It’s a question asked by any thoughtful person.

“How can we be expected to believe in a good,

almighty God, when we live surrounded by such decay and ugliness?”

On a large scale, as I write, Europe struggles with the misery of hundreds of thousands of
destitute refugees from civil strife and “Islamic State” atrocities in Syria. On a small scale, a
young former student of mine dies suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving a husband and two young
children, the day before one son’s birthday and four weeks before Christmas. And we are
expected to believe that there is a good God in control?

When thinking about how to answer a non-Christian friend who asks a question like this, it’s
helpful to consider two things.

1. What do they believe about the world?

Your answer will depend on what they believe or think about the world. Is there a God? If so,
what is God like? Is God really in control? In history, there have been perhaps six main ways of
“answering” these questions (and none of them is the Bible’s answer!).

 Blind fate: Che sera sera; what will be will be. There is no personal higher power. There is just
blind fate. “That’s just how it had to be.” Stuff happens. Get used to it!
 Nature is all there is: We can detect causes and consequences. And that’s all. Don’t imagine
some hidden world. Get on with science and technology; try to understand, try to control what
we can understand.
 God within nature: Perhaps there is something beyond – a world spirit inside the universe in
some way, a spirit moving along within time.
 God the referee: God is like a referee or umpire. The game is a bit chaotic at times. But every
now and then God blows the whistle, intervenes with a prophecy or a miracle. We just need more
interventions.
 Two gods, or even lots of gods: There are many invisible supernatural powers at work in the
universe – call them spirits, demons, gods and goddesses if you will. Perhaps trees, mountains,
and rivers have spirits associated with them.
 God the puppet-master: Suppose that there is just one real and sovereign God, who rules the
whole universe directly by his almighty power. He pulls all the strings, and our decisions are not
really decisions at all.

2. Is this an armchair or a wheelchair question?

Our response to the question “If God is in control, why does he allow suffering?” will also
depend on whether or not they are in the midst of suffering. Some ask this question from the
safety of a late-night student discussion or TV chat show; for them it is an “armchair question”.
Others ask from agonised perplexity; for them it is a “wheelchair question”. Our response will
vary accordingly.

With all that in mind, here are three suggestions for how you might answer your friend’s
question.
 Question them about what they think. Particularly if this is an “armchair question”, help your
friend to see that their ideas don’t hold up under pressure. In particular, push them about evil.
Where does evil come from? How come human beings are capable of such goodness and such
wickedness? What about the paradox of when good comes out of something evil (such as the
story of Joseph and his brothers)? How does this happen? Unsettle their certainties, which may
be quite shallow. For when they are unsettled, the ground of their hearts may be ready to listen to
the Bible’s teaching.
 Probe the longings they almost certainly have for a perfect world. Why do they long for a world
of justice? Help them see that justice will never come until the human heart is changed, and that
only Jesus can change our hearts.
 When they are grappling with suffering – perhaps some terrible personal suffering – take them
often to the cross of Jesus. Rather than trying to solve the problem of suffering for them, talk to
them about your own experience of walking through this life in fellowship with Jesus, who
suffered.

So what exactly does the Bible teach?

That’s not easy to summarise in such a short space! It’s explained a little more fully, I hope, in
my book Where Was God When That Happened? (The Good Book Company, 2017). But I guess
that eventually I’d want to say something along these lines to my friend:

Jesus makes known the God who is sovereign Maker of everything, who is good, who is all-
powerful, and who is Father, who governs all things and weaves together even evil dark things
into his good purposes. He deliberately chose that Jesus of Nazareth should be falsely accused,
mocked, stripped, and executed, by wicked people with evil motives, in order to achieve the
biggest and best good thing human history has ever seen. Jesus teaches his followers to pray,
“May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. God’s will is done on earth in one way now,
with all the puzzles that brings; one day it will be done in a different way, a wonderfully perfect
way.

Suffering
If God is good why is there so much suffering and evil in the world?
- Anonymous
While the Bible gives no precise or detailed answer to this question, it does
speak a lot about suffering, it can help people deal with their suffering, and it
does give us a number of principles to help us with the ‘problem of suffering’.

The Bible tells us that God created a perfect universe where we could enjoy
perfect relationships (with God and with each other) in a perfect environment
(disease and disaster free).
Suffering and pain are the result of our rebellion against our creator. It is easy to
trace the link between some suffering and acts of human selfishness (eg. terrorist
acts, drink-driving). But some suffering is not the direct result of any specific
selfish action (eg. injury in a freak storm). It exists because we live in a ‘fallen’
world. (i.e. a world that has turned it’s back on God).

Sometimes God allows suffering to alert rebellious and self reliant people to the
need to turn back to him and rely on him.

God has suffered. If anyone knows about suffering, it is God. He has

experienced the pain of our rejection of him. Jesus has suffered, by dying on the
cross in our place so that we could be forgiven. (We have no conception of the
suffering Jesus went through in doing this.) God hates suffering and the pain it
brings to the creation he loves.

He has promised that he will wipe away all suffering, and every trace of evil when
he re-creates the universe. In this new creation those who have turned back to
God and trusted in Jesus will enjoy perfect relationships in a perfect world.

God is purposefully delaying that time so that men and women have the
opportunity to turn back to him and receive his forgiveness through Jesus’ death
and resurrection. God is displaying his patience and love in delaying that great
moment because he does not want anyone to experience the suffering of being
separated from his love for ever.

Why does God not seem to care about the millions of starving children
in the world?

Question: "Why does God not seem to care about the millions of starving children in the
world?"

Answer: Some people blame God for the number of starving children in the world, accusing
Him of lacking the power or the care He should have. It is true that hunger is a problem for
many in our world, and many children suffer from malnutrition. Compassion International
reports that over 3 million children die annually from malnourishment. In developing
countries, 25 percent of children are underweight and at risk of suffering the long-term
effects of being under-nourished. The problem is real, but the Bible teaches that God’s love is
just as real.

For every question that we might have about God, He has provided insight, clues, and answers
already in His Word, the Bible. Jesus taught that children are important to God: “Whoever
receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones
who believe in me to sin, it would be better off for him to have a great millstone fastened
around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6, ESV). Then, in
verse 10, Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that
in heaven their angels see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” The fact is God cares.

Relief organizations and government agencies agree that there is plenty of food in the world
to feed everyone. The problem is not a lack of food but a lack of accessibility to the food.
With enough food in the world to feed the entire population, the fault does not lie with God.
Rather, the fault lies with the corrupt nature of man. Instead of acting as trustworthy
stewards of the world’s resources, nations and individuals often hoard food, mismanage
resources, and squander money instead of seeing that people are fed.

God is not responsible for the foolishness of man. Neither is He responsible for greed,
selfishness, hatred, pride, laziness, hoarding, cruelty, spite, callousness, or any other sin that
contributes to world hunger. There is no unrighteousness in God (Psalm 92:15). All people are
sinners (Romans 3:23), and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The tragedies of the
world—especially preventable tragedies such as world hunger—are the result of sin
(see Romans 8:22).

God cares for the children of the world. He proves His care in that He sent His Son into the
world to redeem us from the curse of sin. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent
his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9).

God also shows His care in that He prompts the followers of Christ to help alleviate world
hunger. God is currently working to feed the hungry children of the world through many
Christian agencies—Compassion International, World Vision, World Help, Feed the
Hungry, Samaritan’s Purse—the list could go on and on. Christian missionaries are all over the
world helping people with their basic needs while teaching them God’s Word. They do this
out of love for their Lord and love for people. They do this because they “are God's
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

God is good, all the time. But it is often discouraging to see such evil and suffering in the
world. We know that evil exists not because of God, but because of Satan, sin, and the fallen
condition of mankind. We do not give up hope. We “resist in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13,
NASB). We love our neighbors as ourselves, for the sake of Him who “so loved the world that
he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). One day, our Lord will make all things right, and
“no longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3).