02 Mar How Can You Believe God is Good in Spite of All the Evil in the World?
Blog Series: Renew Your Mind ~ Transform Your Life
I once tried to explain something to my 3-year-old granddaughter that she didn’t understand. It was perfectly clear to me. Obvious, even. But she couldn’t understand it. Her brain was not developed enough to grasp it.
One day she will understand perfectly. But for then, it would have to wait.
The same is true in our relationship with God. Is it hard for us to imagine that God understands things that we don’t?
He tells us things in the Scriptures that we don’t understand. We don’t understand why there is pain, suffering and evil in the world. But Christians will not go through eternity seething with resentment against God because He doesn’t measure up to our moral standards. Rather, we will see everything as it truly is, and deeply worship the goodness and power of our perfect God.
Picking up on what we said last week, if there is a silver bullet against God, it is the problem of pain, suffering and evil in the world.
As we asked then, if God is all good, and if God is all powerful, then where does the evil come from? It seems that either God must not be all good and He doesn’t care that evil exists, or He is not all powerful, and He can’t do anything about it.
British Comedian Stephen Frye even went so far as to say that if God exists, He would have to be a maniac to allow the horrifying degree and scope of pain, suffering and evil in the world. And for sure, as we observed last week, this is the single greatest challenge to faith in God and Christianity.
The Bible insists that God is good
Yet, the Bible insists that God is good:
- “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34
- “Good and upright is the Lord.” Psalm 25:8
- “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 34:8
- “You are good and do good.” Psalm 119:68
- “No one is good except God alone.” Mark 10:18
And for those of us who have concluded that the Bible is trustworthy, this carries all necessary weight. But the Bible is also reasonable, so is there further “reason” we can identify to lend support to the truth?
The Bible promises that God will ultimately resolve the pain, evil and suffering in the world
Revelation 21: says, referring to heaven, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain…” What a comforting thought!
But while perhaps that works going forward from that point, what about all the pain, suffering and evil until we get there? How can we reconcile the goodness of God with the present presence of rampant evil in the world?
We must admit that we do not know what was in the mind of God when He allowed evil in the first place. For reasons that (frankly) we either have not been told or cannot comprehend, He allowed evil to begin, and allows it to continue until the day He finally ends it.
Meantime, we can ease the tension with God’s goodness
We must admit that this is a challenge. But pressing ahead toward God rather than retreating from Him, we can consider these things: even though God allows evil for the present time, He nevertheless stepped into it and allowed the consequences of evil to touch Him. He did not, and does not, leave us here to suffer alone (Hebrews 4:15-16).
First, Jesus, God’s Son, died to deliver us from evil (“…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8).
And He didn’t have to die! He could have chosen not to. So why in the world did He? Because He loved us and was willing to pay whatever price was necessary to deliver us from evil.
That is the act of a person of towering moral courage and character. That supreme act of love demonstrates that, while we may not be able to explain why God allowed evil in the first place, if Jesus did not exempt Himself from it, there must be a reason that we do not currently know or understand.
Second, the Father also stepped into the evil for our sake.
The Father made the decision to send Jesus to die for us (“I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38). Jesus willingly came down from heaven, but it must have been a terribly painful decision for the Father to ask Him to do so.
Then, He witnessed the plan unfold – the suffering and death of His son – something any loving parent would recognize as an agonizing thing to do.
Why did God endure that? Love seems the only conceivable answer (John 3:16).
God is not a maniac
So, God allows evil, but does not exempt Himself from it. Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that either God is a maniac – creating a system of senseless suffering that even He has to endure – or there is a rationale that is beyond our knowledge or comprehension.
I do not believe God is a maniac. And here’s why. I look at the evidence that points to just the opposite:
- Love, rather than insanity, can explain His actions (John 3:16).
- His teachings are of the highest order:
- Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39).
- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you (Luke 6:31).
- Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is a fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10).
- Everywhere, in all places in all times of history, when God is followed authentically, goodness, peace, love, and joy bubble up, spill out and overflow.
Many testify of God’s goodness, even in the midst of pain
And on a personal level, millions testify to the profound positive change God has made in their lives when they gave themselves to Jesus… even those in terribly trying circumstances.
Corrie ten Boom testified to God’s goodness in the darkness of a concentration camp. Joni Erickson Tada testifies to God’s goodness even in physical paralysis and chronic pain. Countless believers in areas of persecution in the world today testify to the sufficient, sustaining grace of God, even in the face of tragedy.
Then, on a historic level, D. James Kennedy wrote, in What if Jesus had Never Been Born, of the things that were brought to the world as a result of following Jesus’ life and teachings: literacy, health care, legal justice, protection for the disabled, equality of personhood, compassionate government, etc. These things were unknown for common people until Christianity started affecting the world.
These are not the marks of a maniac!
Conclusion
So, why did God create a world in the first place, in which evil would be present and innocent people would suffer terribly?
The fact is, we don’t know. The answer is either something we have not been told, or having been told, we do not yet comprehend.
However, for the above reasons, we can believe that God is good, in spite of the pain, suffering and evil in the world.
So, we see that there is no silver bullet against God. Challenging issues will always create a need for clear and deep thinking. However, when we do think clearly and deeply, God is revealed to be just who He says He is, one who is good and who does good (Psalm 119:68).
If you want to look more deeply into this topic, 3 books I’d recommend are:
- Where is God When It Hurts, Philip Yancey
- The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis
- Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, Timothy Keller
Next week, we’ll look at the third “unbelievable” thing we must come to grips with: God loves me, in spite of the fact that He does not make my life go better.
In case you’re new here
This blog post is part of a series titled “Renew Your Mind, Transform Your Life”, introduced on January 5, 2021. As the series continues, each succeeding post will be added to and available in the blog archives at www.maxanders.com.
If you know anyone who you think might enjoy joining us in this study, please forward this blog to them and encourage them to go to my web site (www.maxanders.com) and sign up for the free video, “Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You”, available there on the home page. This will put them on my regular mailing list and they’ll receive my weekly blogs on this subject.
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I look forward to going through this life-changing journey with you.
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