Why does God allow bad things to happen?
That’s a question that gets asked frequently and if I’m honest, I struggle with an appropriate answer to that question.
Why did my friend die tragically even though he followed Jesus?
Why is my friend barely hanging on to life even though he’s a pastor leading people to Jesus?
Why did that child die even though we know Jesus loves her?
I truly wish I had the ability to understand the universe as God does, to know how everything works out, ultimately for good.
But I don’t. I can’t always see it.
What I do know, through the storm, when sorrow like sea billows roll, is this:
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
Lamentations 3:19-26 NIV
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
We sing songs around that part of Lamentations…probably the best known section of the lament because of that. But the lamenter continues:
For no one is cast off
Lamentations 3:31-33 NIV
by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
Did you notice that last part? He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. God isn’t diabolical and just eager to bring destruction on people. He doesn’t willingly bring these troubles to anyone.
I still don’t understand why we suffer, but I know that it’s not something God’s wants. He doesn’t willingly want us to suffer these afflictions and grief. And I do believe that his unfailing love brings compassion. Yes there is grief, yes there is suffering, but not every day is that way. Not every light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. Sometimes it’s his compassion made new every morning.
Trust in the Lord. Hope in the Lord. Rest in the Lord. His mercies are new every morning, and he does not willingly bring affliction and grief.
May the Lord grant us all peace today.
Living in the Word 