It's the Nature of Things

Why does God … allow things like child abuse, random shootings, fatal accidents, birth defects, cancers and other horrible things to occur?

Since we believe that God is the author, creator and keeper of this planet we call Earth and is sovereign over it, it's inevitable that all of us ask the same question … God where are you … when we see these terrible things take place.

I think the Bible gives us some of the answers that we are looking for but it's not answered in just one plainly written sentence; rather it's shown to us in many different ways. The first answer is in the book of Genesis when we are told of the fall of humanity. God's immediate response to the first man's sin of transgression against God's rule and authority was to curse the earth and human life.

Death and suffering entered the world as a direct result of sin. We see this curse manifested in the realm of nature when thorns become part of the plan of God and human life now included labor by the sweat of the brow and the pain that follows man throughout his lifetime. This helps illustrate the fact that the world in which we live … is a place … that is full of sorrows and tragedy.

But the Bible never says that there's any correlation in this life between suffering and the guilt of the people on whom these tragedies fall.

R.C. Sproul speaks to this fact when he says … "If there were no sin in the world, there would be no suffering. Because sin is present in the world, suffering is present in the world, but it doesn’t always work out that if you have five pounds of guilt, you’re going to get five pounds of suffering."

That's also the perception that the book of Job labors to dispel, as does Jesus' answer to the question about the man born blind in the 9th Chapter of John. This blind man, like Adam was, like you and I are, was made from the dust of the Earth; but because he was formed within the bounds of an imperfect world, a tragedy occurred in his life; a failure in his development that caused him to be born blind.

Knowing that man dwells on a cursed earth and that things are not always perfect, Jesus takes the same element that this blind man was created from, dirt and adds His spittle to it to make clay and then anoints the eyes of the blind man with it. Why did Jesus do this?

1.) To complete and finish whatever failed in his fetal development in the womb.

2.) To show to the world that man … as he is born … is not complete until he has had the touch of Jesus on his life.

Jesus tells His disciples this man was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him. So, isn't Jesus basically telling His disciples that God's Sovereignty, Will and Purpose was at work even in this blind man's birth?

The Bible makes it pretty clear that God lets these tragedies happen and in a certain sense … ordains that they come to pass … as part of the present situation that the world is under … judgment for sin that brought the curse to be placed on the earth in the first place.

He has not removed the curse of death from this world. Because of the fall of a sinful man and for no other reason death is part of … the nature of things … on this earth.

Even the disciples of Jesus were unsure about similar tragedies that happen in life. In the 13th Chapter of Luke, Jesus was told about the Galileans whose blood had been mingled with the sacrifices by Pilate. The disciples asked how this could be; was it a terrible judgment that had fallen upon some of them? The response from Jesus was … "Don't worry about it." (My translation) He declares to them that neither this case nor the eighteen people who were killed when a tower collapsed … had anything to do with them being greater sinners than they were.

There were some people present who had heard His discourse with the disciples, so He said to them, except they repent, the same thing could happen to them … again bringing the question back to the fact that man's overall moral state of wickedness makes it feasible for God to allow these kinds of dreadful things to take place in a fallen world. It has nothing to do with individual sin.

The judgment of God can come in many different ways … but usually it comes through the curse that was placed on the Earth and on fallen man. It's the nature of things. But we do have a promise that there will come a day when suffering and death will be no more.

We see all these things through the arrangement of God's Providence. It is a part of His plan to adapt His mercy and grace to the suffering of men. Often all these things are permitted, in order that He may show us His deliverance and His blessings.

God can do no wrong … the universe will, when all His works are seen; feel and know that all He does is just and right.