Why Do Bad Things Happen If God Is Good?

If God is so good and powerful, why do bad things happen?

As a person in ministry, I get asked some version of this question frequently. To be honest, I’ve pondered it as well. During this time of widespread crises, which has been characterized by so much loss, grief, and confusion on a global scale, it is an understandable concern. And yet I wonder if the question itself lacks balance and insight.

I find that we are often quick to blame God for anything bad that happens, calling His character and kindness into question at the first sign of trouble. But we aren’t always so swift to credit Him with everything good, even the ordinary goodness that underscores our daily lives. While I would never want to minimize the pain and disappointment that life’s messy moments cause us, the reality is that it is because of His abundant goodness, love for us, and mighty power that we experience any type of peace, hope, and calm in our lives at all. We are sin sick, and the world in which we live is saturated with evil. It is only by the power of His restraint that this evil doesn’t break through into our experience every second of each day.

Because He is good.

Think about it like this: if you’ve ever been to the ocean, then you know the overwhelming and awe-inspiring feeling of seeing the vastness of its mighty waves. You know what it’s like to realize that the sea is far deeper, more powerful, and more mysterious than any human will likely ever be able to comprehend. Without the restraint of the land on which we stand, the miles-deep water would surely overtake the entirety of society, consuming and swallowing every-thing in its path.

But Job 38:10-11 reminds us that our mighty Father “locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.” He said,

This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop! — NLT

If God were to remove His hand, endless tsunamis would devastate our land. The only reason the ocean does not completely overtake the earth is because God’s power holds it back.

Day after ordinary day when you did not receive the grim diagnosis, when your loved one did not succumb to death, when betrayal did not poison your relationship, when the accident did not total your possessions, this was by His power alone, holding back the endless waves of evil pressing in on your life.

And when, in His sovereignty, He allows difficulty to seep in, that is not a sign of powerlessness or forgetfulness or lovelessness. It is because, for reasons we may never fully understand on this side of eternity, His glory will be best magnified, His good purposes fully come to pass, and His character in us more completely developed because of that hardship. Either way, He is still God, and we can still trust Him with our whole hearts and lives.

If ever that theory became reality to me, it was during this extended season of difficulty for my family, coupled with the disturbing era of global dysfunction in which we all live now. Have we felt uneasy? Oh, yes. Devastated even. Have we cried? Many, many tears. Did we have to regroup, refocus, and start again? Yes, and in so many ways we still are.

I’m sure there will likely be more tears to wipe away, more anxieties to quell, and more chances to start all over once again. We will wrestle and struggle and ask God questions. Thankfully, God knows our frame and doesn’t mind our questions. He is well acquainted with our weaknesses, having taken on human form.

Jesus knows hurt, He knows our tears, He knows disappointment. And our beautiful Savior empathizes with us.

More than ever before, I am grateful for my godly parents who modeled what it looks like to trust God even when times are hard. While they may have asked God questions, they never questioned His character, even when they did not understand His choices. They kept on praying, resting, and claiming confidence in Him. They believed that, though circumstances may have changed, our God does not.

I believe that too.

Our hope is not rooted in delusion; rather it is a holy optimism stirred by the Holy Spirit within. Suffering and adversity have not changed the nature of God, nor have they canceled out the hope we have in Jesus. Instead, they have cemented my confidence in Him.

The only way a human being can stay steady and hope-filled through life and death is by firmly believing that God is still in charge, that He loves us unflinchingly, and that Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for us.

~ Priscilla Shirer

Excerpted with permission from Divine Disruption by Tony Evans, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Priscilla Shirer, Anthony Evans, and Jonathan Evans, copyright Tony Evans, Chrystal Evans Hurst, Priscilla Shirer, Anthony Evans, and Jonathan Evans.

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Your Turn

Do you believe that God is good? Do you believe that He is powerful? If so, then what do you do when things go horribly wrong? Do you continue to believe that He is good and He is powerful? Jesus knows our hurt and He knows our hearts. He does not mind our questions. Take them to Him! Come share your thoughts with us. We want to hear from you! ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full