A Big Question for God
How Does God Answer the Question of Evil?
Revelation 21:4; Romans 8:28
A Weary Heart
The relentless struggle between good and evil wears me down. I watch world leaders pull against each other, their citizens bearing the consequences. Random violence smashes good families, with the best of lights extinguished by the cruelty of darkness. Disease and despair break down vulnerable bodies and minds without respect for the precious souls they house. When such tragedies seem random or unfair, I wrestle with conflicted feelings. How do I reconcile the God I know and love with the havoc spewing out around me? How do I cope with the fear of what may wait ahead?
We know that to live in this world is to experience suffering. Like many, I’ve waited at a loved-one’s bedside for the last agonized breath—hating that I want it to come and still dreading it more than anything. I’ve had my faith-breath knocked out of me, speechless to hear a diagnosis of someone too young, too good, too godly. I’ve wept with friends when only silence and presence can dare speak.
A Questioning Heart
“We need confidence to face the unknowns of our tomorrow. Mercifully, neither the Bible nor God leave us quaking alone in the dark.”
We may believe in God, but that fact alone can fall short for the questioning heart. We ache for satisfying answers and the surety of biblical truth. We may not expect complete explanations or to see all ends, but at times we desperately need something more to steady our trembling limbs and clenching gut. We need confidence to face the unknowns of our tomorrow. Mercifully, neither the Bible nor God leave us quaking alone in the dark. In fact, God desires to transform our experiences of loss, illness, violence, fear, failure, and death into goodness, virtue, strength, and glory.
We can ask many questions about pervasive suffering, but let’s focus on a common and fundamental one: Why does an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good God allow the evil we witness and experience? To best examine this credible question, we should begin with the context of evil’s origin and then seek to find encouragement in God’s response.
The Context for Evil
In the beginning, God built a perfect world for humankind to reflect his goodness. He placed them in the world to enjoy his blessings and share his love. His gift to humanity included the liberty that beats deep within our breasts—the dignity of free will. With this gift, humankind chose to reject the design of God’s world rather than embrace his invitation to flourish within a loving relationship. That choice inflicted severe damage to the world’s function and our human souls. Pain, toil, conflict, decay, and death unleashed their evils into our experience. The consequences of repeated misuse spread and multiplied, spilling harm throughout the generations.
“In his love he respects our freedom. In his mercy he refuses to abandon us in the mess we made.”
For God to destroy the potential of evil and its effects, he would have to override the laws of nature and rescind the liberty he gave to all of us. He does not do this. In his love he respects our freedom. In his mercy he refuses to abandon us in the mess we made. Instead, God sends Jesus to destroy the power of evil by taking its full penalty upon himself. Further, he promises full triumph over the consequences of all evil at the end of the Story:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
God’s Response to Evil
Until then, God promises to redeem our pain for His good purposes, as we allow him to work within our lives. The apostle Paul delivers a powerful reason for hope to those who suffer:
“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Admittedly, sensitive emotions rise high during times of questioning. While we reassure our hearts with hope, we may also need to fill our vision with the “good” suffering offers. A few examples may help us focus our minds beyond the pain of now.
Suffering Offers a Powerful Testimony: When hit by unexpected pain and loss, Job wrestles with determining God’s fairness. Rather than justify his reasons to Job, God asks him to trust the relationship they share and God’s character. In the end, Job finds contentment within God’s response, even though God’s purposes exceed Job’s human perspective. As a result, he draws closer to God in both wisdom and faith—leaving a powerful testimony and clearer theology for generations to come.
Suffering Offers Prevention: Pain can be a warning to avoid more serious consequences. It can provide an opportunity for the sufferer to be led toward repentance, restoration, or greater wisdom; better prepared for the future.
Suffering Offers Virtue: Trusting God and persevering in obedience under trials strengthens and perfects the character of those who will submit to God in the process.
Suffering Offers Praise: Difficult or crushing circumstances provide opportunities for God to reveal his presence and power in our lives, resulting in worship and glory.
The Struggling Heart
Even with these strong outcomes, I can be tempted to succumb to Job’s initial attitude. I lean toward applying my own standard of fairness to judge whether I deem the suffering “worth it.” Frankly, in my moments of deep pain, the virtues lose the contest.
“I’ve learned to leave the God-sized decisions to him.”
When my prayers failed and my mother died of cancer, I struggled with anger toward God for a time. Eventually, as I gave him access to work in my life again, I came through to the other side with stronger faith and a deeper experience of who God is. I greatly value both results. However, if I’m honest, even today I’m not sure I would give God advance permission for the trade. I’m just not strong enough for that decision. But I do surrender to however God chooses to work his plan in my life—suffering included—because I know the value of what waits on the other side. I’ve learned to leave the God-sized decisions to him.
The Answers to Evil
Suffering raises honest, numerous, and gut-wrenching questions. The answers can be tough, complicated, unsatisfying at times, hard to live out, and bigger than ourselves.
Why does an all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good God allow evil?
The love of God allows each of us to choose—that is the context. In response to evil, he sacrifices his own heart to rescue us from destruction—he gives us Jesus. We find the courage to face the unknowns of tomorrow by resting in God’s promise to transform evil into good, if we choose to let Him.
The struggle between good and evil will persist until God’s redemption plan is complete, and he plunders every blessing on our behalf. To stay brave and strong in the Story, we must trust the Creator and set our hearts and minds on the glorious end. In the middle, we grab onto Jesus, who laid himself down and bridged the gap between it all.
How does the context for evil help answer a question you have for God about suffering?
Source Notes:
Morgan, Christopher W. and Robert A. Peterson. Editors. Suffering and the Goodness of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2017).
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