I rarely watch the news anymore, but was sickened yesterday to see video footage of a mile wide tornado hitting Oklahoma City, (I was just out there a couple of weeks ago participating in a prison ministry.) It took its deadly toll on Moore OK, and other areas all over Oklahoma. The funnel cloud looked totally evil as it roared along with 200 mile an hour winds of unmitigated fury leaving massive destruction in its wake.
The smoke has cleared this morning and the devastation is nauseating. Apparently 51 people were killed and sadly 20 of them were children. The massive tornado scored a direct hit on a school and it is feared that they could see at least 40 more fatalities as rescuers race to find survivors. So much grief . . . so much sadness . . .
Sigh . . .
So why would a loving God allow such bad things to happen to those whom He obviously loves? I say “obviously loves”, because when we take into consideration that He gave His only Son up to allow horrible things, (including His death), to happen to Him on a cross in order that we might find eternal life, He can be described in no other terms. He loves us with incomprehensible love.
I’ve thought about this question often and have researched the Bible from one end to the other and I’ve come to the realization that there is no satisfactory answer and that it is hidden from us and will remain one of those mysteries of life that will not be fully explained until we die or Jesus returns and takes us out of this wicked world.
I do however blame satan and not God. We lived in peace in the Garden of Eden and then along came the serpent. He tempted Eve and she succumbed to it and then Adam followed her lead and we got the boot. There were no tornados in the Garden of Eden, nor was there any death, crime, sickness, drugs, alcohol abuse, violence, or tears; life was perfect until sin came into our lives.
It was SIN that caused all of that grief and heartache; not God. But you say, “Well God is all powerful; He could stop it; why would He allow it?”
Hmmm . . . Good question – This reminds me of a philosophy test at a famous ivy league University. After sitting through a grueling semester of listening to theories of the world’s most renowned philosophers the class was tested. The exam would determine their final grade and the professor was known to be one of the toughest at the University.
The day of the test the professor strode into the classroom and wrote one question on the whiteboard, “WHY?”
He looked at the fearful class with steely blue eyes and curtly said, “This is your exam and it comprises exactly 100% of your grade”. Then he sardonically added with a smirk, “Good luck”.
The class gasped and began madly writing. Amazingly one student scribbled something on his paper, got up, casually threw it on the professor’s desk, and strode out of the classroom with a smirk of his own on his face. Everyone thought the pressure had gotten to him and it was just too much for him. He’d given up without even a fight and had merely signed his name and left.
At the end of the hour most of the students were still finishing up and the professor called time and told them their grades would be posted mid-week.
When the grades were finally posted, the students gathered around in the hallway to see how they’d done. To their surprise the only “A” that was awarded was to the student who got up and left right after the professor had written his question on the board. The students asked him what he’d written, and he smiled and replied, “He asked, ‘Why?’ And I answered, ‘BECAUSE?’.
Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
Because . . .
It just isn’t explained in any detail in the Bible. Whenever I see a situation like that in my Bible study, I assume that it is too complex for me to understand and it is one of those mysterious questions that I just have to accept on faith.
I know God loves me or He wouldn’t have gone to the cross for me. God cannot lie. He did warn Adam and Eve that on the day they sinned, they would surely die and true to His word they, (and we – their descendants) surely did and do. Yes God is all powerful and He can do anything, but He refuses to prevent tragedies including even the horrific death of His own Son. We don’t know why.
It grieves Him to see us suffer, but we must take solace in knowing that it is only for a season until we will join Him in paradise where all sin and temptation will be non-existent forever.
We are left to look to that day and in the meantime I suppose we must enjoy those pain free moments and when the dark winds blow we must hunker down, occasionally grieve, and draw close to the only good thing in this Universe, our Lord and Savior. If you suffer today – draw close to Him my friends – It is our only option . . .
Psalm 34:19
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;
Psalm 9:9
The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Psalm 16:11
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 42:5
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.