The world seems to be getting more and more chaotic. Yet, in many ways, since mankind invited sin into the world we were to steward, evil has caused great heartache. Ancient religions would throw babies into furnaces to worship their false gods. The empires of old were extremely violent and innocent death was common. The middle ages are marked by horrible death. See, the world has been in turmoil since Adam and Eve. So, to put things into perspective, the world has been broken for a long time, it’s just that we are highly aware and tuned into tragedy today, which can be scary and exhausting.
Yet still, the questions of “why” naturally flow to God’s people during difficult times. Many ask how could an all-powerful God who claims to be loving allow for such horrible tragedy and heartache? That’s a heavy question…and as Christians, we might feel a certain obligation to answer such a question. Is there an answer? Is there a biblical way to approach such a challenge to our theology? Well, please allow me to give just a few pointers as you might attempt to answer questions from your friends or family.
First, be careful to not take Scripture out of context or try to answer for God. To put it quite bluntly, answering for God is not your job. We are called to give an answer for our faith, not God’s sovereignty. We need to be careful not to over explain or attempt to fill in gaps that we might perceive in Scripture, for to do so, puts us at risk of taking God’s name in vain. To assume or imply God’s judgment in a situation, is to speak for God without revelation and that is extremely dangerous and quite frankly, wrong. So what do we know?
We know that death, murder, and destruction is evil. We know that God is not the author of evil (I Cor 14:33, James 1:13). We know that evil originates from fallen creatures and is not an entity in itself, but is rather the lack of good or righteousness (Genesis, Romans 5:12). The Bible tells us that when evil happens to people, it is not a direct judgment on the individual, unless God has clearly revealed it as such (Job, John 9, etc). Tragedy is a horrible result of existing in a broken creation. God is NOT to blame for that, for He created things very good (Genesis 1). We do know that at times, God chooses to intervene and stop evil, and at times He chooses to allow evil to take its course. And quite frankly, we don’t know why in our finite minds. However, He does promise to be present when we cry out to Him. He promises that His grace is sufficient to those who would call on His name. He gives us hope that one day He will right all wrongs (Galatians 4, Revelation 21).
God does promise that the trials and tragedies of this earth will pale in comparison to our eternal reward if we believe in the completed work of Jesus Christ and cling to the grace that provides us a way of salvation. So where is God in the midst of tragedy? He’s right next to you, waiting with open arms to provide a hope that gives us a win whether we continue on earth or go home to heaven. Paul said that to “live is Christ and to die is gain.” That is our message, dear Christian, that the gospel of Jesus Christ awaits all who would turn to Him. Our job is not to postulate “WHY”…rather to proclaim “HOW” our broken world can one day be redeemed!
