How could God allow evil and Suffering?

Hitler, tornado’s, cancer, Coronavirus, car accidents, hurricanes, terrorist bombings, mass shootings, September 11,2001 ,with just a few words chills run down our spines and we get sick to our stomach. Then we ask the question: How could God allow evil and suffering? Some blame nature, some blame people, some blame themselves, some believe there is an evil force at work, and each of us at one time or another blame God. We ask, God what are you doing? Don’t You care?  So in order to answer this question I am going to ask three more questions?

Question 1: How can a good God make something bad?

We know that the Bible teaches that God is good.

• Psalms 86:5 “For you, O Lord, are good”
• 1 Chronicles 16:34 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!”
• Psalms 136:1a “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good”

When God originally created everything it was good. Genesis 1:31a ^“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” So God created good humans and gave them the ability to stay in harmony with Him or reject Him.  In Genesis 2:16,17a God states, And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” God gave man the ability to choose because he wanted man to freely choose to love Him and not to do it because he had too or because he had no other choice. Just like we want our children and grandchildren to want to be with us and love us not because we make them feel guilty or out of obligation. So how do you get your kids to visit?

I had some thoughts on how to get your kids and grandkids to visit more:

Stop saying:

• When are you going to come home?
• You always go to your in-laws for the holidays.
• You know I won’t be around forever.
• If you don’t visit more I will cut you out of my will.
• How much money do you want this time?

You also should stop complaining about their tattoo’s and their tongue and nose rings. Maybe you can just pretend you have Alzheimer’s and say that you don’t remember their last visit… Just a thought….

Ok, back to the question…

Evil and suffering entered the world as a result of man turning from God  Genesis 3:17-19  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; Because of Adam’s disobedience all mankind became disobedient. In Romans 5:12 Paul states “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all menbecause all sinned.” John MacArthur states “This is not a particular sin, but the inherent propensity to sin entered the human realm; men became sinners by nature. Adam passed to all his descendants the inherent sinful nature he possessed because of his first disobedience. That nature is present from the moment of conception, making it impossible for man to live in a way that pleases God.”

Question 2: Ok evil and suffering comes from man’s disobedience, but If God is all powerful why doesn’t He stop it?

The fact is that God has stopped evil in the past. Sometimes He did in smaller selective ways such as in Sodom and Gomorrah. But certainly He did it once in a great way through a global flood. God saw the world as evil. In Genesis 6:5 God states “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” So he decided to take action. Genesis 6:7 states, The Lord said “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I made them.” So God blotted out all of mankind except for Noah and his family. So God has stopped evil in the past

But God has also promised to destroy all the evil in the world at a future date

Isaiah 13:11 states “I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity” and in Zephaniah 1:17,18 God said “I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. Then there will be a final judgement for all unbelievers. Revelation 20:15 states “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” So those who reject God’s way will be thrown into the lake of fire.

Question 3: OK, God has stopped evil in the past and he will again in the future but why doesn’t he stop it now?

So God has destroyed all unbelievers in the past and He will do the same in the future but if He did it now they would not have a chance to be saved. Also if God stopped all evil now then we all would die physically because all have sinned. Romans 3:23 states “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” But God allows evil so that some would be saved. In 2 Peter 3:9 he states ^“The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

So God allows evil to continue now to give time for people to put their faith in Christ. He is being gracious to mankind to give people time that they don’t deserve. Then we who are believers are suffering now and putting up with evil so that others can be saved. How great is that! This gives us a whole new perspective on suffering and evil.

Sometimes that suffering is close and personal and we get to see the direct results as Paul did when he was in prison. In Philippians 1:12-14 Paul said “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guardand to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

That’s one of the reasons why we are to consider suffering as all joy.

In James 1:2 he states “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” We should not count it as joy because it is pleasant but because God is doing something good as a result.

But again God will stop all evil in the future and there will be no more opportunity for anyone to be saved.

Two final thoughts:

1. God will limit your suffering. In1 Corinthians 10:13 Paul said “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
2. The suffering that believers endure now is just for a short time. In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul also said ^“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

And for believers all suffering will be a distant memory. In Revelation 21:4 John said “He (God) 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.”

Even though it seems like the Coronavirus is lasting forever it is still just a short time relative to all of eternity and I’m sure some people are turning to Christ during this time, so as a result it is very much worth it.