If God, Why Evil?
When Good Meets Evil: Finding Purpose in Life's Darkest Moments
The question echoes through hospital corridors, funeral homes, and quiet moments of despair: "If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist?" It's perhaps the oldest theological puzzle humanity has wrestled with, and it's one that demands honest examination rather than platitudes.
The Paradox That Won't Go Away
We live in a world where school children are kidnapped, where righteous people suffer unimaginable loss, and where injustice seems to flourish. The book of Job presents this paradox in stark relief—a righteous man loses everything: his wealth, his children, his health. In a single day, messengers arrive one after another with devastating news. Yet Job's response is remarkable: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
How do we make sense of this? How can we reconcile faith in a loving God with the undeniable reality of suffering?
Evil's True Nature: A Parasite on Goodness
Early church father Augustine offered a profound insight: evil exists only where good should be. Think about cold and darkness—they have no independent existence. Cold is simply the absence of heat; darkness is merely the absence of light. Heat and light can exist independently, but cold and darkness are parasitic, requiring the absence of something else to manifest.
Evil operates the same way. It's not a created thing with independent existence; rather, it emerges in the spaces where goodness is absent. God created a world that was "very good," but within that good creation, He gave humanity something precious and dangerous: freedom.
The Price of Freedom
God didn't create robots programmed for obedience. He created beings with genuine moral agency—the ability to choose between good and evil, obedience and rebellion. In the Garden of Eden, this freedom was tested, and humanity chose poorly. We continue making that choice daily.
This is the crucial point: God made evil *possible* through the gift of freedom, but humanity made it *real* through our choices. Every form of suffering, every manifestation of evil, traces back to disordered lives and disordered wills—places where good should exist but doesn't.
Can Evil Serve a Purpose?
The uncomfortable truth is that yes, evil can serve purposes we might not immediately recognize. Sometimes suffering comes as a direct consequence of our own foolish choices—we play stupid games and win stupid prizes, as the saying goes. Sometimes we suffer collaterally from others' sins, bearing wounds we didn't earn. And sometimes entire communities face consequences for collective rebellion.
But there's more to the story. Lamentations 3:39 asks pointedly: "Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins?" When we truly grasp the depth of our own brokenness, complaints about our circumstances take on a different tone.
Refining Fire
God often uses difficult circumstances as purifying agents in our lives. First Peter 1:6-7 speaks of being "distressed by various trials" so that our faith might be "tested and refined." How else would we know the depth of our faith except through testing? How else would we develop spiritual muscle except through resistance?
Job 33:29-30 reveals a stunning purpose: "God does all these oftentimes with men to bring back his soul from the pit that he may be enlightened with the light of life." Sometimes God permits hardship specifically so that people might come to know Him—a distant good that justifies present pain.
The Story of Joseph: Evil Intended, Good Intended
Genesis 50:20 contains one of Scripture's most powerful statements about divine purpose: "What you intended for evil, God intended for good." Joseph's story illustrates this perfectly. Sold into slavery by jealous brothers, falsely accused and imprisoned, seemingly forgotten—yet through all these injustices, God positioned Joseph to save nations from famine.
Joseph couldn't see the purpose during those dark years. The good was distant, hidden. But it was real nonetheless. This teaches us a vital lesson: our inability to discern God's purpose in a circumstance doesn't mean there isn't one. Sometimes it's precisely when we can't figure it out that God already has.
Comfort in Affliction, Comfort for Others
Second Corinthians 1:3-4 reveals another profound purpose in suffering: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
Our pain qualifies us to minister to others in theirs. The parent who has buried a child can offer comfort to another grieving parent in ways no one else can. The person who has battled chronic illness can encourage others facing similar struggles with authentic empathy. God wastes nothing—even our suffering becomes a gift we can offer others.
Divine Deferral and Ultimate Justice
We must also embrace what might be called "divine deferral"—the recognition that not all wrongs will be righted in this life, not all evil will be punished immediately. Ecclesiastes 12:14 promises that "God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil."
This isn't permission to be passive in the face of injustice. Rather, it's comfort that when human justice fails, divine justice will not. Every act done in darkness will be brought to light. Every victim will be vindicated. Every perpetrator will answer. Our task is to trust, not to understand everything now.
The Highest Purpose: The Cross
The ultimate answer to the problem of evil stands on a hill outside Jerusalem. Isaiah 53:5 prophesied it: "He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ represents the greatest injustice in human history—the perfect, sinless Son of God tortured and executed as a criminal. Yet this supreme evil served the highest possible purpose: the redemption of humanity. Through the worst thing that ever happened came the best thing that could ever happen.
This is the key: only a good and all-powerful God can use evil for good. Only such a God could take humanity's worst and transform it into our salvation.
Living in the Tension
We don't need to deny evil's existence or minimize suffering's reality. We don't need to pretend we understand every purpose or see every plan. But we can trust that the God who transformed crucifixion into resurrection, who brought salvation through suffering, who makes beauty from ashes—this God is at work even in circumstances that seem senseless.
Job 2:10 asks: "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" The answer isn't resignation but trust—trust that the Author of our story sees chapters we cannot, that the Weaver of our lives creates patterns we don't yet perceive, that the God who loved us enough to die for us can be trusted with our pain.
In a world where evil is real, so is redemption. Where suffering exists, so does purpose. And where injustice reigns for a season, eternal justice waits in the wings. Our call is not to understand everything, but to trust the One who does—and to believe that in the end, all things work together for good for those who love Him.
In Christ,
The question echoes through hospital corridors, funeral homes, and quiet moments of despair: "If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist?" It's perhaps the oldest theological puzzle humanity has wrestled with, and it's one that demands honest examination rather than platitudes.
The Paradox That Won't Go Away
We live in a world where school children are kidnapped, where righteous people suffer unimaginable loss, and where injustice seems to flourish. The book of Job presents this paradox in stark relief—a righteous man loses everything: his wealth, his children, his health. In a single day, messengers arrive one after another with devastating news. Yet Job's response is remarkable: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
How do we make sense of this? How can we reconcile faith in a loving God with the undeniable reality of suffering?
Evil's True Nature: A Parasite on Goodness
Early church father Augustine offered a profound insight: evil exists only where good should be. Think about cold and darkness—they have no independent existence. Cold is simply the absence of heat; darkness is merely the absence of light. Heat and light can exist independently, but cold and darkness are parasitic, requiring the absence of something else to manifest.
Evil operates the same way. It's not a created thing with independent existence; rather, it emerges in the spaces where goodness is absent. God created a world that was "very good," but within that good creation, He gave humanity something precious and dangerous: freedom.
The Price of Freedom
God didn't create robots programmed for obedience. He created beings with genuine moral agency—the ability to choose between good and evil, obedience and rebellion. In the Garden of Eden, this freedom was tested, and humanity chose poorly. We continue making that choice daily.
This is the crucial point: God made evil *possible* through the gift of freedom, but humanity made it *real* through our choices. Every form of suffering, every manifestation of evil, traces back to disordered lives and disordered wills—places where good should exist but doesn't.
Can Evil Serve a Purpose?
The uncomfortable truth is that yes, evil can serve purposes we might not immediately recognize. Sometimes suffering comes as a direct consequence of our own foolish choices—we play stupid games and win stupid prizes, as the saying goes. Sometimes we suffer collaterally from others' sins, bearing wounds we didn't earn. And sometimes entire communities face consequences for collective rebellion.
But there's more to the story. Lamentations 3:39 asks pointedly: "Why should any living mortal or any man offer complaint in view of his sins?" When we truly grasp the depth of our own brokenness, complaints about our circumstances take on a different tone.
Refining Fire
God often uses difficult circumstances as purifying agents in our lives. First Peter 1:6-7 speaks of being "distressed by various trials" so that our faith might be "tested and refined." How else would we know the depth of our faith except through testing? How else would we develop spiritual muscle except through resistance?
Job 33:29-30 reveals a stunning purpose: "God does all these oftentimes with men to bring back his soul from the pit that he may be enlightened with the light of life." Sometimes God permits hardship specifically so that people might come to know Him—a distant good that justifies present pain.
The Story of Joseph: Evil Intended, Good Intended
Genesis 50:20 contains one of Scripture's most powerful statements about divine purpose: "What you intended for evil, God intended for good." Joseph's story illustrates this perfectly. Sold into slavery by jealous brothers, falsely accused and imprisoned, seemingly forgotten—yet through all these injustices, God positioned Joseph to save nations from famine.
Joseph couldn't see the purpose during those dark years. The good was distant, hidden. But it was real nonetheless. This teaches us a vital lesson: our inability to discern God's purpose in a circumstance doesn't mean there isn't one. Sometimes it's precisely when we can't figure it out that God already has.
Comfort in Affliction, Comfort for Others
Second Corinthians 1:3-4 reveals another profound purpose in suffering: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
Our pain qualifies us to minister to others in theirs. The parent who has buried a child can offer comfort to another grieving parent in ways no one else can. The person who has battled chronic illness can encourage others facing similar struggles with authentic empathy. God wastes nothing—even our suffering becomes a gift we can offer others.
Divine Deferral and Ultimate Justice
We must also embrace what might be called "divine deferral"—the recognition that not all wrongs will be righted in this life, not all evil will be punished immediately. Ecclesiastes 12:14 promises that "God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil."
This isn't permission to be passive in the face of injustice. Rather, it's comfort that when human justice fails, divine justice will not. Every act done in darkness will be brought to light. Every victim will be vindicated. Every perpetrator will answer. Our task is to trust, not to understand everything now.
The Highest Purpose: The Cross
The ultimate answer to the problem of evil stands on a hill outside Jerusalem. Isaiah 53:5 prophesied it: "He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ represents the greatest injustice in human history—the perfect, sinless Son of God tortured and executed as a criminal. Yet this supreme evil served the highest possible purpose: the redemption of humanity. Through the worst thing that ever happened came the best thing that could ever happen.
This is the key: only a good and all-powerful God can use evil for good. Only such a God could take humanity's worst and transform it into our salvation.
Living in the Tension
We don't need to deny evil's existence or minimize suffering's reality. We don't need to pretend we understand every purpose or see every plan. But we can trust that the God who transformed crucifixion into resurrection, who brought salvation through suffering, who makes beauty from ashes—this God is at work even in circumstances that seem senseless.
Job 2:10 asks: "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" The answer isn't resignation but trust—trust that the Author of our story sees chapters we cannot, that the Weaver of our lives creates patterns we don't yet perceive, that the God who loved us enough to die for us can be trusted with our pain.
In a world where evil is real, so is redemption. Where suffering exists, so does purpose. And where injustice reigns for a season, eternal justice waits in the wings. Our call is not to understand everything, but to trust the One who does—and to believe that in the end, all things work together for good for those who love Him.
In Christ,
Pastor Kirk Flaa
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