If there is a good and loving God out there who knows us and loves us, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? Why doesn’t He do something about it?
We live in an age of what appears to be a never-ending surge of bad news and unprecedented events. I don’t know about you, but I would love to live through some good old “precedented times” again, whatever they were. As we also live in a more connected age than ever before, which definitely has some awesome perks, but also means that we hear about drama more quickly and with greater detail than we would ever need.
With this constant deluge of the worst things happening in our society being poured into our daily lives, it leads to us asking some important questions. A key question is the one I started this article with. While I can’t promise to give a perfectly satisfying answer to everyone wrestling with this, I want to offer you some thoughts that have helped me.
the human condition
Evil in this world is a big and messy problem. It can be easy to point the finger at everyone else for causing issues while forgetting that we aren’t perfect either. While we don’t all commit the same horrible things we see others do, we all have the propensity to do things that perpetuate the problems in our world. This stems from two things:
- Our freedom to choose
- Our broken human condition
Let’s start with our freedom to choose. I believe that all human beings have been given freedom of choice and that it was a deliberate gift from God when we were designed. This seems to be the way Jesus saw humanity too as we can see in the Gospel of John when He says, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own (John 7:16,17).” He invited people to choose for themselves how they wanted to live. But, as Uncle Ben says in Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Freedom of choice gives us great power, but with it comes great responsibility for the choices we make. Small, selfish choices may seem insignificant but when multiplied by a population of roughly eight billion, it can have catastrophic effects. This leads us to our second issue at hand.
We weren’t always like this. We were created to be “very good” and designed to be a blessing to the world around us. If you read through Genesis 1 and 2, the Bible’s story of our origins begins really positively! Then, chapter 3 takes a sharp, sad turn when humanity is deceived and a destructive presence called sin enters the world. Without going down the rabbit hole, I would describe sin as the propensity for us to do bad things—from the smallest act to the biggest atrocity. Not only has sin broken humanity—it has broken the world itself.
why doesn’t God just stop it all?
So, what could God do about this? How could He get rid of evil without taking away our freedom of choice? If He did, it would be problematic because it would turn us into mindless drones—beings who can’t choose and are just pre-programmed. To do so would break our freedom of choice, which God would never do. No good.
The other option was for God to just eradicate all those who sin—but that would be even more problematic. Brilliant biblical author Paul even wrote in his letter to a church in Rome that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). So, that would mean none of us meet God’s requirements. That doesn’t really sound like good news either.
God’s solution
But God has a solution. First, he sent Jesus to die for us so that we can all have the opportunity to be saved if we choose to accept it. There is so much more I could say on this—and perhaps in another article I will—but right now, we’re going to focus on God’s promise: that one day He will return and take care of the problem of evil once and for all.
After Jesus’ death, He was resurrected by the power of God and then returned to heaven. He has promised to come back again and when He does, it will be huge—something that no-one can ignore. In this second coming, God promises that all those who have accepted His free gift of life will be saved and the earth will be cleansed of sin forever. The good news is, all of us who don’t hit the mark get to be saved—not because we’ll suddenly become “good enough”, but because we’ve accepted what Jesus has done. Wow.
In a picture of what this end will look like, the book of Revelation describes it like this: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). That’s a day I’m looking forward to.
hope in the meantime
So, what about all the evil happening now? Jesus has something intriguing to say about it. In Matthew 24, He is having a deep conversation with His followers about the end of time. He tells them that they (and us) will see things like wars, nation rising against nation, famines and earthquakes. He describes these things as the “beginning of birth pains”. While I’m not an expert on the subject, I know that the beginning of birth pains—as well as birth itself—can take longer than we think. And these things are signs that the end of the world is on its way. Now we know that the end the Bible talks about is not a bad end, but a good one—a truly happy ending with no more of the bad stuff.
When we see all the pain in the world around us, my desire is to step into it with compassion for those suffering; a yearning to serve, to do what I can to help those around me but ultimately hope that one day there will be justice for all; that all we see on this earth is just temporary. I don’t say that to belittle those suffering but to encourage you to lift your eyes to the promised good to come and remind you that there is a God who cares and will do something about it. I don’t exactly know when God will do this, and I don’t need to. I trust His timing and I trust His promise because He has never broken one yet.
So, to return to my original question: if there is a good and loving God out there who knows us and loves us, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? Why doesn’t He do something about it?
The answer is that He has done something about it on the cross and He will end all pain and suffering one day. Step forward today in hope.
