I've read a few posts lately from several different bloggers about their struggles with believing in God when there is so much wrong in the world and so many bad things happen. It breaks my heart to hear about people struggling and while it's certainly normal, I really feel compelled and convicted to share what I personally believe about it all.
Maybe it will help people. Maybe it will only help one person. Maybe no one. Either way, I'm feeling led to share it and I'm honored that y'all would take the time to read it.
A lot of people don't understand why bad things have to happen if God is all-powerful. They feel like He would stop these horrible things from happening if He could and so they then feel that He must not be all-powerful. When God created the world, He allowed free will to exist. He didn't want a robotic/forced group of people that followed Him. He wanted people that had the choice to follow or not to follow and He hoped that we would choose to actively follow Him. Of course, sin entered the world right away and this is where bad things come in. This is where the devil lurks and works and spends his time, scheming and whispering and enjoying our fears and pain.
While God IS certainly all-powerful enough to stop all these bad things from happening, He doesn't always chose to do so. This can be hard to understand and my best stab at it is that it is part of the trade off we have from having free will. Some people think that God should never let anything bad happen to Christians and are confused that He lets them experience loss and tragedy, but again, He wants people that choose to follow Him because of love and reverence, not because of fear. If we knew that being saved meant having the perfect life, we would chose it because of that, not because we loved God.
God will one day come and defeat the devil and take all of His followers to heaven, where we will live forever free of any pain or sorrow. Until that time, we are here on Earth, living with the purpose of glorifying God. I certainly don't understand it all and I honestly think that's okay. God is so much bigger and larger and smarter and all that...that we can't even being to comprehend why. He doesn't ask us to understand why. He simply asks us to put our faith in Him. And one day, we will know all these answers.
The best way that I can describe our inability to understand is like this: my puppies always want to go out in the front yard (which is not fenced in), but I won't let them. While they may see it as I don't love them enough to let them go or that I'm not capable (or powerful enough) of letting them out, it's really just that I know more than they do and I know that they will take off running down the street and get hit by a car. So I actually am loving and powerful, but I do it for their own good.
Wow, I hope this post makes sense to someone. Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert or understand it all, this is just my personal take on some of the "tough stuff."
48 comments:
That is exactly what I believe too :)
You did a great job of writing it all out!
Love,
Evelien
I think you said it perfectly!!
And to me you are 100% right on :)
Beautiful post!!
You said it perfectly Megan! This is always so hard to explain to people and you did a great job. I love your analogy with your pups. Only God sees the big picture!
Great thoughts again girlie. I used to be a 'everything happens for a reason' girl, but I don't think GOD makes bad things happen. the evil devil does and we have to deal with it.
Thank you for being so thought provoking and keeping us accountable.
xoxo
amen!! that was a beautiful post & I know so many will be touched with your words of truth :)
Megan, thank you for this! I have such struggles with over thinking and stressing about situations that I really have no control over. The puppy analogy really puts it all in prospect. As hard as it is to put our worldy issues aside, we must continue to have faith in Gods plan.
Amennnn. Love this Megan! :)
I think you did a great job of explaining!
Amen. Absolutely beautiful. I needed this today. Thank you for sharing your beliefs!
Right on, girlfriend, right on.
This is a great post and I'm glad you shared it. It's nice to see others trying to get the message across. This post also reminds me of another verse:
Jeremiah 29:11- "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."
So even when people believe God is "letting" this happen to them, it is really just life. God doesn't "want" these things to happen, but everyone has to experience these things.
I love the way you explained this. So many people ask why bad things happen in the world and sometimes it's hard to explain. This post pretty much sums it up. So great job! And I love the word picture analogy about your dogs... That made complete sense to me. Thanks for the great reminders :) you're a gem! XO
very true :)
It makes perfect sense! It is hard to understand the why's in life and sometimes difficult to remember this is NOT our home! Plus Jesus suffered while he was here on earth and he was perfect never sinning or doing any of the rebellious things people do on a daily basis. He willingly suffered for us! Wow! I can't imagine saying, "Father, I will suffer so a way for these imperfect people can be made to enter into the gates of Heaven!" I complain about headaches! Love you soooo much!
I love this post! And I love the verse you chose, it's been really helping me lately. God is so, so good. Thanks for blessing me with encouraging words this morning!
Amen! :)
I think everyone struggles with this at times, I know I have struggled with this a lot this year. We have such a limited outlook, that the tough stuff is hard to understand...we just have to trust He has a plan. Sometimes, that's a hard thing to do, but He does love us and does know best.
Love you for posting this! It's such a hard thing to explain because it's a daunting inquiry.
My pastor in college says "there are over 2,000 promises in the Bible, and not one of them says you will not suffer." We know this is not our home and earth is not perfect. When we go home, that's where perfection is.
And though it's hard to hear when it's someone close to you, it's why the words "they're in a better place" are uttered.
great post! I think this is one of the hardest things for us to understand as Christians...why do good things happen to bad people?!?
you did a great job, and I actually really like the puppy analogy!
I loved this Megan, written so well. I always struggle with what to tell people when they feel this way, but you said it pretty perfectly.
A lot of people in my life have been experiencing loss from people dying, and some are having SUCH a hard time with it, it is completely consuming them taking over their lives with grief. I, however, have a different view on death. Even though is sad that I don't get to see the person anymore, I am also HAPPY that my loved ones are now in heaven in the presence of God. So to me, death isn't a bad thing, and I think when you believe in God and eternity, it makes it much easier to accept. I try to tell people that without sounding too preachy :)
love you and thank you for writing this!!
Ah this is the HARDEST thing to discuss/explain, especially to non-believers. Great job taking a jab at it :) Liked your point about if we knew being saved meant having a perfect life, then our intentions wouldn't be pure. Never thought of it that way, but so true!
This breaks my heart, too! It's hard to understand but this is what I've come to learn about God and this subject in the last few years (through reading the bible and a few great Christian books).
When people say "how could a loving God do ______ ", I think what we need to remind ourselves of is that the God of the Bible already did the most loving thing anyone on the earth could do. He died for our sins on a cross and died painfully. He did this to give eternal life to those who follow Him. We also have to remember God is not just one attribute- "love" -- he's so many more thing. Righteous, grace giving, holy, just etc... All people deserve hell because of our sin nature, and the fact that Jesus saves those who trust and have faith in Him, from the fiery pits is the ultimate act of love! Sometimes I just can't wrap my mind around that...it's amazing. So no matter what happens on earth, we can trust that a loving and just God is preparing a place for us to live in perfect peace, harmony and worship with Him.
On a side note, I also believe things bad things happen to grow and learn from. Whether it's learning about ourselves, about God's character or about anything- trials strengthen us and God wants to see us cling to Him in hard times, just like Abraham did!
Great post, Meg! Let the truth be heard! :) xoxo
If we knew that being saved meant having the perfect life, we would chose it because of that, not because we loved God. -- that was my favorite thing you said. Such a good point, and I'm not sure I've heard it said just that way before. I will definitely use that in the future!
It makes me so sad to hear these things, too. It especially makes me sad when people have had terrible experiences with Christians and the church, and have turned from God because of that. I try to tell them that people are not perfect and we shouldn't base all our opinions of God off of what people do. But that's hard for someone who has been hurt so deeply and repeatedly.
This is a great post. Thanks for sharing. I hope it reaches someone who really needs it!!
I love this. My husband and I talk about this all the time. I also get so heart broken listening to people who struggle with this. Studying the Bible and personal experience has taught me so much about this.
God never promised us that life would be easy. He told us there WILL be trial and tribulation BUT He has already overcome the world.
While I hate that terrible things happen, God can use it for His glory. Our little seed of faith can't grow without the rains of tribulation. It takes those times of stretching for our faith to grow and to learn more of Him. So many times He uses evil for good. God let his son be crucified. He was being unjustly punished and it was terrible and wrong, but it brought about our salvation! We just can't always see the whole picture when something bad happens. But this world and this evil is temporary :)
This is a really good way to explain it! Thanks for sharing.
thanks, Megan.
we DO have free will. we DO exist in a sinful fallen world, not the paradise that God intended. but you know what? i believe that He uses the hard things in life to bring us closer to Himself.
Psalm 119:67&71 says "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." "It is good that I was afflicted that I might learn your statutes."
Yes, God could have put a stop to it all right when sin entered the world, but He chose to prove to his fallen creation his infinite love by sacrificing his son and redeeming his own. if not for the horrible mess of sin, how else were we to see the depth of his love? much like marriage, when everything is smooth and perfect and easy, it is natural for us to take each other and our love for granted. when things are messy and tough and falling apart at the seams, the love and the person extending it REALLY means something!
I actually really really needed to hear this, today, of all days. Thank you, truly.
Such a great post! I love that you used your puppies to illustrate it!
I agree :) thanks for being brave and posting on what could be a touchy subject!
Beautiful post. Very well put and a good reminder for me to always trust God's plan. Do you have any recommendations for good Christian daily reader books? Or any great books about faith?
Magnificently written! Absolutely loved reading it... thank you for sharing.
you never fail, meg. you truly speak with all of your heart when it comes to expressing your love for Him. i have the upmost respect for you and admire you so. thank you for sharing this beautiful post. i was just having a conversation about this today with one of my co-workers. i'll have to share this post with her tomorrow. :)
my daughter who is 4 said "mom no matter what happens we have to trust God, right? even when we don't like it, because we are so blessed!" i love how the heart of a small child works so much better than our adult hearts!
I love your "dog in the front yard" analogy! That is exactly what I needed to hear. It really made sense of things for me. I know that sounds silly, but it really clicked with me.
I can not believe this is the first time finding your blog! I looove it, so pretty! And thank you for this post, if only you knew how much I needed something like this right now - thank you!
Stop by and say hi sometime!
www.dysfunctionaleverafter.com
I really REALLY love this post Meg. Thank you for sharing your beliefs! You truly are an inspiration. Love you!
I truly think you'll touch more lives with this post than you realize! Sometimes it takes someone like us (vs a preacher and definitely not putting preacher's down, don't take that wrong :)) to try and explain something in a different way. So the pooch analogy works!
Another wonderful post Megan! You are such an inspiration to me and I know God is so proud of you for sharing your love for Him.
Great post, Megan! I've tried to explain this exact concept of the loving, all-powerful God who doesn't give us PERFECT lives because He gave us the gift of free will to choose to follow him. One of the best illustrations I have of free will is from my favorite kids' Veggie Tales movie that I watch with my kids. It is called "God made you special" and has a lot of stories in it. There is one story about the Snoodles who are like humans. One of them gets cast out because he isn't like the others and questions where he came from and what it all means. He goes off and finds the creator. The snoodle ask "God" "If you made this incredible land, why can't you make snoodles obey your command." His reply: "A gift that's demanded is no gift at all." He wants us to freely give Him our love as a "gift" as He gives us the gifts of His love and mercy and grace.
And I also agree that God doesn't make bad things happen to us. I think the devil is responsible for the bad things that happen and that we are also responsible because when we don't choose to follow Him and we sin, we give the devil power over us. Looking back, I can see that many of the bad things that have happened to me were probably a big product of my unbelief and lack of trusting God to work in my life. He has always brought me through though...many times I know there is no way I could have gotten to where I am today without Him!
Love the dog analogy!
I am glad you wrote his post and shared what was on your heart! Today at church our pastor actually touched a little on this and used the quote "crisis brings opportunity" sometimes it's in those crisis moments in life that God has opportunity to reach us the most.
I love your puppy analogy, great way to put it in every day terms :)
Stay strong girl! I'm pretty sure that you inspire people to believe daily!
great post! i think a good verse to quote would be: Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
I'm playing catch up. I LOVE the dog analogy! It is hard to believe when awful things are happening but that was a great explanation.
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