A post by my friend Midnight. Posted on January 14, 2010.
Basically, I want to have a discussion about why God allows terrible things like murder, sickness, and death. This is not because I am personally struggling with this question right now, but because I want to be able to express myself when dealing with it.
I just started leading this Middle School small group Wednesday nights. We’re doing the Gospel Journey Maui Edition with Greg Stier and one of the girls in my group was asking about that. I understand in my head that everything terrible in this world is a result of sin and was not a part of God’s perfect plan. I understand that God is all-powerful and for reasons we can never fully understand will noticeably intervene in some situations and not in others. I understand that He works in ways that we never realize, that He is a God of love, mercy, justice, and forgiveness.
I really didn’t know what to say when she asked about that, so I said that I didn’t know and she could ask Jen. Later at the end of the night I told her that she may like to think about Jeremiah 29:11 that says God’s plan for us is a good one, and that I don’t know why he allows these things, but that He works things out for good of those who love Him.
It’s so hard to focus your thoughts in a brief moment, which is why I’d like to talk about this question with you guys. And I’d love particularly to find Bible verses relating to this discussion.
One of the various replies was by Stephanie Hatem.
Something that I thought of recently and am trying to figure out: why is it that God causes some people to suffer so much more than others? I understand why we suffer, and I understand that often Christians are tried because Satan has a memo on his desk to destroy us and make us stop loving God, and those who are active are doing something so he’ll go after them, not those who are just sitting around doing nothing. But for instance, ou could take two people who are just as devout Christians as the other and do just as much work for God and are just as close (hypothetical situation here, so bear with me), yet He’ll immensely bless one and the other will go through all kinds of troubles. Why is this?
Where I left the topic was in reply to this post above me.
God doesn’t cause people to suffer, he allows them to be tested. He will bless both, but He tests one in ways that will refine them, and make them stronger. As they grow closer to Him, they can look back, and understand why it was allowed, or at least that it had the purpose of helping them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y8zP34AhuU
He knows it will hurt, and yet, He allows it to happen. Why? Look at Job. That man went through Hell on Earth, and he refused to curse God, understanding that he was being tried. Job had no understanding of why this all came about, but went through it, clinging to God.
If we learned to cling closer to Him, perhaps we would be better off going through our troubles.
Perhaps we should understand that sitting back, and saying “whatever you want, God, just direct me.” Is a cop out, and a form of giving up. I believe that we should run towards what God *might* have us do, and tell Him to shut the doors if He doesn’t want us there. If we are going to do His will, we have to be ready and willing. The Refiner’s Fire hurts, but we come out of it made new.
For those of you whom have followed the Crossroads, since last March, you might recognize this post I’m placing here.
So I noticed something on a friends blog, that I would LOVE to delve into, and see what we can find.
“God closes one door and opens another…” to quote my friend, “It says nothing about God locking the doors…”
My question is, to my readers, Does God shut them only to keep you out?
What if He is shutting them only temporarily, and wants to see what you will do? Perhaps He is shutting the doors, but leaving the way open. Maybe He wants you to do something hard, to bring Him the glory, that He wouldn’t get otherwise, by leaving the door itself open. Whatever the answer, are you willing to test the doors He shut? Maybe, just maybe, He wants you to go that way anyways. When you are at the Mountain Top, instead of the valley, what did you see? You saw your goal, your destination. If God shuts the door on your path, check it, you may be surprised.
In moving forward from here, Why does God allow ______? My answer an others I have seen give little explanation. I think my friend Ian Williams answered it best, but I shall try to do better than my friends at Graveyard Parade.
God allows us our Free Will. He had the Foresight to see where it would leave us, and gave it to us anyway. God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Holy. In this post we shall look at all three, as well as Predestination and Free Will.
God is Omnipotent. The definition of Omnipotent is All Powerful. God has all power, without His divine grace we would not be here. After all, what reason should He let us live for? We’ve continuously disobeyed Him. For the love of ourselves, and our desire to not answer to the Authority of God, we murdered His son, Yeshua. WE FREAKIN MURDERED THE SON OF GOD! And yet, all of mankind walks the earth today. Why? Because He is merciful. We killed Yeshua and God let us live. God sat on His hands and let this happen. Was this fair? No. Not only no, but hell no. It wasn’t fair at all to Jesus. He has all the authority to judge us, He has all the power to take or give life. He has the power that conquers death. Why do we yet live?
God is Omniscient. the Definition of Omniscient is All knowing. Note I don’t say that He knows everything. He knows All, but not Everything. Because He knows all, He knew Jesus would die on the cross before He even spoke the words that created us. He has always existed. He lives outside of Space, and Time. He knows the Storms you’re going through, He knows what you will do during the Storms of life. Thusly,being Omnipotent, He is allowing it to happen. So much evil is in the world, because we are fallen man, not because God created it.
God is Omnipresent. The definition of Omnipresent is Every Where at Once. Back to the Space/Time conundrum. He exists outside of Space an Time, therefore, being Omnipotent, it stands to reason that He can be everywhere at once as well. It has always been thus, since there has never been a city, a state, a country, or even a miniscule partical of any substance that has escaped His notice.
God is Holy. The Definition of Holy is Perfect. Now, note I did not say incapable of Sin. Perfect doesn’t mean incapable of Sin. To say God is incapable of sin, is to contradict the very definition of Omnipotent.
All Powerful. Capable of All.
Perfect. Being without Sin.
Before you even think of Arguing with me, I want to take a side note. If you cannot sin, you cannot be tempted. Jesus is the Word of God, the Son of God, and also, God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Luke 4:12
Some people would claim it is Either Predestination, or Free Will. Let us define the two of these right now.
Predestination: What Will Happen. (Not who does it.)
Free Will: The ability to make decisions, including the ones that go against God’s Will.
If Predestination determined Who does What, as opposed to what happens, then we would never be able to go outside of God’s Will because God’s Will is that we ALL GO TO HIM. No one would go to Hell based on this verse:
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. If predestination determines who does what, then this verse is saying All will come to God. In a twisted sort of way, we all will go to Him in the end anyway, for the White Throne Judgement. That’s not the point though.
God allows us to go against His will. He won’t drop us. He will allow us to be stupid and walk off a cliff if we so desire, but He won’t drop us.
Bad things happen because of us. Good endures because of Him. ~Ian Williams
The end result? No, I can’t say it better than those from Graveyard Parade. I can go in depth and give you as many details as I have, but it can easily be simplified into what Ian had to say. I have no doubt in my mind that Ian could have written a longer post than I on this topic, but you know what? He didn’t have to. He got it in 2 sentences. Surprising, isn’t it? Please, Share your thoughts with me.
He is still in control, He reigns. He is merciful, and He is gracious. He is Longsuffering. May we all learn from what He has revealed to us. He see’s the big picture, but He doesn’t owe US an explanation. All the bad times in our lives, well, think of it as a small payment for murdering Him. We are forgiven, He loves us. He wants us to cling to Him. When we are going through the storms, we only go through them alone if we choose to. When we cling to Him, He carries us through. To quote Austin Pruitt, may he rest in God’s arms forever more, “Don’t tell God how big your storms are… Tell your storms how big your God is!”
~Paul
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