Often times, you will hear a skeptic or atheist scoff, and even questioning Christians say, “If God is so good and loving, why does He let bad things happen to good people?” This is a very valid and valuable question. Why does God let bad things happen if He controls everything?
You will often hear Christians say, “If you are experiencing hardships, it’s God’s will that you are going through them,” or they will say that you have sinned somewhere and God is punishing you for it. Though both of these could be the case for a few people, they are certainly not the only answers to the question.
I, too, have pondered the answer to this question. I don’t claim to know the whole knowledge and will of God. I am learning just like everyone else. In my study, I have come across a few people who have talked about this subject, and here are the reasons I have found that can answer the question of why God lets bad things happen to good people.
God is not an all-controlling God
Before you go down to the comments section and start throwing stones at me and calling me a heretic, let me explain the above statement. I ask you to suspend all religious beliefs for a moment. If you cannot accept this, the only thing that I ask is you allow for the possibility for this to be true.
What do I mean that God is not all-controlling? Where do I get that from? I get this from the parable of the talents.
To refresh your memory, in this parable, there was a certain man who had 3 servants. To each servant, he gave a certain number of talents to steward, or take care of – 5 to the first, 2 to the second, and 1 to the third. Then, he left with the command for them to take care of the money he had left in their care. When he got back, he found that the first 2 servants had doubled their money, and the third had buried his. The first two he promoted, and the third he cast down, giving his talent to the first servant.
Though there are numerous points I could make about this parable, the only one I want to touch on is this: the master did not micromanage his servants. In the parable, the master is an obvious reference to God. Thus, God does not micromanage His creation. He lets man, who He set as the crown of Creation, to tend and watch over it, to which man will give an account of.
The counter to this argument could be found in Ephesians 1:11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will [emphasis added].”
“See? It says here that all things work according to the counsel of His will.” Hold on just a minute. Slow down. Was it the master’s will that the servant buried his talent?
According to the 1828 Webster’s dictionary, “according to” is just one of the definitions of the word “after.” It could also mean “in pursuit of,” “in imitation of,” or “according to the direction and influence of.” Thus, this portion could just as likely mean that God “worketh all things in pursuit of the counsel of his own will.” It is this definition that supports the above parable. It says that God works everything in such a way that it advances His plan. That does not mean that He controls everything. It means that He directs those who seek Him in such a way that it advances His will for the world.
This may or may not be the intended writing of the text, but it does show that there is more than one singular interpretation of the passage. This is my interpretation of it.
A verse that backs up this interpretation of this verse is Romans 8:28, “For all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Notice that not all things that work are good. They work together for good. Did you know that the individual ingredients for biscuits taste lousy? Yet they work together to make something that tastes good.
What other considerations are there suggesting that God does not control everything? In order to fully disclose this entire conversation, we have to discuss the will of God.
Is God’s Will Being Done on Earth?
In the Lord’s Prayer, there is a line that says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If we’re asking God for His will do be done on earth, then how can His will already be done on earth?
Below is an excerpt from a blog titled “Irrefutable proof that God is not in Control” (link at the end of this blog) that I thought explain the topic well:
“You see if God was in control of everything then His will would always be done. This seems pretty obvious, the problem is that there are plenty of people out there who will argue that it is always done. They’ll say, “well it’s clear to me it’s not God’s will for everyone to be healed because not everyone gets healed.” Or maybe even more disturbing, they might say – “it’s clear to me that God creates some predestined to go to Hell and some to Heaven because not everyone gets saved.”
“This view of “if it doesn’t happen then it’s not God’s will” or “if it does happen it is God’s will” is really scary though. Why? Because it creates a will of God that [is] tethered to our experiences and not the Bible and the words of Jesus! [emphasis added]”
He goes on here:
“Is there anywhere in the Bible we see God wanting people to sin? Of course not – God wants us to be holy. Goodness, if we were to pick out core themes that run through the Bible one of them would surely have to be God’s desire to see people living free from sin and all the bondage that sin puts upon their lives. That’s why Jesus came! To take away the sins of the world. It would take a lot of exegetical gymnastics to preach that it is God’s will that people sin.
“And yet what is the reality?
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! Not only that, but even now we have been set free from sin in Christ, we still mess up! So is it God’s will that we go on sinning? Or is it possible that God isn’t in “control”?
“I am not in any way saying anything to diminish God’s supremacy or position as the ultimate power in this universe (and any other universes there may be). I’m simply saying He doesn’t need to be in control.
“God is sovereign, yes but that doesn’t mean He’s in control… When in the Hebrew the word is sovereign it doesn’t mean “in control.” It means “in charge”. This is an important distinction! Sovereign in the dictionary means to “possess supreme or ultimate power.” It doesn’t not necessarily mean that it’s being used in every situation in the world to control everything…
“Take for example a CEO of a company. While he is in charge and responsible for a large amount of employees he ultimately isn’t in control of their actions. In fact, recognizing this is typically what makes or breaks a good employer. If they recognize this they will empower their employees, if they don’t they will try to control them by micromanaging every move they make.
“Just like the employer, God is in charge. His sovereignty means He is over everything, answers to nobody and has responsibility for everything. From the beginning God chose us, His “employees”, those He would delegate responsibility to and put in control of the Earth.”
I won’t quote the whole thing, so you guys can read the rest for yourself, again link at the end of the blog. It’s well worth the read.
God’s will is not the only one being imposed on the world
God’s good pleasure is not the only driving mechanism in the universe. Satan, the fallen angel Lucifer, is also trying to impose his will on humanity and is trying to disrupt God’s will.
If a child is sacrificed by witches or Luciferians, is it God’s will that it happened? Only one who is strongly diluted would say that it is. The Bible is very clear in that it says, “God is not willing that any should perish,” either spiritually or physically. No one is closer to the heart of God than children who are subject to Satanic ritual abuse and mind control.
Satan does have his plan for the destruction of humanity. This is being carried out right in the open, yet not many people are seeing it because they are convinced that it could never happen, or that such forces do not exist at all. It’s an extremely cleaver plan – convince your enemy that you do not exist, then you can do whatever you want.
How open is it? I do not intend to cover this here in full, so I do encourage you to research the truth of these matters for yourself. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga both have dark occult themes to many of their music. Many of the singers from the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s drew much of their inspiration from dark occultist Aleister Crowley, who is said to be the real father of the New Age movement. His phrase “Do what thou wilt,” or any variation of it, can be found in many songs from that period. Both the JFK assassination and 9-11 attack were satanic rituals. Dealey Plaza was arranged like the Kabbalah tree from Jewish mysticism, with main street the center. The dates of both events are highly occult (11-22 and 9-11). I go over some of the numbers in “Occult Numerology of 9-11,” and there are a number of good videos on YouTube about the JFK assassination’s occult aspects. In fact, for more information about the occult, you can check out the playlist called “Exposing the Occult” on my YouTube channel.
Do you want to know Satan’s will? Read Isaiah 14:13-14.
What about in our daily lives? Doesn’t the Bible say that our steps were ordered from the foundation of the world? Yes, the Bible does say that. But, we have the choice to walk that path. Also, the Devil will come to disrupt God’s plan. When you were born, God had His plan for you, and Satan had his. Satan drags obstacles, digs ditches, and attacks you in order to distract you and hope that you will abandon God’s path. Sometimes, God has you navigate the Valley of the Shadow of Death, as He did me, and sometimes, He provides a way over.
Though Satan’s will is influencing the world, it is not the only will other than God’s that is influencing the course of humanity.
Free will
When God created man, He gave him a free will, or as some have called it a “free won’t.” This gives us the ability to choose between right and wrong. The reason I believe that He waited until Moses to give His law is because Adam and Eve may have been created intrinsically knowing the will and laws of God.
Yet, Satan came and tempted Eve, the weaker vessel. The Bible never says that Adam was the one who was deceived into eating the fruit. Adam knew full well what he was doing. When he saw that Eve ate of the fruit, he knew that God would have to kill her. In eating the fruit, he was saying to God, “What you do to her, you now have to do to me.”
God did not want this to happen. He wanted to forever be in close fellowship with man. He knew that they would eat of the fruit. God knows the end from the beginning, yet there is still a choice of which path to choose. How can this be?
There are many multiple possible futures. Each choice we make leads to a different set of choices, and therefore a new set of possible futures. God gave us free will so that we would choose the right path or have the possibility to learn from the mistakes of the wrong one. He knows which one we will choose, though He always leaves us with that choice.
God could have created us as autonomous beings that would be automatically obedient to Him, just like a robot. However, where is the meaning behind the love if the robot is programmed to love? The reason why I believe God created man with free will is so that we could have a deeper relationship with Him than if we were not created with it.
Free will also leaves God unaccountable for our actions. If God gave us the inability to succeed because He knew we couldn’t handle it in the first place, that would make Him responsible for us not succeeding.
Here’s an illustration. Let’s say you decide you want to host an event of some kind. You decide to invite all of your friends and family except a few people because you don’t think they would want to come. After the party, they hear what a great one it was, and could legitimately be angry at you for not inviting them. It would be your fault that they did not come. However, if you did invite them to come, and they did not want to, then it would be their fault, and the only person they had to blame for missing out would be themselves. It’s the same way with free will. If God sent us to hell because He knew that it would happen anyway, it would be His fault when we do not follow His laws. But, with free will, the right to choose is ours.
Let’s consider a few scenarios that can fall under the category of free will. Note: I am not condemning anyone that may be in any of these situations. I am simply drawing a few examples to help illustrate my point
If someone close to you gets hit by a drunk driver and dies, did your friend deserve to have that happen? Was that God’s will? No, it was not because the drunk driver made the choice to drive while intoxicated. Sometimes, we can suffer at the hands of other people’s mistakes.
Let’s consider the drunk driver’s position. He will now have to face a lifetime of knowing that he killed a human being, and suffer the consequences of doing so. Sometimes we suffer because of our own mistakes.
A farmer plants his crops, tends to the field the best he can, and it grows beautifully. He is even an honorable community member. Yet, the day before harvest time, a hailstorm beats his crop into the ground. Sometimes we suffer because of the effects of the Fall, also called the human condition.
If your mother dies of breast cancer, and never went the about healing through the natural means because she was never made aware of them, she would at fault for not knowing that there was a way to be healed of it. Sometimes we suffer because of ignorance. If she did know about them – or at least heard of the possibility – yet still did not take that route, calling it “quackery,” she would be committing willful ignorance and thus condemning herself.
Again, I am not shaming anyone for ever being in any of these circumstances. Some things may be beyond our control, but that does not mean that God orchestrated it or that he is responsible for it.
Are people inherently born to follow the will of God? I think that the obvious answer is “no.” No one has to teach a child how to lie, cheat, or steal. On the contrary, they must be taught not to because it is not the will of God, not just because it “isn’t nice.” They must come to learn at some point about the fall of man, and why the world is in the state that it is. We must all learn that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We all will be judged for our actions. Unbelievers will be judged based on that they did not accept Christ as their Savior, and believers will be judged based on how well they stewarded their gifts and how closely they followed the will of God.
How does one know the will of God? By reading the Bible and understanding it, recognizing God’s voice speaking to you in all things – audible voice and otherwise – and walking in close fellowship with Holy Spirit, as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God [emphasis added].”
Tests
There is something to be said for tests, however. Sometimes, God will put us through the refiner’s fire so that we can become a more pure human being. However, He will NEVER tell you to do something that is contrary to His Word. I have explored this in my two-part blog “Trial by Fire.”
Abraham was tested by God to give up his son Isaac in order to see how far he was willing to trust God. Abraham even said to his servants, when he and Isaac went up onto the mountain to sacrifice, that he and Isaac would return.
God tests us, but He never tempts us. James 1:13-15 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death [emphasis added].” Again, God will never tell you to do something contrary to His word.
Why does God allow bad things to happen?
This is another variation to the question we’ve been discussing, but I will answer it in a slightly different manner. The answer includes what we have discussed thus far, so I will not repeat much if any to reduce the risk of being too repetitive.
God made everything. As such, He created specific laws to govern His creation, such as the Law of Gravity, the Laws of Thermodynamics, the Law of Attraction, Cole’s Law (you can eat this with potato salad), and Newton’s Laws of Motion. He is such a just God that He Himself abides by the same rules that He set up.
Can He go beyond them? I suppose that He can. Otherwise He would not be God. The one who set up the laws would be greater than He, because if there are laws, someone set them up. If one is subject to certain laws, he is subject to the one who made them.
Will He go beyond them? I believe not. What about miracles that seem to go beyond the laws of nature? This is within God’s laws. If you ask with unwavering faith of receiving, you shall receive it. The Bible is very clear about this.
I believe that He set up laws that are more expansive than the laws of physics – laws that take a supernatural God or His ambassadors to activate them. Yet there is one more thing that goes back to Satan’s will that ties into the laws God set up.
Spiritual Legalities
I go over this aspect a bit more in my upcoming book, More than Conquerors, but it’s worth mentioning here.
Just as there are legalities on the earthly plane, there are legalities in the heavenly plane. In Exodus, God says He will visit the iniquity on the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. From this we know two things: (1) iniquity is ancestral and (2) ancestral iniquity is a legality.
One reason why you may be bound to a specific type of trauma, or even an entity, could be something that your ancestors did to put your bloodline in bondage to demonic powers. This could be done deliberately or inadvertently by the person that the iniquity is ascribed to.
God will not go beyond that which the spiritual legalities state until the legalities are abolished. This can primarily be done through specific, targeted, high-level prayer work.
For me personally, one of the first breakthroughs I had in regards to freedom from pornography was ancestral iniquity. My book goes more in depth on what it was and what I specifically did to break that ancestral iniquity.
In closing, I just want to offer some words of encouragement to those reading this who may be going through a hard time, to those who may be questioning why all this is happening.
I know what it’s like to feel a bit hopeless. I know what it’s like to feel like never being able to measure up. I know what it’s like to not be able to see past tomorrow… I have felt that nothing mattered except the pain. It wasn’t that long ago that I was shaking my head wondering how God was ever going to fix my mess.
I also know that it wasn’t my mess to begin with. I know that Jesus Christ took it for me on the cross. I know that He rose again so that I may have life. I know that He is at the right hand of the Father so that I may have intimacy with Him through the Spirit.
I repeat what Paul says in Romans 8:28. Everything will work towards good if you love God and walk according to His purpose.
It may not be easy. The fire can be painful in the process of refinement, but hear what Isaiah says in Isaiah 43, and I paraphrase:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, and YOU ARE MINE. None shall be able to pluck you out of my hand. When you pass through the waters, I am with you. When you walk into the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame harm you. For I am Jehovah, thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave you Egypt to plunder. Since you are precious in My eyes, I shall honor you, for I have loved you always.”
Link to “Irrefutable Proof that God is not in Control:” https://www.phildrysdale.com/2015/01/god-is-not-in-control/
Super Success 