Several years ago George Barna did a survey on the topic: "If you could ask God one question; what would it be?" Barna's results proved that the most asked question was: "Why does God allow suffering and pain in the world?" This is not a surprising answer, as it is probably the oldest question ever asked throughout all of time by humans. One writer called it "the question mark that turns like a fishhook in the human heart." The point is we are either coming out of a storm or we are about to enter into one. We each face troubles personally or through someone very close to us at different intervals throughout our whole lives. It is the part of this fallen life that we all stand speechless in its wake.

Troubles in this life create for the most part in the thoughts of believers a difficult thing to understand, much less to be able to explain things satisfactorily when they do happen. Especially when we consider how often we go around declaring God as being a good God (and He is by the way); and then someone comes along and points out...then why did He allow this atrocity or the loss of life of such an innocent child? It is here that many Christians run ashore of "how do I answer this," which ends up tearing apart the bows of their faith ships that starts them to sink in the sea of unexplained events. Many will become stubborn and just get into denial or they will pipe out loudly something like, "You know what! That's just how life is!" I'm sorry, for me that's not good enough. That answer is inadequate especially when our God is a God that is in control. Look with me over in the Word of God and let's see if it has some answers that might deal with these difficult issues of life.

Job 5:6-7 (MSG)
⁶ Don't blame fate when things go wrong- trouble doesn't come from nowhere.
⁷ It's human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble, as certainly as sparks fly upward.

When I first received Christ in my heart I heard a great deal of teachings that implied the idea that God would somehow insulate a person from hard places in life if they had enough faith and always trusted in His Word. Our eyes and thoughts were always drawn to places of victory or the high places of life within the bible stories while seemingly overlooking all the suffering these people went through to get there. Humans have this problem of always looking at someone's success, or victories and conclude that that's the permanent position of a real believer here on this side of heaven. But then I started living as a believer and discovered either there was a major flaw in me or someone had taught me wrong all those years. It was here that I started reading and studying under the care of the Holy Spirit and found that no one including Jesus Himself was exempt from troubles in this world.

What I have learned over the years and what I am about to share here in this week's devotional will be challenging for some of those whose theology refuses to accept the fact that God weighs in on the release of troubles that fill this world, by giving His permission which I know challenges our description of what a good God looks like according to humans. Don't let that statement stop you from reading on without giving me the opportunity to explain scripturally what I mean by what I just said. Consider first with me how some people will ascribe to God's handling of our troubles: Either God is all powerful but not all good, and therefore He does not stop evil; or He's all good, but not all powerful, and therefore He can't stop evil. What these people conclude within their heart is that God is not good or He is not really all powerful based on the analogy I just presented to you. For these folks I would simply ask this question, "When did you become the moral center of the universe?" Who are you to say what "good" is and what is not good? Let me reach in here deeper if I may...God is not good because I think He is good or even if you think He's good. He's not even good because we took a vote and the majority of us decided that He was good. No! God is good because He says that He is good, and there is no higher judge of that but Himself.

Luke 18:19 (KJV)
¹⁹ And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

You see God is good whether I believe it or not. God alone is the final court of our mediation. Look what the apostle Paul said...

Romans 3:4 (AMP)
⁴ Let God be found true though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That You may be justified and shown to be upright in what You say, and prevail when You are judged [by sinful men].

I guess the big question at this juncture of my writing is what is good? Well the bible tells us that God is good. Good is whatever God has approved no matter if we understand it or not. Everything starts with God and ends with God and this is how things work within God's kingdom and in this fallen world which we have to do with temporarily until our departure. Consider a couple of stories from the bible that might give us a little more insight to this matter that we have entered upon. Man has always tried to make God fit his design rather than man fitting God's. Man cannot see himself worshipping a God that allows bad things to happen to innocent people, so what does he do? He creates a doctrine from God's own book in order to design the Almighty in such a way that separates Him from all the bad in this world. Yet, if we look in the Word without being inclined to see it the way we want to, we will see that God made some pretty difficult statements that connects Him squarely to things that will shatter that premise of Him being a good God based on our description of Him (once again, I declare that He is good even when His finger prints show up on some man's charges of Him being evil by what He allowed). Now some might say that I am in denial or gravely mistaken. Well, let me continue.

When we are under great distress we tend to second guess things even unto doubt. Consider John the Baptist. When he was incarcerated and waiting to be executed for his preaching of the coming Messiah; we suddenly find him wondering if maybe he got it wrong when he endorsed this Jesus as being the Messiah. What does he do? He sends his disciples out to ask Jesus if He was indeed the Son of God (Matthew11:3). Pressure being placed on the human mind by hardship has the potential of creating doubt and unbelief in all of us to which we search for pliable reason that satisfies us. Let's look at another story told in the bible that will help us see that "trouble" comes to all men in this world whether we are saved or unsaved. In this passage we discover Jesus was asked regarding certain Galileans who had had their blood mingled with Pilate's sacrifices; the question was, "Were these men greater sinners because of this outcome to their life?" They also asked this regarding a certain tower that happened to fall upon 18 people accidently. These folks obviously thought by their inquiry, that bad things only happen to bad people. Which when they discover that it falls upon good people as well, it would create a theological atrocity for them to explain what happened. But Jesus pointed out that every man will likewise die tragically, but the issue to consider is that we are to repent of our sins and turn to God (Luke 13:4). Life here is filled with hazards and tragedies because it abides in a decaying realm that cannot be saved now or ever. Have you ever stopped to wonder why God placed a Cheribim and flaming sword around the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden? It is because God prevented this fallen state of things from receiving immortality. God would not allow what was evil to inherit eternal life. It had to have an end at God's choosing. I do realize we are never truly satisfied in all of our questions...

Isaiah 1:18 (MSG)
¹⁸ "Come. Sit down. Let's argue this out."

Isaiah 55:8 (MSG)
⁸ "I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work." God's Decree.

I understand that some will oppose the validity of these Scriptures that I have offered here as not being applicable since we are not in that dispensation of time when those words were spoken. However, I believe the Word is relevant in all of its content for instruction, encouragement, and correction and serves as our example where those recorded in it fail short can offer us a teachable moment. Whereas, I believe it's true that we can now put on the same mind that Christ had based on (Philippians 2:5). I also believe that according to (1 John 2:20) we have an unction from the Holy One that we can know all things. Yet in the event of the unfolding of daily troubles in our lives, I do not believe that I can present an argument that could supersede God's wisdom on why He allows certain things to happen no matter how much I want a neat and tidy theology that has no cracks in it. God is God, period! In fact, I will say this. I would not want to believe in a God that I could fully understand everything about Him in the form of a human. That would make me His equal and we all know that is not the case. Look at this passage:

Luke 22:31-32 (AMP)
³¹ Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain,
³² But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.

We can see here that Christ who makes intercessions on our behalf does not remove the opposition or troubles that may unfold within our lives. He does however, intercede for us even in the hard to understand workings of it and it eventually works out to our good according to (Romans 8:28). The question of where is God in all of human suffering still bears down on us. We see how one home crashes to ashes while the one next to it remains with no damage. Why is that? A tragedy strikes and one person dies while the one next to him is spared. Why? When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans why didn't it go west towards Pensacola? It's human to ask why. The Psalmist often cried out, "Lord, where are you?" In times of trouble, we look to the heavens and shout, "Why me? Why now! Why does this have to happen to me?" We cannot escape the questions, Why is there evil in this world. In fact, this question about suffering is the number one argument for the atheist. Its rarely some theological argument that causes someone to give up on God, it's this business of why He allowed something bad to happen to me. Their conclusion: If God is good, if God is all-powerful and could have stopped this suffering but didn't, then He isn't good. If He is good and will not stop this suffering, then He isn't all-powerful. Either way these people refuse to believe in God, and they usually don't.

I was watching a movie clip the other day where a husband and his wife were obviously in a emergency room and had just lost the child. Sitting across from them was a lady who offered a pitiful and thoughtless blurb to this couple, "Well the Lord has added another little precious angel in heaven." Whereas, this mother chimed in, "Why does He have to take my angel, why doesn't He just make another angel...I mean if He is God how hard could that be if He really is God!" You see pain and suffering has a way of rationalizing things and demanding that everything be kept safe from all harm since we belong to God. But none of us are exempt from this thing called life with all of its discomforts and even the heart wrenching moments that it brings into our lives that leave us paralyzed and numb inside. If you are a good God, then where are you at? Why do "You God," allow suffering and pain? I want to give you my answer. Are you ready for this? I DON'T KNOW! I do have some ideas in some cases but then I stumble upon others that shake me to the core of what I believe.

Imagine a school bus with enough seats in it to seat every human that has every walked this earth or ever will. Now suppose Adam is driving the bus and he drives it over a cliff of disobedience and we all went down with him. Below we all ended up broken and crushed upon the jagged rocks of God's judgment. Even the world was affected by this paramount of evil that landed upon it. We are the ancestry of Adam and Eve and that connection though we may be born again in Christ Jesus; we still wear a suit that has been convicted to death, unfortunately.

Hebrews 9:27-28 (KJV)
²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
²⁸ So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

1 Corinthians 15:53-54 (KJV)
⁵³ For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
⁵⁴ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:26 (KJV)
²⁶ The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Someone might say, "If God is so good, why didn't He just create us incapable of sinning?" Wouldn't that be like having robots for children that you programmed to love you without their ability to want to on their own? What kind of love would hold a gun to the head of someone and demand their love? God made things perfect and called it good in the beginning. Adam drove the bus off the cliff along with all of us and because of that we are born into what Adam put into motion. But wasn't God able to stop this from ever happening in the first place? Of course He was able, but He didn't. Can you handle that without arguing over it? This "good" God by His own definition is seen involved in what you and I do not fully understand that eventually serves for some good in the scheme of things. I know. I don't like it at times either. It's mainly because I don't understand it.

What I do know is being a Christian does not exempt us from suffering or experiencing great loss. Christians get cancer; Christians have heart-attacks; Christians lose their children; and Christians die in senseless car accidents. I'm sure you have already figured that out by now as a believer.

1 Peter 4:12 (AMP)
¹² Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.

John 16:31-33 (MSG)
³¹ Jesus answered them, "Do you finally believe?
³² In fact, you're about to make a run for it-saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I'm not abandoned. The Father is with me.
³³ I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."

I can't forget the importance of building my life on the right foundation. If I build on sand then when the storms of life come it will shatter my life. However, if I build on the solid rock of my salvation though the storms are predicted to come; my eternal house will forever remain in its place. The bible tells us in Ephesians when we have done all to stand, STAND! I need to bring this to a close as this has gotten lengthy to say the least. However, the content of this subject could go on and on and still need something more to be said. Therefore, let me draw us to a man by the name of Job.

Job 1:1-5 (NLT)
¹ There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless-a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.
² He had seven sons and three daughters.
³ He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and he employed many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.
⁴ Job's sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.
⁵ When these celebrations ended-sometimes after several days-Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, "Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.

There are at least four things that jump out at us in this passage of Scripture here in the book of Job:

1. Job was a man of integrity and character (the real you is who you are in private).
2. Job was wealthy (yet it didn't own him).
3. Job was a family man.
4. Job was a prayerful man (he offered his prayers continually over his children).

God bragged on Job and I believe that He does the same over us that are in Christ Jesus. But it does not negate the onslaught of our adversary who is very real and present and who desires to steal, kill, and destroy us!

Job 1:6-12 (NLT)
⁶ One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.
⁷ "Where have you come from?" the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, "I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that's going on."
⁸ Then the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless-a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil."
⁹ Satan replied to the Lord, "Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.
¹⁰ You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is!
¹¹ But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"
¹² "All right, you may test him," the Lord said to Satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So Satan left the Lord's presence.

I believe the free-will answer to calamity is very useful to explaining some things that happen in life due to poor decisions, but something else still needs to be added if we are to grasp the point that I am attempting to make here. That of course, is we will not completely know the full answers to why God allows suffering and pain in all cases. But I do know this for certain, that nothing can exist without His permission for it to remain in order that it might serve a better good than mortals like us could ever understand. Look with me at some devastating theological "earthquakes" found over in God's book where He takes full responsibility, to what we work so hard to dismiss or rewrite that it might fit our "good" God concept that we want to perceive. Now keep in mind that God doesn't inquire with us over the matters to which He gives permission to happen. If God asked me about things it would go something like this. "So you don't like what I just did?" I would reply, No, I don't! So you think I made a mistake? Yes, as a matter of fact I know you did!" The amazing part of all of this is God is not bothered by what I think. God doesn't ask for our advice on anything. He is God!

A). God brings prosperity and seems to indicate in His Word that He also has a hand somewhat in the disaster:

Isaiah 45:7 (KJV)
⁷ I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

I like what Dr. Ryrie said and I quote: "There is no easy explanation for this verse except to say God is the Lord of all things. Even the darkness of the universe cannot exist apart from His divine permission. God is not the author of sin, but sin itself cannot exist apart from God's decree that sin should be permitted to appear in the universe. While all of this leaves us with many questions, we do know that God's decision to permit Adam's disobedience that plunged the human race into chaos and untold sorrow also revealed to the universe God's amazing grace and His boundless love toward the worst of sinners. That love displayed at the cross of Jesus Christ, would never have been seen, nor the wonders of redemption imagined, unless sin had first entered and destruction fallen on the earth" (end of quote).

B). God takes personal responsibility for physical disabilities without flinching (I know, these Scriptures shake me too):  

Exodus 4:11 (KJV)
¹¹ And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

Now this passage is dealing with Moses as he argued with God about his speech impediment. Let me present another scripture in the words of Jesus that seems to imply that God has no problem with how we feel about His reasons for making things the way they are:

John 9:1-3 (AMP)
¹ AS HE passed along, He noticed a man blind from his birth.
² His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?
³ Jesus answered, It was not that this man or his parents sinned, but he was born blind in order that the workings of God should be manifested (displayed and illustrated) in him.

C). God ordains the movement of the oceans:

Job 38:8-11 (MSG)
⁸ And who took charge of the ocean when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
⁹ That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds, and tucked it in safely at night.
¹⁰ Then I made a playpen for it, a strong playpen so it couldn't run loose,
¹¹ And said, 'Stay here, this is your place. Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.'

Consider how God opened up the heavens and allowed it to rain 40 days and 40 nights until it drowned every living thing except what was divinely placed safely in the Ark with Noah. Or we could look at how God opened up the Red Sea and crushed an Egyptian army as He sandwiched them in the closing of those waters. Remember, He is the God that states in His Word that He never changes. What He was yesterday, He is today, and what He reveals of Himself will be the same tomorrow. He is God!

D). God calls us to accept both good things and troubling things that He sends:

Job 2:10 (AMP)
¹⁰ But he said to her, You speak as one of the impious and foolish women would speak. What? Shall we accept [only] good at the hand of God and shall we not accept [also] misfortune and what is of a bad nature? In [spite of] all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

I realize there are many things that God did not say that are written in His Word to which men spoke under their duress, failures, and struggles of life; and they are in there for our admonition. But notice this was not one of those man quotes, as we see here the Holy Spirit added that in all of what Job had just said, he did not sin. So, God obviously is taking full responsibility for the good and the bad that is permitted to come into our life. I know, it rattles my theology too! Tony Evans said it this way. I quote: "Everything is either caused by God or allowed by God, and there is no third category" (end of quote). In other words, nothing can happen to us that first pass through God's "loving" hands for His permission. Remember the times and seasons of our lives are in the hands of God; not happenstance or the draw of luck or misfortune. The wearing of this earth-suit which is defiled and corrupt obscures our ability to see things correctly. There is no omission mentioned that God will keep back the temptation, only that He will make sure that we are able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)
¹³ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it