Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Verse of the Week:

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

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Why do bad things happen?  Living in this fallen world, it is so hard to see people go through pain and suffering.  Disease, death, famines, broken homes, broken relationships, accidents, deception, hate, rejection, shootings, and massacres seem to be evident everywhere. Why does a loving God allow this?  Because people do not understand God's reasons behind tragedies, they grow hateful and resentful towards our Creator thinking that He is not the loving God they think He is.  They want nothing to do with a God who allows bad things to happen.

God allows evil because since the beginning of time, through Adam and Eve, we chose a life of sin over God. When Eve decided to disobey God, sin came into the world. Where sin is present, a place will always be broken.  Therefore, God allows evil to endure in this world. However, people tend to think that He is the one that causes the evil, but we are the ones that brought evil upon ourselves.  In fact, God in his great love and mercy created a way to defeat sin: through his son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus bore our sins upon the cross so that we could be made new inside and receive healing for our broken messed up hearts.

It is human nature to want to be free.  We spend our lives pursuing freedom.  Wars have been fought for freedom.  I have never heard of a person saying that they want to be locked up in a cage for the rest of their lives.  A person rarely likes to be told what to do and then beaten into submission.  We cherish freedom.  Therefore, God gave us a free choice: to choose to follow Him, or choose to reject Him and live a life of sin.  He really is a loving God because he gives us the freedom to choose.  He doesn't beat us into submission.

Therefore evil dwells in the world because of our own choices.  However God still will use evil in this world for good because He is sovereign.

Growing up, I clung to Romans 8:28 during hard times: "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."  I didn't understand why hard times came upon me, but I knew it was for my own good.  You see, we can't see the whole picture, but God can, and everything is going according to His plan, both good and bad.  Yes, God allows bad things to happen, but He has a reason behind everything, even if we cannot see it.

In the story, The Proposal,  I read about a man name Jennings who was struggling with why a God would allow bad things to happen.  His friend, Palmer, responded to his question by using Jennings' daughter, Penny, as an example: 

"Let me ask you something Jennings. If you were God, and you could see that Penny was walking along a path that would take her directly past a poisonous snake, might you put a hole in her path to stop her?"

"I might."

But then she might break her little ankle.  The snake would hear the commotion and slither away without Penny  ever knowing he was there, but you would have saved her from a  worse fate."

Jennings stared at Palmer.

"Would you want Penny angry with you forever over something you couldn't explain but you knew to be for her best?"

This is a very simple example, but it illustrates my point.  All things do work together for good, but it is hard to know that when we cannot see the whole picture.  God can. 

God uses troubles for many reasons: to mold and shape us, to protect us from something bigger, to make us depend on Him, to show us His grace and mercy, to bring about things for His glory, etc.  Oftentimes we may never know the reason, but there is one.  All we can do is trust in Him and know that it all works together for good for those who love Him.  

Instead of blaming God for your troubles, keep loving and trusting God during your troubles!  He is the best person to have by your side during the tough times AND.... He has your best interests in mind!