Some days you wake up and know that something bad is going to happen.
Other days you wake up and are taken completely by surprised by current events.
September 11, 2001 was one of those days. This second week in July is turning out to be another one.
My oldest child is still in Europe and I hear that bombs exploded in the London Underground. Thankfully she’s not in London today, but she will be next week when she flies home. Another terrorist-styled attack on a train system similar to last year’s horrible Madrid bombings… Not a comforting thing to hear about when your baby is half a world away.
And then I switch on the Weather Channel. Here comes Hurricane Dennis! My aunt and uncle and cousins all live on the Gulf Coast. Shades of Hurricane Ivan—and others—from last year’s record hurricane season. Tarps still cover many roofs from the damage inflicted by 2004’s seemingly endless march of storms. Not good news in the least.
The question that bothers many is “Why does God let bad things happen?”
My answer? I think the question should be rephrased: “Why does God let good things happen?”
We seldom take note when good things happen—sunshine for our company picnic, a miracle recovery for a sick loved one, a flattering book review—but we sure do seem to dwell on things when they go wrong.
“Why another terrorist attack, Lord? What did we do to deserve this?”
“Why another hurricane, God? Haven’t we suffered enough?”
If God allows good things to happen to us—like sunshine, healing and good book reviews—then he must allow the opposite as well.
If God didn’t allow the natural consequences of our sins to happen, essentially we would have no free will. We’d be zombies. Mindless automatons, controlled from above, puppets on strings creatures. So unless we want God to move our finger to scratch our nose, then we have to accept the fact that we have free will, like it or not.
In a way, it’s an honor to have free will. We’re the only part of God’s creation that has it. Animals follow instinct. They can’t make choices or decide between two or more possibilities. Only human beings can do that.
And only human beings sin… And sin is what brought “bad things” into the world to begin with—death, illness, crime, murder, violent weather.
So the answer to “Why does God let bad things happen?” is a simple one. It has to be because God loves us and respects us enough to allow us to make bad decisions.
Thankfully, He also loves us enough to send us his Son, Jesus Christ, to make atonement for our sins. (John 3:16) That’s Good News we can use everyday—even when we wake up to not so nice news reports.
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