If God is good, why is there evil in the world? Plenty has been written on that subject. The answer usually boils down to free will. Humans used the free will God gave them to plunge themselves and the world into a fallen state. We caused harm — to ourselves, others, and the earth .
‘Free will’ as an answer to the question makes sense to me, at least cerebrally. Philosophically.
But mental ascent is something quite different from emotional reconciliation to this truth. Living with chronic sickness and pain, I puzzle about why God hasn’t healed me. From my limited human perspective, it makes no sense. If I’m honest, I feel the sting of abandonment in it. It’s very personal.
If my friend were hurting, and I could alleviate her pain, I certainly would. If God can heal me, and he’s my friend, why wouldn’t he?
I can’t explain it. And God is not obligated to explain it to me. He sees things we don’t. His ways and his timing are higher than ours — as high as the Heavens are above the earth. He takes the long view, the eternal view. He knows my life is a breath, even when it seems to drag on and on.
I take comfort in knowing Job felt the angst of not being able to reconcile his lived experience with what he knew was true about God. I take courage in knowing Job believed God and refused to curse God and die, as his wife suggested he do. I take solace in knowing something cosmic was happening behind-the-scenes that Job couldn’t see. His suffering had purpose, even when he didn’t see it.
Job refused to give in to the temptation to agree with God’s Enemy about who God is, to make a false accusation against him — that he isn’t good. Such an agreement would be an act of treachery, a shifting of his allegiance to the Father of Lies.
Even Job’s friends declared untrue things about God and the causes of Job’s present reality. Job refused to internalize them.
Although he couldn’t reconcile his own experience with Yahweh as a good and all-powerful God, he kept believing God was who he said he was.
There is a greater reality than our own lived experience. By resisting the temptation to believe what his experience or his friends would have him believe about God, Job unwittingly proved himself to be what God believed he was. Job’s stubborn refusal to swallow lies about God put him on the winning side of an unseen spiritual battle. And after Job prayed for the friends who’d done him emotional harm with their untruths, God rewarded him handsomely. “…the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10, NIV).
The truth is: God is good, no matter what we are suffering. And nothing can separate us from the love of God — not even pain and chronic illness, if we refuse to let it.
My own declaration of God’s goodness, despite my pain, takes the form of a song. When despair causes me to long for Heaven, I put on worship music and sing out what is true about God: he is good and always will be.
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15, KJV).
Prayer:
Lord, will you fix in our minds and hearts what is true about you, even when we’re tempted to believe otherwise? Will you give my friends who suffer with chronic illness and pain, relief and unwavering confidence that your goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their lives? Will you perfect your power in our weakness? Will you keep us faithful like our brother, Job, and reveal to us even more about your nature?
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