"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." - Psalm 107:1
It seems that for the last few years, everything and everyone around us displays hate towards one person or another. Hate towards someone's race, religion, political affiliation, a mother's decision to breastfeed or not, being too thick or too thin ... just hate, plain and simple. We've witnessed mass shootings in schools, community events, and sadly, places of worship. We've dealt with natural disasters and tried our best to rebuild only to be knocked down again. I've heard people question how the world got to be so bad and how a God that millions of people worship would allow such devastation to inflict pain on so many innocent people.
The question, "if your God is so good, why does He let bad things happen to good people?" has been asked for hundreds of years and likely will be a question that people will continue to ask despite receiving a 'good-enough' answer.
When people ask me this question, I always respond with - my God is and always has been good. Of course this makes non-believers think, of course you'd say that ... but, why? And my answer is this:
God's creation was made perfect ["God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day." - Genesis 1:31]. No sin. No pain. No famine. No disease. No shame or regret. No infidelity. Absolutely perfect. However, two people (that mind you were made in God's perfect and good image) came along and created sin by disobeying God. You see, Adam and Eve created sin. They flawed God's perfect plan when they both made the conscious decision to take a bite of that apple from the forbidden tree. From that point on, God's perfect creation was flawed. Even though the world is still good because God made it, it is now infected with the sin that Adam and Eve created from their disobedience. What we see is no longer the perfect reflection of God and who He is ...
Natural disasters
Famine
Infidelity
Cancer
Sickness
Divorce
Disease
Murder
Abuse
None of these were a part of God's perfect plan; the first sin made all of these things.
Even though sin came into the world and corrupted the goodness of God's plan, make note of this .... IT DID NOT RUIN GOD'S GOODNESS. Read that again. Sin corrupted the world, not our God. Our God is still, has always been, and always will be good.
Until God returns and redeems us from these sins that have been created and have corrupted each of our lives, we must live in this in-between with broken hearts every time devastation and tragedy occurs.
While we wait, we must always remember who God is and his unchanging ability to be good even when the earthly world isn't. God will always be good. His plans for our lives will always be good. His grace is good and sufficient. He forgives always and in that, He is good. He restores the worst and makes them well.
That is why my answer to "if your God is so good, why does He let bad things happen to good people" will always be, "my God is and always has been good ... even when the world and I haven't been." We, as earthly humans, will never fully make the world good again but we can continue to spread God's love and goodness with one another. Go out and spread the word of God's goodness for you and your life no matter how bad your life situations become.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." - Romans 8:28
