Reason for Hope

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Evil & Suffering

Is God in control of everything? Did God cause this to happen?

Short answer

God is sovereign: supreme, all-powerful, with final authority over everything. But sovereign doesn't mean he micro-controls every event or decides ahead of time who will be saved and who won't. God gave people real choices, and those choices matter. Sickness, tragedy, and evil come from a fallen world, from sin, and from the devil, who "comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). God is not the author of your pain. He is "not wanting anyone to perish" (2 Peter 3:9), and he works to bring good even out of what he never wanted.

In simple words: God is the King over everything, but he doesn't make bad things happen. He lets people choose, and he wants everyone to come to him.

Response

Many people have been told, sometimes at a funeral, that God took their loved one, or that their sickness was part of God's plan. If that's what you've heard, it's no wonder you might feel angry at God. But that isn't the picture the Bible gives.

When the Bible calls God Lord over all, it means he is supreme. No one is above him, nothing can overthrow him, and in the end his kingdom will win. It doesn't mean every event is what he wanted. In the beginning God gave people real authority and real responsibility on the earth (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 115:16). When humanity turned from him, sin, death, and the devil's influence came into the world (Romans 5:12; 1 John 5:19). Much of what happens on earth is not God's will.

That's why Jesus taught us to pray, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). If everything that happened were already God's will, there would be no need to pray that. Scripture even says some people "rejected God's purpose for themselves" (Luke 7:30).

If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus (John 14:9; Hebrews 1:3). He never made anyone sick to teach them a lesson. He "went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil" (Acts 10:38). He wept at his friend's grave, and then he raised him from the dead (John 11:35-44). "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone" (James 1:13), and "every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17).

Jesus is the clearest revelation of God's will. So we don't build our picture of God from what happened to us; we build it from Jesus. Our experiences are real, but Jesus is our teacher. And "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). A God who quietly sends evil into people's lives would not be a God with no darkness in him.

God also isn't picking some people for heaven and passing over others. He "wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). God says, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live" (Ezekiel 33:11). Again and again he calls people to choose: "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Jesus wept over Jerusalem: "How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing" (Matthew 23:37). He wanted them. They said no.

So our choices really matter, and so do the choices of others. When someone hurts you, that was their choice, not God's will for you. When the brokenness of this world touches your body or your family, that is not God punishing you (Luke 13:1-5).

None of this makes God small. He is so great that he can take what he never wanted and still bring good out of it. Joseph's brothers meant evil, "but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). Romans 8:28 doesn't say God causes all things; it says that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. And one day he will end evil for good: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 21:4).

What about Job? In the book of Job, it is Satan who strikes Job's family, health, and possessions (Job 1:12-19; 2:7). God sets limits on him, and in the end restores Job with twice as much as before (Job 42:10). What about verses that speak of God "choosing" or "predestining"? In context, they describe God's plan to save everyone who is "in Christ," Jew and Gentile alike, through faith (Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 9:30-10:13). God chose the way of salvation, and he invites everyone into it: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13).

Christians have discussed these questions for centuries, and sincere believers disagree on some details. But the Bible is clear on this: God is good, he is not the author of evil, and he wants you.

Key evidence

Bible passages

Quotes

“God is sovereign in the sense that He is paramount and supreme.”

Andrew Wommack, "Sovereignty of God"

“Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Discussion questions

  1. Have you ever been told that something bad was "God's will"? How did that affect the way you saw God?
  2. Why do you think Jesus taught us to pray "your will be done on earth"?
  3. What does Matthew 23:37 tell you about God's heart toward people who reject him?

Sources & further reading

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