Where Is God When a Disaster Happens? – Part 3
John Ankerberg and Dillon Burroughs[1]
Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People—and Good Things Happen to Bad People?
Philip Yancey, in his book Disappointment with God, provocatively addresses the question of why life appears unfair:
Some Jewish writers, such as Jerzy Kosinski and Elie Wiesel, began with a strong faith in God, but saw it vaporize in the gas furnaces of the Holocaust. Face to face with history’s grossest unfairness, they concluded that God must not exist. (Still, the human instinct asserts itself. Kosinski and Wiesel overlook the underlying issue of where our primal sense of fairness comes from. Why ought we even expect the world to be fair?) Others, equally mindful of the world’s unfairness, cannot bring themselves to deny God’s existence. Instead, they propose another possibility: perhaps God agrees that life is unfair, but cannot do anything about it.
Rabbi Harold Kushner took this approach in his best-selling book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. After watching his son die of the disease progeria, Kushner concluded that “even God has a hard time keeping chaos in check,” and that God is “a God of justice and not of power.”
According to Rabbi Kushner, God is as frustrated, even outraged, by the unfairness on this planet as anyone else, but he lacks the power to change it. Millions of readers found comfort in Kushner’s portrayal of a God who seemed compassionate, albeit weak. I wonder, however, what those people make of the last five chapters of Job, which contain God’s “self-defense.” No other part of the Bible conveys God’s power so impressively. If God is less-than-powerful, why did he choose the worst possible situation, when his power was most called into question, to insist on his omnipotence? (Elie Wiesel said of the God described by Kushner, “If that’s who God is, why doesn’t he resign and let someone more competent take his place?”)[2]
When life goes wrong, either for ourselves or someone else we know, it is only natural to question why it is happening. We sometimes wonder, how God can allow innocent children to suffer from life-ending diseases? Why do people continue to be mistreated based on the money they make, the home they live in, the clothing they wear, or the color of their skin?
Even skeptics or those outside of any faith system desire for the wrongs of this world to be changed. There is something deep within our hearts that longs for the injustices of this life to be corrected.
How can God allow bad things to happen to good people and good things to happen to bad people? It seems like a fair question to ask. If God is just, why isn’t life?
What Good Can Come from Suffering?
Found in the clothing of a dead child at Ravensbruck concentration camp was the following prayer:
O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted upon us:
Instead remember the fruits we have borne because of this suffering, our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble.
When our persecutors come to be judged by you, let all of these fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. (Source unknown.)
Suffering is not usually an enjoyable experience. However, good can be found even during times of suffering, even in the most extreme situations. In our book Defending Your Faith, we share the following reasons as to why people sometimes suffer:
* As an example to others
* To better sympathize with others
* To remain humble
* As a learning tool
* To depend on God’s power
* To grow in our relationship with Christ (developing the fruit of the Spirit—Galatians 5:2-23)
* To reveal the need for God’s discipline in our lives
* To further the work of Christ (such as when the mistreatment of a missionary opens up opportunities to impact others with Christ’s love)
A great biblical example can be found in Philippians 1:12-14, where we read:
Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
In this situation, Paul had been arrested for telling people that Jesus had come back to life. During his time under house arrest, he had the opportunity to share with all of the guards and those who visited him about the reason he had been arrested. As a result, the Christian faith spread to new people and encouraged other believers to speak out with boldness.
Where Is God When We Suffer?
Over sixty years ago, Elie Wiesel was a fifteen-year-old prisoner in the Nazi work camp at Buna, a sub-camp of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex. A cache of arms belonging to a Dutchman was discovered at the camp. The man was promptly shipped to the extermination camp area of Auschwitz. But he had a young servant boy, a pipel as they were called, a child with a refined and beautiful face, unheard of in the camps. He had the face of a sad angel. The little servant, like his Dutch master, was cruelly tortured, but would not reveal any information. So the SS sentenced the child to death, along with two other prisoners who had been discovered with arms. Wiesel tells the story:
One day when we came back from work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place, three black crows. Roll call. SS all around us; machine guns trained: the traditional ceremony. Three victims in chains—and one of them, the little servant, the sad-eyed angel. The SS seemed more preoccupied, more disturbed than usual. To hang a young boy in front of thousands of spectators was no light matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him. This time the Lagerkapo refused to act as executioner. Three SS replaced him. The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. “Long live liberty!” cried the two adults. But the child was silent.
“Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. “Bare your heads!” yelled the head of the camp. His voice was raucous. We were weeping. “Cover your heads!” Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. Their tongues hung swollen, blue-tinged. But the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive…. For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows.”[3]
Despite the pain of Elie Weisel’s experience, the response is right on target. God is there with us when we suffer, and promises to correct all wrongs at His judgment. How do we know this for certain? It is because His ultimate expression of this truth can be found in the fact that Jesus, the only Son of God, offered His life to the suffering He experienced on a Roman cross to make it possible for us to have our broken relationship with God restored, and to provide the gift of eternal life to those who will receive it. Betrayed by a close friend and abandoned by His followers, Jesus felt the emotions and the physical pain that we experience during our times of suffering. As a result, He is able to identify with us when we suffer in our daily struggles.
As the book of Hebrews observes,
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16, emphasis added)
The God of Comfort
Skeptics argue that God, if He exists, cannot be loving since He allows suffering and evil. However, the Bible presents God as loving despite the pain we often endure in this life. A few examples include:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:9)
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name …. Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:12-16, 19)
As evangelist Billy Graham has written, “Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of Christ.”[4]
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” —C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
If you want to explore the philosophical arguments for the Problem of Evil, consider our series with Dr. Norman Geisler, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” (with Rabbi Harold Kushner), “Why Does God Permit Evil to Exist,” and “Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering in the World?” All these are available in our online store at jashow.org.
- This article series includes excerpts from our book, “Why Does God Allow Evil and Suffering?” (Available as an ebook in our online store at jashow.org). ↑
- Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan), pp. 179-181. ↑
- Elie Wiesel, Night (New York: Bantam), pp.75, quoted in W. Aldrich, When God Was Taken Captive (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1989), pp. 19-41. ↑
- Billy Graham, The Billy Graham Worker’s Handbook (Minneapolis, MN: Worldwide Publications, 1984), p. 223. ↑
