believe people all over the world ask these questions and do so often. Many are convinced God can’t possibly exist if pain, suffering, and evil are in the world. Or if He does exist, He must not care or is utterly helpless to stop it. Or, if He can stop it and does not, He must be some kind of sick monster.
There
are people all around me facing extremely difficult trials in their lives. We don’t have to watch the news long to catch
a glimpse of the agonizing tragedies and horrendous evil that occur all the
time.
In
writing this, I have no intentions of offering pat answers or mere, unhelpful
clichés. I have faced my own share of
difficulties; therefore, also truly despise clichés being spoken to me as if
they will be the solution to all my problems and my pain. I write this post with respectful seriousness
and a sober heart for the reality of the world in which we live and the heart
breaking tragedies people experience each and every day. In writing this, I hope to offer truthful
answers to the questions and to reassure anyone who might be asking those
questions:
God
does exist
God
is aware
God
does care
God
intends to, one day, ultimately and completely, set everything right
When
tragedy strikes or our worst fears become a reality, God is right there. He is aware.
He knows our pain, He cares, and He will comfort us.
When
we pray and cry out to God pleading our case or the case of others we care
about, God listens.
When
we are feeling despair and agony, He knows our need and will provide for it.
Every
minute, when evil happens somewhere, some place, God is aware, and He has His
ultimate redemption in mind.
God
will be bringing about an ultimate redemption to all things—in His perfect way
and at the perfect time.
In
John 16:33, Jesus told the disciples, “In
the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
What
Jesus expressed is very true. In this
earthly life, we will undoubtedly face trials and suffering. That is an unavoidable aspect of living.
We were never promised a pain free, trial free earthly existence. To be human means to face adversity. To be human means to face pain and sorrow
along with joy and comfort. Soon after
the moment when Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, humans have
faced tribulation. Adam and Eve ate of
the fruit of some tree and gained the knowledge of good and evil, passing that same
knowledge, along with death, onto the rest of humanity. Their act brought the knowledge of joy and
sorrow. The consequence of their actions
in gaining that knowledge was that we would all also face death. “For
the wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23)
We must face death for missing the mark of perfection.
Within
every human being is this constant hope that suffering can be averted—that
somehow, if we do things just right, we can avoid going through challenging
trials. Standing on the brink of suffering,
we’d rather make an about face and run in the opposite direction rather than
submit and embrace the it. However, in this world there will be good and evil,
and there is no escape from enduring both.
God is very aware of the situation because He ordained it that way.
“For to vanity was
the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it...” (Romans 8:20)
“I am YHWH and there is no other; Except for
Me, there is no Elohim…there is no one apart from Me; I am YHWH, and there is
no other. Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of good and Creator of
evil, I, YHWH, make all these things…I Myself made the earth and created
humanity on it; I, My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have
I instructed…there is no other Elohim apart from Me; a righteous El and a
Savior; There is none except Me. Turn toward Me and be saved, all the limits of
the earth, for I am El, and there is no other…” (Isaiah 45:5-7, 12, 21-22)
The
truth is that God Himself purposefully subjected His entire creation to “vanity”. We live with sorrow, pain, lies, frailty, and
depravity in this world because God has subjected His creation to those
things. It was not a failure on His
part. He designed it that way. We are clearly told that God ordained it to
be that way.
God,
Himself, created good along with evil. He
created the earth and all that is beautiful about it. He formed man and woman and made them with
the ability to sin (to fall short of perfection). God created the Adversary (the Devil, Satan)
to be a liar, murderer, and a doer and promoter of evil. He was meant to be an opponent to God. The
Adversary, “He was a man killer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, for truth is not in him. Whenever he may be speaking a lie, he is
speaking of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
Contrary
to some popular teachings, the Adversary was not once a perfectly good angelic
being who suddenly went “bad to the bone”.
That is one of his greatest lies—to convince people that God created him
to be a perfectly good being who had the choice to rebel and, by his own free
will, become a destroyer. If the
Adversary can convince us of that lie, we will also be deceived into believing another
lie proposing God must have blundered in His creation, that He made a mistake
(sinned) when He created the Adversary.
If God had intended for this angelic being to be perfectly good, then
God missed His own mark of perfection (sin). The deception that God must have made an error
in creating the Adversary, leads people to believe that God is not in complete
control of His entire creation. This
would mean that everything is spinning out of His control and He must not be truly
sovereign. Ultimately, all these lies
make God out to be some weakling, wringing His hands in frustration, and portray
the Adversary to be the more powerful of the two.
Yet
God says, “I have created the destroyer
to ruin.” (Isaiah 54:16)
God
does not perform evil acts and He does not sin (make mistakes or misses the
mark of perfection), but He is ultimately responsible for both. God created the Adversary—the one who opposes
God—and he (the Adversary) and all his helpers do evil. Long ago, God set the world and good and evil
into motion. God knew very well we could
not value good without evil. Such is the
importance of contrast. We cannot appreciate one extreme without another.
What
is the value of heat without cold?
What
is the value of joy without sorrow?
What
is the value of love without hate?
What
is the value of truth without lies?
What
is the value of good moments in life without bad moments in life?
What
is the value of wisdom without foolishness?
What
is the value of light without darkness?
What
is the value of power without weakness?
What
is the value of salvation without bondage?
What
is the value of life if there is no death?
What
is the value of Christ, the Savior, if there is no Adversary to be saved from?
Each
one of these is of no value to us without its contrast.
God is ultimately
responsible for evil?
He set it into
motion?
How can that be?
You’ve got to be
kidding me!
This
is no easy pill to swallow. It feels
like an elephant sized pill in my throat.
Some days, I feel it is impossible to swallow. When I seek God for answers about it, I am
often reminded of this verse and what it tells me:
“For I am reckoning
that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be
revealed for us.” (Romans 8:18)
The
sufferings we face today cannot even compare to the vast glory that will be revealed to
us in the future. That glory will overcome
whatever sufferings we experienced in this earthly life.
To
be continued in an upcoming post: Where is God When Bad Things Happen? Finding Understanding Through Job, Part 2 - FacingTragic Loss
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