If God is so good, why did this bad/painful experience happen?
This is such a popular question. It hits home for many of us. I don’t know anyone who could say that they haven’t been through a painful encounter. We’ve all lost someone we loved, faced an unexpected dilemma, or found ourselves knee-deep in muddy water, not sure how we were going to get out.
In these difficult moments or seasons, it's easy to question. I know I’ve found myself questioning my faith, goodness, and even God’s sovereignty. How and why would He allow this tragedy? Surely He sees just how bad I hurt, right?
Yes, of course, He does.
When God created the world, everything was just as He had planned for it to be. As we read in Genesis chapter one, all that God created was good. Evil and sin entered into our world when the enemy tempted Eve to eat an apple from the one tree that God had said all along not to eat from.
You and I live in the aftermath of this entry of evil. Evil was not God’s plan. Pain, heartbreak, and death were not God’s plan.
I’m a firm believer that God doesn’t inflict punishment on us when we experience devastating news. He’s not trying to prove a point or get back at us for something we said and/or did in the days or weeks prior. Evil and pain are not from God. It is a source of the enemy.
Jesus told his disciples that when troubles came, he would be their peace.
John 16:33 NIV
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Not “if” tough times would come, but when. The Holy Spirit would be present with us to provide us strength so that we can persevere.
In his book, Seeing God as a Perfect Father - Louie Giglio answers a form of this same question.
“Then why didn’t He stop what was happening to me? Isn’t that the biggest question of all?
I think the answer is because the moment He steps in and removes all the collateral damage of this broken world from ever happening again, that will mark the instant life on earth is over. And in that moment the lost will be lost forever and many whom God wanted to become sons and daughters will be separated from His arms. So He waits and extends grace another day. And for twenty-four more hours we are caught in the crossfire of a sin-shattered world.”
You and I may be living in the enemy’s crossfire today, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope. I can’t tell you that life will get easier. I can’t tell you I have the answers for the deepest aches in your heart. What I can tell you is that you can find hope in Jesus. Right here, right now.
The resurrection of Jesus is what I believe to be the only way to make sense of suffering. God’s glory, sovereignty, and majesty were displayed when nothing could make sense of that stone in front of the tomb being rolled away, and a body nowhere to be found.
Dr. Jeremiah Johnston said this in Body of Proof -
“Thanks to the resurrection of Jesus, Christians are promised that the best is yet to come, that death is only the beginning, not the end. That’s why the apostle Paul told the Thessalonian Christians who had lost their loved ones that, though we grieve, we don’t grieve like those who have no hope. That’s because we know it’s only a short interlude before we see them again (1 Thessalonians 4:13).”
There’s hope friends. Not just when death occurs, but when any type of pain or heartbreak rocks our world. We are all going to get knocked down at some point. Let’s extend not only grace to ourselves but to each other. Being kind and loving each other is what we were called to do. And it helps to make things a little easier.
Hebrews 6:13-20 NIV
When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
