I am sure most of you; whether you’re a believer or not, have at one time asked the question “why, God?”
We tend to ask that question when things don’t go as we have planned; an accident, tragedy, someone died, we see something that doesn’t make sense to us, or when were mad, sad, emotional etc. Many times throughout the race I have found myself asking God this question. Whether it was during a feeding and we didn’t have enough food so we had to turn away hungry children, seeing people living in awful conditions, a typhoon destroying land and families, people working their butts off just to earn little to no pay in order to help provide for their family, or seeing children who don’t get enough love and attention as they should. This topic has been pressing on my heart and mind lately and by no means do I have an answer for everything but I have begun to explore the question.
I recently started listening to podcasts by The Porch and they have a series entitled “Skeptic” and the first topic they speak on is the problem of evil. The first point they had was; you’ve got to start acknowledging that you are not God, and he KNOWS more than you. Often times when something happens and it’s not how we think it should be, we automatically get mad at God and say “why?” We start blaming God because it’s not as we think it should be. However in Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord declares “For MY thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways HIGHER than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This just goes to show that when we think that something should go “our” way, God has HIS way and ultimately it’s for the better. Even if we can’t see the purpose for evil and suffering doesn’t mean there isn’t a purpose.
Another thing we have to come to grips with is that, ultimately in this world there is evil, so there is going to be pain and suffering. It all started when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. In one of C.S Lewis’ books he wrote “God created things which had free will. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why then did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.” We can argue and go back and forth for hours on this topic but it all comes down to the fact that this world is not perfect so there is going to be poverty, death, and suffering. However the awesome thing is that God promised he will be with us; it is promised in Revelation 21:4 that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
If we knew every answer, knew every reason God did things what would be the point? We’re not supposed to know everything and I think God likes when we wonder and ask questions; get to know him better, as long as we remember that he is God and he knows best.
