Bad things happen to Christians because faith in Jesus Christ does not exempt anyone from life in a fallen world, from the consequences of human choices, from the actions of others, or from spiritual opposition. Jesus Himself said, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Christian theology does not offer a promise of a trouble-free life, but it does offer a framework for understanding suffering and a reason for hope. Christians believe that God is good, loving, just, sovereign, and present in suffering, even when His purposes remain hidden, and that He can use affliction for spiritual formation, ministry, faithfulness, and ultimate good.
The problem of suffering and the apparent unfairness of life
We live in a world of pain and suffering. There is no one who is not affected by the harsh realities of life, and the question “why do bad things happen to good people?” is one of the most difficult questions in all of theology. After all, sometimes we experience devastating suffering.
Just consider the Holocaust, the abduction and murder of a child, or the long and painful death of a kind and gentle person. Other times it's asked by people who have suffered or whose loved ones have known grief and loss. They honestly want to know: How could God let this happen to me and to mine? Why wouldn't God stop this pain and help me?
We've all heard it numerous times: “Why would a God who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful allow bad things to happen to good people?” We can also turn the question around: “Why would an all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful God allow good things to happen to bad people?”
Most of us have a cultural assumption: be a good person and good things will happen to you. Be a bad person and bad things will happen to you. But that is an incorrect assumption that does not match up with the world in which we live.
You probably have asked a similar question: “Why do bad things keep happening to me when I always try to do the right thing?” As a pastor one of the questions I hear most often from people is “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
It has to be said, though, that this question is sometimes asked in innocence by people with a genuine desire to understand what seems impossible to understand. These are not the questions to be asking in the midst of the grieving process, because no answer will suffice at that time.
There are no perfectly good people
As hard as it is to acknowledge, we must remember that there are no “good” people, in the absolute sense of the word. All of us are tainted by and infected with sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8).
As Jesus said, “No one is good-except God alone” (Luke 18:19). All of us feel the effects of sin in one way or another. Sometimes it’s our own personal sin; other times, it’s the sins of others.
Because of who God is he would not directly cause pain and suffering in our lives. Psalm 5:4 tells us, “For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with you.”
God is compassionate and loving. God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), just (Revelation 6:16), and merciful (Romans 3:23-24).
At the same time, God is sovereign, so all that happens must have at least been allowed by Him, if not directly caused by Him. At the outset, we must acknowledge that human beings, who are not eternal, infinite, or omniscient, cannot expect to fully understand God’s purposes and ways.
I’ve been asked hundreds of times why God allows evil to take place, and I have to tell you honestly that I do not know the answer-not fully. The Bible talks about “the mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7, KJV)-and that’s what evil is: a mystery.
The Fall and the entrance of suffering into the world
In the beginning, God did create a perfect world free of pain and suffering. But, unfortunately, the choices Adam and Eve made in the Garden of Eden brought suffering into all of our lives forevermore.
Because of the Fall, bad things happen to people. Things are not the way that they are supposed to be. They are supposed to be perfect and complete and in harmony.
But when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree God told them not to (in Gen 3), they invited evil to enter into the world. And with that, sin and a sin nature entered the world and every single person has that sin nature since birth.
That sin causes bad things to happen. These are things like physical disabilities and illness that occur in our lives. Also natural disasters such as wildfires and earthquakes that might damage our physical property or hurt us.
These are all examples of the Fall and evil effecting us today. We live in a fallen world, and we experience the effects of the fall. One of those effects is injustice and seemingly senseless suffering.
The Bible declares that evil is far worse than we realize. Evil is an invader, a parasite, a rot. It’s a malignant cancer that has spread, a rupture in the cosmic order.
The good material world God created has been corrupted. The root of evil in this world is not material, it is moral. It is found in rebellion against God’s good rule.
And from the beginning of humanity we have all participated in that rebellion and evil is embodied in our own hearts.
Human freedom and the possibility of evil
When God created us, He gave us free will. He didn’t want robots who automatically surrendered and obeyed to Him.
Adam and Eve used their free will when they took the bite of fruit the enemy offered to them. It all goes back to those early choices that were made to listen to the voice of the enemy rather than trusting the voice of God, and we’ve all been paying the price since.
We have freedom, and we have free will. We have that free will because Godis love, and no lover would allow anything else.
That God allows freedom, and sometimes a freedom to disobey, says everything about God's love for us, and nothing against it. Yet while he wants us to return to him, he doesn't force us to take this course of action.
God in his ultimate love even gives us the right to choose not to return to him, and to choose to spend eternity without him, in a place we call hell.
We are creatures made in his image, made to love him and to be loved by him, and our vocation after this sojourn on earth is to be united with our maker in heaven. But we have a choice.
We have freedom, we have the right to choose, even the right to choose to do the wrong thing. The pain that must occur in heaven when we reject God and choose to live in a Godless place is beyond our comprehension, but this freedom of choice proves God's love and not his indifference.
The actions and mistakes of other people
Because of the mistakes others make, bad things happen. There was a righteous group of believers that have been faithful to God, but most of the nation had not been faithful to God.
So the group of faithful believers here are experiencing problems that they did not cause. These faithful believers are enduring pain and suffering because of the ungodly actions of others.
And that is true in our day sometimes too. Bankruptcy, health problems, broken marriages, and loss of jobs sometimes occur because of the ungodly behavior of other people close to us.
Because of the mistakes we make, bad things happen. Sometimes bad things happen because we have played a part in it. Something we have done, or failed to do, causes evil to happen.
Sometimes it is not intentional and sometimes it is accidental. Sometimes there are things that we have done to bring about the problems we have.
At first glance we might not even realize it, but often, sometimes years later after we mature and age we learn how we could have done things differently.
Spiritual opposition and the reality of evil
Because of the role of Satan in our world, bad things happen. Satan’s position is “god” of this world.
In 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one [Satan].”
Satan’s activities in this world are to tempt and seduce us (Gen 3:1-6; Matt 4:1-11), and to destroy us (1 Peter 5:8-9; Luke 8:12; Rev 12:13-17).
He also wants to war against believers and the church by sending false workers (Matt 13:36-39), by thwarting God’s work (1 Thess 2:18), by sending pain and physical ailments upon believer’s lives (John 2:4-7; 2 Cor 12:7-10), through defamation and slander (Rev 20:10), and persecution, oppression, and martyrdom (Rev 2:10, 13).
First, the Bible tells us that evil does not come from God, nor can we blame God for all the evils in the world. Evil comes instead from Satan, and it entered this world when Satan deceived Adam and Eve and caused them to turn against God.
Both evil and Satan are real, and the two go hand-in-hand. The vast spiritual conflict between Satan and God that has raged from the beginning of time will be over, and God will be triumphant.
God does not promise Christians a trouble-free life
Wouldn’t it be nice to think that if we love Jesus, we would be exempt from difficulties? But in actuality, that’s not what we can expect.
Jesus told us that we would experience trials and difficult times: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
We can all expect to go through hard times and experience bad things in life, but as one who loves Jesus, we have the assurance that God can and will use not just the good times, but also the bad times for our good and for His glory.
The Bible actually makes it quite clear that faith in Jesus Christ does not guarantee a good life, but a perfect eternity. Indeed, there is more prediction in Scripture of a struggle on earth for the believer than there is of gain and success.
There may be Christian sects that promise material wealth and all sorts of triumphs in exchange for faith, but this is a non-Christian, even an anti-Christian bargain, and has never been something that orthodox Christianity would affirm.
While it's neurotic rather than Christian to welcome suffering, and no intelligent and comprehending Christian would welcome suffering for its own sake, Christians should not be surprised that suffering remains part of life in the present world.
Christian suffering in the light of eternity
The materialist and the atheist, those who would deny God, believe that at death, all is over. Life is finished, it is done and complete; we are dust, mere food for worms.
To these people, pain has no meaning other than what it is: pure, unadulterated suffering, without any redeeming purpose. The atheist is convinced that these years we spend on earth-perhaps 80 or more if we're lucky, and only a handful if we're not-are everything we have, and constitute the total human experience.
Christians, on the other hand, believe that these years on earth, while important and to be used wisely and to be enjoyed, are preparation for a far greater life to come.
They are, in effect, a thin ray of light from the great sunshine that is eternity and life in heaven with God. Christians believe that this life on earth is only the land of shadows and that real life hasn't yet begun.
Bad things may happen to good people in this world, but this world is not the end. Christians have an eternal perspective: “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
We will have a reward some day, and it will be glorious. This does not make present suffering unreal or insignificant, but it means that suffering does not have the final word.
God can bring good from suffering
We have the assurance that God can and will use not just the good times, but also the bad times for our good and for His glory: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT).
Knowing that God causes everything to work together for our good often brings me peace. It calms my heart to realize that even though we will suffer, He will bring good from it.
There is purpose in our pain. In fact, Scripture tells us that many good things come out of our problems and trials: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
“And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment” (Romans 5:3-5 NLT).
Bad things happen to good people, but God uses those bad things for an ultimate, lasting good. When Joseph, innocent of wrongdoing, finally came through his horrific sufferings, he was able to see God’s good plan in it all (see Genesis 50:19-21).
God works in mysterious ways to work out His good purpose, but there is one thing He wants us to understand clearly. The struggle with evil and suffering in this fallen world is only temporary.
Suffering can reveal God’s power
God may allow affliction in our lives to provide an opportunity to manifest his power. In John 9:1-3, the disciples asked Jesus why a particular man was born blind.
Their assumption was that either the man sinned at birth or the man’s parents had sinned. Jesus rejected the idea that all suffering must be a punishment for sin, and he answered, “This happened so that the power of God may be seen in him.”
God’s power may be manifest immediately through healing or over time through the slow spread of a disease rather than a quick spread. Look for the display of God’s power in the midst of affliction.
This means that suffering cannot automatically be interpreted as evidence of personal guilt or divine rejection. The story of the man born blind directly challenges the assumption that every affliction is a punishment for a particular sin.
Suffering can demonstrate genuine faith
God may allow suffering in our lives to demonstrate genuine faith to other creatures, whether spiritual or physical. The first two chapters of Job reveal to Satan and Job’s wife that Job served God out of genuine love, not because it resulted in God’s blessings.
If we turn away from God in the midst of our affliction, we are telling those watching us that Christianity doesn’t give any better answer than any other ideology.
God needs people today who will love and serve him because he is worthy of their devotion, not because it pays to do so.
The book of Job deals with the issue of why God allows bad things to happen to good people. Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1), yet he suffered in ways that are almost beyond belief.
God allowed Satan to do everything he wanted to Job except kill him, and Satan did his worst. What was Job’s reaction? “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).
“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). Job did not understand why God had allowed the things He did, but he knew God was good and therefore continued to trust in Him.
Suffering can remove self-reliance
God may allow affliction in our lives to remove our boasting. Affliction reminds us that we are not self-sufficient and we need to rely upon God.
Paul mentions this regarding his “thorn in the flesh” requests for removal in 2 Corinthians 12:7. The passage shows that a believer may sincerely ask for suffering to be removed and may nevertheless be called to depend on divine grace in the midst of it.
Often, bad things happen to us that we simply cannot understand. Instead of doubting God’s goodness, our reaction should be to trust Him.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
We walk by faith, not by sight. Faith does not require pretending that suffering is pleasant or that its immediate meaning is obvious.
Suffering creates opportunities for Christian love and service
God may allow affliction to demonstrate to others what being the “body of Christ” means. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 tells us that we are all related to each other through Christ as a human body is made up of different parts.
We need each other. A suffering Christian needs to experience the compassionate love of Jesus through the actions of other believers.
Suffering also allows other believers the chance to express Christian love to those in need. In order to give us opportunities to minister, God may allow affliction to strike another member of the body of Christ.
May God give us the spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear, feet to walk towards, and hands to help those who are suffering in our communities.
Bad things happen to good people, but those bad things equip believers for deeper ministry. “Praise be to . the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
“For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). Those with battle scars can better help those going through battles.
Suffering and sanctification
In theological terms, God may allow affliction to help believer’s sanctification. Affliction can refine someone’s faith (1 Peter 1:6-7).
It can create intimacy with God (Job 42:5). It can help the believer stop sinning (1 Peter 4:1-2).
It can produce perseverance (Romans 5:3-4; James 1:3-4; 1 Peter 5:10). Affliction gives the believer opportunities to imitate Christ (1 Peter 2:23, 3:17-18).
| Possible spiritual effect of affliction | Scriptural reference |
|---|---|
| Refining faith | 1 Peter 1:6-7 |
| Creating intimacy with God | Job 42:5 |
| Helping the believer stop sinning | 1 Peter 4:1-2 |
| Producing perseverance | Romans 5:3-4; James 1:3-4; 1 Peter 5:10 |
| Imitating Christ | 1 Peter 2:23, 3:17-18 |
Many good things come out of our problems and trials. Endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens confident hope of salvation.
Why pain may awaken people to God
Pain may not be desirable, but it's only a feeling, as is joy. Yet pain is not mere suffering, but also a warning sign and a way to protect us against danger.
That something may hurt is undeniable, and that we will all feel some sort of pain at some point is inevitable, but whether this pain is our doing or God's is something entirely different.
C. S. Lewis, who watched his beloved wife die of cancer, put it this way: “But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
God's plan is for us to return to him, and to lead the best possible life on earth; sometimes we need to be reminded of our purpose.
Pain is a sharp, clear tool to achieve that purpose. A needle may be necessary to prevent disease or infection; nobody welcomes or enjoys the injection, but it prevents a far greater suffering, just as what may seem like even intolerable pain now will lead to far greater happiness later.
This does not mean that every painful event should be treated as a simple lesson or that grieving people should be given quick explanations. It means that, within Christian theology, pain can expose human vulnerability and awaken a person to dependence on God.
God is not a grandfather who merely approves every desire
To the Christian, however, God knows our needs better than we do, and also knows that our wants and our needs are distinctly different.
Which leads to the challenge of why God would allow us to go and do wrong, or why he allows us to want something that's not necessarily to our eternal advantage, or even to our immediate good.
By the goodness of God we mean nowadays almost exclusively his lovingness …. By Love, in this context, most of us mean kindness-the desire to see others than the self happy; not happy in this way or in that, but just happy.
What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?”
We want, in fact, not so much a Father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven-a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all.”
Today this applies far more obviously even than when Lewis was working and writing-he died in 1963. If I want something, runs the modern idiom, I need something; and if I need something, thus I must have something.
God’s presence in suffering
The Bible affirms that God is far more loving than we could ever hope. Though God could rightly do away with us all, in His love and mercy, He seeks us out to save us from the evil in this world and from the evil in ourselves.
And in the gospel we see that God shares in our suffering even as He acts to bring victory over evil. The cross and resurrection of Jesus become God’s own response to evil in this world.
Jesus was the only truly Righteous One, yet He suffered more than we can imagine. We follow in His footsteps: “If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’
“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:20-23).
Jesus is no stranger to our pain. Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Despite the sinful nature of the people of this world, God still loves us. Jesus loved us enough to die to take the penalty for our sins (Romans 6:23).
If we receive Jesus Christ as Savior (John 3:16; Romans 10:9), we will be forgiven and promised an eternal home in heaven (Romans 8:1).
The cross and resurrection as God’s answer to evil
The case against God can be very strong indeed. In philosophical terms, it can be stated like this:
- Premise one: A God who is all-powerful would be able to prevent evil in the world.
- Premise two: A God who is all-good would want to prevent evil in the world.
- Three: Evil exists in the world.
This results in a logical conclusion: Therefore, an all-powerful, all-good God cannot exist. That seems a pretty airtight syllogism, doesn’t it?
Many people deny the depth of God’s goodness. Maybe God is all-powerful, but He just doesn’t care as much as we’d like. He rules with an iron hand, but He does so as one who is distant and aloof from His creation.
You see, any of these options break the chain of logic in that syllogism that I referred to, but all of them come at a great cost, either to our experience of the world or to our relationship with God.
The biblical response to this challenge to faith is not to minimize the premises underlying the apparent contradiction that this argument poses, but to reinforce them while also seeing how the Bible provides reassurances.
At the same time, the Bible affirms that God is far more loving than we could ever hope. Though God could rightly do away with us all, in His love and mercy, He seeks us out to save us from the evil in this world and from the evil in ourselves.
And in the gospel we see that God shares in our suffering even as He acts to bring victory over evil. The cross and resurrection of Jesus become God’s own response to evil in this world.
For God has already won the decisive battle in this war, and His ultimate and complete victory is absolutely certain. If the cross of Jesus Christ shows us that our God shares in our suffering, then the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that God’s triumph over evil is assured.
Why God does not make belief unavoidable
Nor is it the case that he makes himself difficult to find, which leads to the accusation that a truly good God would make it easier, even inevitable and unavoidable, that we would all follow him and find our way to heaven.
But this reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of God's involvement and intervention in history, and-again-of what choice is all about, and how enmeshed love and choice always have to be.
On the one hand, if he made himself entirely obvious, only a fool or a masochist would purposely reject him, and he would effectively be giving us no choice at all.
On the other hand, if he made himself almost impossible to find, God would be playing cruel games with us and would be loveless, like some supreme vivisectionist, possessing power but showing no affection and without any responsibility.
So he makes himself entirely recognizable and attainable, if we have the slightest inclination to find him. He sent us monarchs, prophets, martyrs, signs and symbols, miracles, and finally his Son, to die in agony for us and then through the Resurrection prove God's love, power, and being.
How Christians can respond when suffering comes
The attention of the author shifts to the faithful believers in Malachi 3:16. Here are four practical things we learn from these believers that will help us overcome evil in this world.
Fear the Lord
First, we need to examine our attitude toward God. We should have a respectful fear of God.
He created the universe, he knew us before we were born, he sent his son to die for us, and he chose us to be part of his spiritual family. And because of that we have a relationship with him.
That knowledge should all lead to a fear and reverence of him. When it says “those who feared the Lord” the word for “fear” there means “revere” or “to give credit, to give him his proper due.”
We are recognized by God when we fear him and stay true to him. “And the Lord gave attention and heard it…” (Malachi 3:16) - God saw and remembered their faithfulness to him.
God still listened to them, watched them, and focused on them even when he was punishing everyone else. No matter what situation we might be in we need to remain steady and faithful to God.
When we see other people lie, steal, cheat or manipulate their way to success, wealth, or fame, we need to stay honest and be people of integrity.
We must remember that God sees our faithfulness despite what the “world” might say in claiming righteousness as weakness.
In other words, God doesn’t forget, and won’t forget our love and devotion to him despite our circumstances. This “memory book” wasn’t just a memento, but a promise of God to be acted on - a permanent remembrance of the people’s faithful and reverent response kept in Heaven.
Grow in the Lord
Second, we need to follow God’s direction. To grow in the Lord we need to read his Word to connect with and understand him more fully.
To grow in the Lord we need to listen to the Bible because it’s where God is speaking. Most people at the time of Malachi did not read. So to “remember” the Bible meant they had to hear it being read.
To grow in the Lord we need to not only hear what God says in the Bible, but do what he says in it too. Here again the word used again means “remember” but more than just “memory” (same word as in v. 16 mentioned earlier), it implies acting on what is remembered.
So in this context they need to remember the Bible in order to do what is says. There was an action tied to that knowledge. Likewise our growth in knowledge of the Bible should lead to action.
Serve the Lord
Third, we need to have a purpose in our spiritual life. Emotions are not enough; we need to apply our faith and what we know of God to what we say and how we interact with others.
Just saying “I follow God and believe in God” is not enough. There needs to be love and intentionality to be of benefit to other people that match those declarations.
That’s how God “distinguishes” us. God distinguishes between those that are “arrogant” and evil from the ones that “fear the Lord (v. 16) and “esteem his name” (v. 16) through their service of him and the people he loves.
In other words, it should not be a secret that we are followers of Jesus Christ. How we live and serve the Lord should distinguish us from others that are not people of faith.
Look for the Lord
Fourth, we need to examine our perspective. This reminds us that earth is not our permanent place. We have something better waiting for us that we anticipate.
That’s the same for us that endure suffering in this life. This verse gives us two ways to look for the Lord.
The text describes “the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” The people in Malachi’s time and in our time can sometimes feel like we are in a dark world where there is no hope.
There is no end in sight to the world’s evil and wickedness. But when Christ returns to earth for his people it will be like the sun with its rays shooting out appearing as “wings.”
Christ’s salvation and light illuminating the dark situations in the world give us hope. The text describes also “and you will go forth and skip about like calves from a stall.” In other words, we will be free!
We have a future hope to a day when God’s people will be spiritually renewed and restored completely when Christ returns.
Examples of faith amid overwhelming suffering
After getting married, life was great for Matthew and Ashley. They loved each other, and others well, and were active in their faith and community.
But five months into their marriage things got difficult. There was no conflict between them, but troubles were happening to them.
Matthew’s father had passed away unexpectedly. Grief led Matthew’s brother-who had been clean of addiction for almost ten years-to relapse.
When Matthew’s brother was on drugs again, he pulled out a knife and stabbed Matthew in the chest. Matthew thought he was going to die.
While on his way to the hospital, his brother who had attacked him was killed. In the following days while Matthew was recovering from his injuries, Ashley, who was pregnant, had a miscarriage.
All of this happened in just four weeks. Thankfully, Matthew and Ashley are still married, still committed to God, and still involved in a church.
Their faith was strong enough to know that this world is not the way it was supposed to be. They were committed to God through the complicated problems of life just like the small group of believers highlighted in the book of Malachi.
In early 1998, a sister named Julie was being taken off of life support after suffering a double brain aneurysm that doctors could not fix after a three-hour operation. She would pass into the arms of Jesus later that evening.
She left behind a loving husband, five-year-old son, and four-year-old daughter. My world was rocked and I was wrecked.
As I packed the car to begin the drive to South Dakota for the funeral, I began wrestling with some questions that many of you have already wrestled through during the tough times in your life.
“Is God really good?” “Does God really have my best interests at heart?” “Why is life not really fair sometimes?” “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
The biggest impact in dealing with the loss of my sister has been in the area of ministering to others who have lost their siblings.
Over the past twenty plus years, 5 of my high school friends have had to deal with the loss of a brother or sister before their expected time, and they have turned to me for help.
Being caught up in grieving didn’t allow vision of the bigger picture, but it is now in view for me as God saw it back then.
Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us that the secret things (or secret motives) belong to the Lord while the things (or motives) that we know belong to us and our children forever.
We may not fully understand our afflictions on this side of heaven, but God does. He has our best interests at heart, and I have learned much through my affliction that I could not have learned any other way.
God is good even when we don’t fully understand. That has to be enough for now, until we see Jesus face to face.
What Christians can know when they cannot explain suffering
We may not understand everything that happens to us-but when we know Christ, we know we are on the winning side.
Second, the Bible tells us that someday all evil will be banished. Someday all evil will be cast “into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41, KJV).
Third, the Bible tells us that in the meantime, God can give us victory over evil. This doesn’t mean bad things will never happen to us-but even when they do, we can know God is with us, and He will give us strength to stand against them.
Though we can never give a full explanation of evil in this world, we do have God’s response to it. At the end of this age, when Jesus comes again in glory, our God will show Himself to be fully and completely just when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
“There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
The Bible reveals a God Who is worthy of our trust even in the midst of our pain.
So take heart, Dear One. While you may be going through difficult times, good can come from it. Trust your circumstances and place the outcome into the hands of our perfect God and His perfect timing.
