Why Does God Allow....? |
by David A. DePra |
| "I cannot believe in a God who allows so much pain and suffering |
| in the world. Such a God must be either too weak to intervene |
| and stop the suffering, or so unethical that He doesn't care |
| enough to stop it. Either way, you cannot reconcile history to the |
| loving, Christian God of the Bible." -- unknown Agnostic. |
| When a child is killed, or a spouse dies, or a sickness is |
| diagnosed, it brings us face to face with these fundamental |
| questions of life. Why does God allow such things? Or, to bring |
| it closer to home, how can He allow them to happen to ME? |
| The atheist or agnostic will tell you that it isn't a matter of God |
| allowing such things. They will tell you that it is proof that God |
| doesn't exist at all. This presents a compelling argument. And |
| it's one which Christians must not avoid. How can a loving God |
| allow such things to happen to the world, and moreso, to His |
| own people? |
| The Illusion of Invincibility |
| There are many of us, who, as Christians, cannot conceive |
| that anything bad could ever happen to us. Afterall, God is "on |
| our side." WE, personally and individually, are His "special one." |
| WE are just a notch ahead of the rest of the Body of Christ on |
| God's "List of Favorite People." Besides, we believe and obey |
| God. This ENTITLES us to His protection and provision. It |
| makes us almost invulnerable -- except for a few trials here and |
| there which God allows into our lives. Or does it? |
| All we have to do is read history. Or better yet, look around |
| us. Do Christians ever get sick? Yep. All the time. In fact, if you |
| took a survey, you'd probably find that just as many Christians |
| get sick as do non-Christians. Do Christians ever die |
| prematurely? All the time. Everyday Christians face the tragedy |
| of accidents, murder, and terminal illness. Do Christian parents |
| ever have to face the untold agony of losing a child? Yes. |
| Despite the fact that some parents constantly pray over their |
| children for protection, and do everything in their power to guard |
| them against evil, sometimes tragedy strikes. |
| How can this be? How can a "loving God" allow tragedy? |
| What about all of the promises in the Bible? |
| All the promises in the Bible really boil down to ONE promise. |
| When all of the arguing is over and the day is done, there is only |
| ONE thing which God promises us: HIS WILL. Get that. God |
| promises us HIS WILL -- if we will yield to it. |
| Now, this creates a "problem." Why? Because even though |
| God promises us His will, He doesn't usually tell us what is |
| included in His will. And the fact is, both blessing AND suffering |
| are part of the will of God. Not only does a loving God provide |
| us with many blessings in this world, but at times, pain and |
| suffering are an intrical part of our experience with Him. |
| Inside or Outside of God's Will |
| It is only natural for us to focus upon the blessing side of |
| God's will. This is not wrong to do. There are many wonderful |
| and enjoyable things found in the will of God. In fact, if we would |
| only understand it, there are ONLY blessings in the will of God |
| -- in the spiritual sense. But in the temporal sense, some of |
| these blessings aren't going to seem like blessings. They are |
| going to seem like the opposite. Our flesh is not going to like the |
| will of God in many respects. The will of God, for our flesh, will |
| include some pretty intense suffering and pain. |
| There is pain and suffering which is IN God's will. But there is |
| also pain and suffering which is OUTSIDE of God's will. What is |
| the difference? |
| The terms speak for themselves. Suffering which is within |
| God's will is NECESSARY suffering. It is caused by yielding to |
| the will of God, and is necessary to God's eternal purposes for |
| me. But suffering which is outside of God's will is caused by my |
| refusal to yield to the will of God. It is suffering which God did not |
| ordain for me, but which now MUST BE, because I have refused |
| to believe and surrender to God. It is, in that sense, completely |
| UNnecessary. There was a better way for me had I obeyed. |
| Note this distinction again: Suffering which is WITHIN the will |
| of God results from yielding to God's will. But suffering which is |
| OUTSIDE of God's will results from refusing to yield to His will. |
| Of course, in the final analysis, there is no such thing as |
| suffering which is outside of God's will. Even suffering which I |
| bring upon myself because of sin is IN God's will -- as an agent |
| to chastise me and turn me to God. Indeed, ALL of the terrible |
| consequences which occur because of sin in this world are but a |
| testimony of the righteousness of God and to what happens |
| when we reject Him. |
| But all of that being said, it is nevertheless a fact that I can |
| bring upon myself much chastisement if I rebel against God. I |
| can set consequences in motion which DID NOT NEED to |
| happen if I had believed and obeyed God. The solution to these |
| consequences is to repent and surrender to God NOW. If I do |
| this, God will take the consequences I've brought upon myself |
| and use them in a redemptive way. Our God is a redemptive |
| God. It is never too late to turn and surrender to Him. |
| All of us are going to bring a certain amount of "unnecessary |
| suffering" upon ourselves. Hopefully, however, we will learn from |
| our unbelief, and these occasions will gradually decrease. But |
| even if we were to obey God perfectly, we will have our share of |
| "necessary" suffering. We will have pain, no matter how much we |
| trust God, or how much we obey Him. We enter the kingdom of |
| God only through much tribulation. |
| No Justice |
| Why do things work this way? How can pain and suffering |
| result from faith and obedience? Why do the good suffer and |
| the the wicked prosper? Is there no justice in this world? How |
| can a "just God" allow such things? |
| The fact is, there is NO justice in THIS world. That's right. If |
| you are looking for justice here, or expect life to be fair, you are |
| going to be dissappointed. Life isn't fair. And our conduct and |
| faith before God, while it does keep us from much that is bad, |
| and carries with it many blessings, does not insure us of freedom |
| from suffering, pain, and even tragedy. |
| The reason? We are living in a realm which is governed by |
| wicked forces. It is a dead realm; once which is already in the |
| process of passing away. And since God is in the process of |
| delivering us out of this realm into a brand new creation, we are |
| going to feel many birth pains. We are going to be in a constant |
| state of warfare. We are going to be pulled in many directions at |
| the same time. The result, on many levels, will be pain and |
| suffering -- all within the will of God. |
| So what are we to do? Surrender to pain and suffering? No. |
| Walk through life in constant fear of what may happen to us? No. |
| We must do ONE thing, and ONE thing alone: Surrender to the |
| WILL OF GOD. We must unconditonally and irrevocably say the |
| words, "Into your hands do I commit my spirit." And then we |
| must go on, living in our complete surrender to God. |
| If I will surrender to God -- unconditionally -- it will result |
| in many wonderful blessings. I will grow to experience freedom |
| in Christ. I'll get a taste of the eternal. But I'll also have to endure |
| the pain and suffering required to enter into these things. |
| This is a cause for rejoicing. What greater freedom could be |
| ours than to know that whatever happens to us in this life is part |
| of the will of God? This was the confidence of the first century |
| Christians. And there is no reason why is should not be our |
| confidence now. |
| Unconditional Surrender |
| God desires that we surrender to His will unconditionally. This |
| is why Jesus said we should pray, "Thy will be done, (not mine), |
| on earth as it is in heaven." Surrender to God's will means that |
| we will no longer live for ourselves, but for God. It means that we |
| will no longer be in love with our life. We will be in love with God. |
| It means that we will not reserve the right for ourselves to |
| determine the outcome of our lives. We will, by faith, leave that |
| to God. |
| Now, if we will surrender to God's will by faith, God promises |
| that we will receive exactly that: HIS WILL. Indeed, It is |
| absolutely impossible for us to want the will of God more than |
| God wants us to have it. Therefore, if we pray for the will of God, |
| and surrender by faith to Him, we cannot fail to receive it. We |
| cannot. God will see to it that He gets His will in our lives. |
| As mentioned, however, the will of God for us may include |
| some suffering, pain, and tragedy. But this does not mean that |
| God comes down and CAUSES terrible things to happen to us, |
| or appoints some wicked person to hurt us. No. It means that |
| He may allow these things to happen to us -- for purposes He |
| may not choose to presently reveal. |
| God is sovereign. He promises that nothing can happen to us |
| without His permission. But He doesn't promise that He won't |
| give His permission. And yet if we will yield to His will, for |
| WHATEVER He allows, we will, in the end, see that He was right. |
| We will see that He does all things well. |
| It has always been difficult for people to understand how God |
| could, on the one hand, ALLOW people to hurt us, and yet, on |
| the other hand, not be blamed for it. Afterall, if God allows |
| something, and has the power to stop it, then it is happening |
| ONLY with His permission. So isn't it His fault? |
| "Fault" isn't the right term. But it IS God's permissive will. |
| Harm only got through to us because God permitted it. That is |
| as sure as God in heaven. |
| This isn't easy to digest, to be sure. But the alternative is |
| impossible. If any harm and suffering which comes to us in this |
| life happens WITHOUT the permission of God, it means that He |
| is not all-powerful, or He is indifferent to our suffering. This |
| cannot be. God IS God. And He is God even when we cannot |
| understand Him. |
| God has His purposes for what He allows, and He has not |
| seen fit to explain them all to us. But He does beckon us to |
| surrender to Him regardless. He does tell us that we cannot lose |
| if we fall unconditionally into His hands. |
| Now, do not get the impression that surrendering to the will of |
| God automatically means you are going to experience some |
| tragedy. Most Christians do not. For most of us, the will of God |
| means tremendous blessing -- not necessarily in the physical, |
| temporal sense -- but in the spiritual sense. We have our trials |
| and sufferings. But through these, God builds into us the eternal |
| character of His Son. |
| The Fundamental Choice |
| All of God's dealings with us are unto one end: That we be |
| conformed to the image of His Son. That is the general will of |
| God for us in this age. |
| Herein we see a fundamental choice each believer must |
| make. That choice is this: Am I going to allow God to decide |
| how to bring His will to pass. Am I going to allow HIM to decide |
| what pain and suffering He will allow in my life? What blessings |
| He will allow? Or will I reserve the right to myself to determine |
| the outcome of my life? |
| We never reserve for ourselves the right to decide in an open, |
| rebellious way. The way we do it is by partitioning off parts of our |
| life and making them "off limits" to God. And then we refuse to |
| admit they are there. We don't want to talk about them. But this |
| gets us nowhere in God's plan and purpose. It simply leaves us |
| barren spiritually. |
| There are many ways in which we do this kind of thing. Some |
| of them can be quite subtle. Take the example of protecting |
| one's family. This is a terribly important issue to be sure. But |
| we must ask ourselves the question: WHO do we trust for the |
| protection of our family? Do we trust God to decide about the |
| protection of our family? Or do we reserve that right for |
| ourselves? |
| Many Christians say they trust God. But then, just in case, we |
| have our contingency plans in place -- just in case God |
| doesn't come through. The issue here, of course, is not the |
| things we do, or don't do. It is where our faith is. Is it really in |
| God? Do we trust Him to know best for us, and our family? |
| The bottom line is this: Either God is there for me exactly as |
| He has promised, or He is not. Either I believe Him, or I do not |
| believe Him. There really isn't any middle ground. And I must |
| decide one way or another, and keeping deciding. HOW I |
| decide will then determine how I will live, who will govern me, |
| and whether I will grow spiritually. |
| Who Do I Trust? |
| Having read all of this might make surrender to the will of God |
| seem scary. It might make you say, "I never considered the |
| possiblity that yielding to God's will might involve pain, suffering, |
| or harm. It really makes me hesitate to yield to Him." |
| Part of the solution is to look at the alternative to yielding to |
| God's will. The alternative is to trust yourself; to rely upon |
| yourself for protection and wisdom. But is THAT any guarantee |
| of safety? Do you really think YOU can do a better job than God? |
| Actually, God gives us complete freedom to rely upon |
| ourselves instead of upon Him. We are free to fend for ourselves |
| if that is what we want to do. But Jesus had one word for that |
| kind of decision: Foolish. He says that God even cares for the |
| birds of the air and the flowers of the field. How can we therefore |
| doubt that He is there for His children? |
| If the realization that you are not invincible has come upon |
| you, and shaken you, you have actually seen the Truth. You are |
| seeing that complete surrender to God for whatever He wants is |
| not a recipe for disaster, but the only truly safe place to be. Thus, |
| rather than scare you away from God, this realization should |
| make you want to trust Him. |
| We must get these issues settled. Either God is there for us or |
| He isn't. And either we believe or we don't. We must stop all |
| fence-sitting and get these issues resolved and settled. |
| But What If....? |
| What if I DO trust God, and something bad happens? Well, if I |
| am really trusting Him, and something bad does happen, then I |
| can know that it was within God's permissive will. That may not |
| make what happens much easier to take, but it is nevertheless |
| the Truth. God has promised, "Trust Me, and nothing can get |
| through to you unless it has come to Me first." |
| The conclusion from all of this is rather revolutionary, but true. |
| That conclusion is this: It is better to trust God and fall into the |
| hands of the wicked, than it is to trust yourself and remain "safe." |
| Does that seem shocking? It is nevertheless true. If, despite |
| my complete trust in the protection of God, God does -- for |
| reasons known only to Him -- allow harm to come to me or my |
| family, I am in His will. I am where I need to be. And if I really |
| understood it, I am actually free from real, spiritual harm. I |
| cannot lose trusting God. |
| In the final analysis, the argument is rather silly anyways. |
| Who among us could possibly have the slightest idea of how |
| many terrible tragedies God has prevented in our lives because |
| we have trusted Him? We only know about the tragedies which |
| DO occur, and rarely know about the ones which don't. And who |
| among us, can imagine that we have the ability to prevent pain |
| and suffering through our own efforts -- pain and suffering |
| which God may want to allow for our eternal good? Why would |
| we want to prevent such things? God forbid we are that |
| temporal minded! |
| A tremendous freedom comes to a person when they give all |
| of this up into the hands of God. When you do that, you will |
| know that the only pain and suffering which gets through to you |
| has first gotten through God, and has been allowed for His |
| purposes. And you have the confidence of knowing that nothing |
| can hurt you which is not part of His eternal plan for you and |
| your family. |
| The Job Issue |
| The question of "bad" things happening to "good" people is |
| addressed directly in the book of Job. Job believed that the |
| blessings or curses in a man's life should correspond to his |
| relationship to God; to his conduct. He could see no other |
| alternative in the universe of a just and righteous God. And then |
| God allowed HIM to be struck down. He lost everything. And |
| God offered no explaination at all. Only silence. Job spends his |
| ordeal trying to sort this impossible situation out. How could this |
| be? How could a righteous man be subject to such pain and |
| suffering? |
| You and I may have never verbalized it, but the chances are, |
| we believe exactly what Job believed: The believer should |
| prosper and the unbeliever should not. The good should be |
| blessed and the wicked cursed. You and I almost demand that |
| this be so in the present world. That is our idea of justice, and it |
| surely must be God's idea of justice. |
| Job had to learn a lesson which we all have to learn. That is |
| why the Book of Job is written -- to instruct us in that regard. |
| God is telling us that our conduct guarantees us nothing in this |
| world. It will not necessarily spare us suffering and pain. It will |
| not even guarantee us the blessings we want. There is only one |
| thing our trust in God guarantees us: The will of God. If we |
| believe God, and then obey Him, we will have His will. We will |
| have exactly what He wants us to have, no more and no less. |
| Now ask: What more could we want? Job got the will of God. |
| Indeed, he actually BECAME the will of God. He saw God in a |
| light which he never knew existed. It was an eternal result from a |
| temporary suffering. And if that is what God wants do to in us, |
| why would we want to refuse Him? |
| Why Doesn't God Intervene? |
| The refusal to accept a God who allows pain and suffering is, |
| of course, rooted in some ignorance. Once I assume that this |
| present age is "normal," or that God actually created it this way, |
| then of course I can then blame God for pain and suffering. But |
| the Truth is, God did not create this world to operate the way it is |
| operating. This present age is the consequence of man's |
| rebellion against God. It is the result of man living independent |
| of His Creator. |
| So why did God let all of that happen? Indeed, if He is really |
| loving, why doesn't He intervene and stop it all? |
| He has. He sent His Son to bear the sin of the world. He now |
| says to us, "I want to save you out of all of this. My Son is the |
| Way. Believe and receive Him." |
| The reason some have trouble with this is that all of the |
| benefits are not immediate. Becoming a Christian, as |
| mentioned, does not immediately rapture you to heaven, or |
| elevate you to a place free from pain and suffering. But as |
| Christians, we need to get it settled once and for all: God's |
| purpose and plan are not limited to THIS age. This age is |
| preliminary. It is UNTO another realm where the reality of what |
| Jesus has done WILL be realized. |
| An agnostic will have no frame of reference for this Truth. |
| That is why it is usually pointless to argue about it with some. |
| But the people of God should have it straight: God is NOT trying |
| to fix this age. He is not trying to bring reform. Not politically or |
| in any other fashion. He sent Jesus to save us OUT OF this age. |
| And even at that, we will not realize the fullness of that salvation |
| until Jesus Christ returns to earth. |
| If God Did Prevent Pain and Suffering |
| Let's assume, for a moment, that God did continually |
| intervene in this world to prevent all pain and suffering. What |
| kind of a world would that be? |
| First of all, we would have a world of immortal human beings. |
| Afterall, death cannot occur without pain and suffering of some |
| type, whether it be on the part of those who die, or on the part of |
| those left behind. So God would have to make sure no one ever |
| died, for any reason. |
| This would then require several things. First, it would require |
| that God prevent all accidents from happening. That would |
| mean He would have to suspend physical laws ever time we |
| broke them. He have to make gravity stop working so we would |
| not fall, or He'd have to keep cars from crashing so we would not |
| be injured. Thus, we'd have a world where physical laws would |
| really not exist. The moment injury was possible, the natural |
| laws would not work. God would have to see to it. |
| Complicating matters is the fact that physical laws are not at |
| fault in many accidents. Some accidents are the result of human |
| error and choice. Therefore, if someone chooses to be negligent |
| or reckless, resulting in their injury, or in the injury of some other |
| person, God would have to stop them. He would have to literally |
| grab them and make it impossible for them to choose. |
| Here we see the issue of free will emerging. If God intervened |
| to prevent all pain and suffering in this world, He would have to |
| take away from us our free will. |
| This is especially evident once you are asked to define pain |
| and suffering. How about the pain of having someone you love |
| reject you? Should God intervene and prevent that? How? He'd |
| have to literally get into the mind of the other person and make |
| them choose differently. How about the pain of losing out on a |
| job opening? That is pain to some people. Should God see to it |
| that you get the job? How about the other person? Should He |
| make a way for both of you to get it? |
| And then, of course, there is war. And crime. God would |
| have to come down and force nations to stop fighting, and keep |
| human beings from breaking the law. Indeed, take this argument |
| to it's logical conclusion, and to prevent all suffering God would |
| have to make it impossible for us to sin -- not only outwardly, |
| but inwardly. |
| The kind of world which would exist if God prevented all pain |
| and suffering is not a world in which human beings could exist. |
| There would be no free will and no physical laws. There would |
| be no consequences for sin. It would be a world of physical, |
| moral, and spiritual chaos. |
| Proof of God |
| The irony is this: The fact that the world is the way it is |
| PROVES there is a God. How? |
| First, consistant physical laws demand that someone created |
| them. Even if you insist that physical laws popped into existance |
| on their own, you must then explain what physical law allowed |
| THAT to happen. If you believe life sprang from nothing, then |
| some physical law made that possible. WHO created that law? |
| law? Where did it come from? WHY does it work that way? |
| It is here that the agnostic will say, "These are scientific facts |
| which we have yet to discover. Someday we will." |
| But wait. Is our agnostic friend saying he is exercising FAITH? |
| Sure he is. He is saying that he doesn't know the answer to |
| these questions, but that he nevertheless holds firm to his |
| conclusion. Now, that's faith. |
| My point is this: Unless an agnostic is willing to claim that he |
| has all of the answers, and can prove them, then he is guilty of |
| the very thing which he will not accept from Christians: That faith |
| is often necessary when God does not explain what He is doing. |
| The Truth is, it takes MORE faith to deny God's existance than |
| it does to believe God exists. That's because where Christians |
| cannot understand, they can rest in the fact that God |
| understands. But if an agnostic doesn't understand, he has no |
| where to turn but back upon himself and humanity. And |
| humanity hardly has a track record which provides confidence. |
| The fact of pain and suffering in this world also shows that |
| God exists, and that He is loving. How? |
| Pain and suffering are aspects of this creation which fall short |
| of perfection. By DEFINITION they are that. This is a universal |
| concept in the sane and normal sense. We know, instictively, |
| that there is a higher good; a higher perfection. Evil is only |
| possible if there is a good it contradicts. And all of this points |
| once again to a Creator. A good Creator. |
| A messed up world is not proof that there is no God. It is |
| proof that there IS a God. It is proof that everything God says in |
| the Bible is true -- that we need a Saviour to save us out of this |
| mess. It is proof that Redemption is the only solution. |
| The Realization of God's Will |
| We are born into a fallen, broken world. It is not a world which |
| God originally designed or created. It is one which has been |
| overtaken by the realm of death and darkness. But God has not |
| left us to die in this state. He sent His Son to make it possible for |
| us to be born out of this creation into a brand new eternal realm. |
| However, none of this is to be fully realized until Jesus comes. |
| Until then, we will experience many of the blessings and realities |
| of God. But we also experience many of the elements which |
| have come to rule this world: Pain, suffering, and then finally, |
| death. But if we are living, not for ourselves, but for Him who |
| died for us and raised us up, then the only blessings and the |
| only sufferings which we will experience are those which are part |
| of the one thing God promises us, and wishes for us: HIS WILL. * |