Explosion Kills Two at Plant in Madill, Oklahoma

Suspect Surrenders after Person Fatally Shot at Purdue University

Family of Marine who’s Heart Vanished after Autopsy Awaiting Answers

Remains found are those of Missing NYC Autistic Teen, Medical Examiner Says

The above headlines are real. Copy and paste them into Google and look at some of the stories. Why do we see headlines like this? Why do we come home on a Tuesday afternoon, exhausted from school and all its drama, to find out that grandma has cancer, and the doctors say she’s only got a month left? Why do we see our friends, neighbors, maybe even our own children, born with diseases that they can never get rid of?

These questions make life really difficult, especially for Christians. It’s one thing to look at them and say, “Oh well. There’s no hope for the human race.” It’s’ an entirely different thing to say, “Wait, I thought God was supposed to be good and just and sovereign, but He’s not doing anything. There really must be no hope.”

I’ll admit it’s a very terrifying thing to see headlines like, EXCLUSIVE: Gruesome Syria Photos may Prove Torture by Asad Regime, or to learn that after just a few short years alive, your little brother has been diagnosed with leukemia. There isn’t a horror quite like it, especially when we know that God is supposed to be good and just. But if He is good and He is just, why are these things still happening?

In the beginning, God created everything. He made all of it. And when He made each new thing, He stopped, looked at it, and said that it was good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). That’s okay and all, but still, we’ve gotten nowhere. If God created everything, and all of it was good, why isn’t it all still good now?

Because we sinned.

In the beginning, God created everything and when He looked at it, He was pleased with it. That everything included man, and He loved man then as he loves man now. He made the earth for man to have, and to control.

But we ruined it. Check out Isaiah’s description of our haphazardly ugly masterpiece in chapter 24:

⁵ The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by fire,
and only a few are left alive.
⁷ The grapevines waste away,
and there is no new wine.
All the merrymakers sigh and mourn.
⁸ The cheerful sound of tambourines is stilled;
the happy cries of celebration are heard no more.
The melodious chords of the harp are silent.
⁹ Gone are the joys of wine and song;
alcoholic drink turns bitter in the mouth.
¹⁰ The city writhes in chaos;
every home is locked to keep out intruders.
¹¹ Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine.
Joy has turned to gloom.
Gladness has been banished from the land.
¹² The city is left in ruins,
its gates battered down.
¹³ Throughout the earth the story is the same—
only a remnant is left,
like the stray olives left on the tree
or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.

In verses 6-13, we can very clearly see that the world is messed up. Isaiah does a fantastic job of covering just about everything wrong with the world, corporately, and he explains why this is in verse 5:

"The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.”

The earth suffers for the sins of its people. We are the reason these bad things happen, or at least, our sins are (for they have…broken his everlasting covenant).

But again, we must ask; if God is so good and loving and just, why does he let these awful things happen?

Because that’s what it means to be Love.

Don’t lose me here: I’m not saying that because He loves us He lets terrible things happen to teach us something or give us something. If that’s what you’re getting, you’re missing it entirely. He has given us a free will to act on this earth as we choose. He is absolutely sovereign, but that doesn’t mean He’s 100% in control. Rather, He’s in charge. He loves us enough to let us choose whether or not we will follow his laws. And just as sin corrupts the human being himself, who was created pure and intended solely for the glory of God, so does the earth be corrupted by the sins of men, which was also pure and for His glory.

He allows us to choose to sin because he loves us. If he didn’t, and simply made everyone follow his rules, it wouldn’t be real love. Freedom of choice is the second greatest gift he’s given us, second only to salvation itself.

And God’s desire for man to have free will as a means of displaying His love for them is a desire that exists in such a tremendous capacity that He gave us free reign throughout the whole Earth—all of it. But, of course, we couldn’t handle the freedom very well. It’s kind of like the mom who turns their kid loose at the playground. She’s in charge, but the whole place hasn’t been made for her—it’s for her child. She lets him go, free to run around and play and use the playground as much as he wants but as soon as he oversteps his bounds, gets too close to the road, or does something stupid to hurt himself from misusing the equipment, she is 100% capable and ready to swoop in and save him, by whatever means necessary.

Things aren’t going to be getting better, either. Sorry to put a damper on an already pretty bleak picture, but it’s the reality we have to face. Revelation warns, almost as a play-by-play, of a time just before Jesus’ return where the earth is a horrible place. Isaiah also backs up these pictures from Revelation when he says this in verses 10-13:

The city writhes in chaos;
every home is locked to keep out intruders.
Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine.
Joy has turned to gloom.
Gladness has been banished from the land.
The city is left in ruins,
its gates battered down.
Throughout the earth the story is the same—
only a remnant is left,
like the stray olives left on the tree
or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.

This is describing how bad things will be just before Jesus returns. Cities, the very places we center our governments, artistic talents, musical culture, and pretty much everything else we do in life (i.e. the best and brightest of humanity) will be the most dangerous places on earth; places where even people’s homes will need to be locked at all times in order to keep thieves out (sound familiar?). Mobs will gather and march for their causes, some of which will be absolutely ridiculous. Joy will disappear, and happiness will effectively be banished. And it will be the same story all over the earth.

But then, and I love this, in verse 14, we see what life will be like for those few who have accepted that gift of salvation and are living in Christ:

But all who are left shout and sing for joy.
Those in the west praise the Lord’s majesty.
In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord.
In the lands beyond the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
We hear songs of praise from the ends of the earth,
songs that give glory to the Righteous One!

Did you catch it? Happiness where there should be none. Songs of praise where there should only be wails of sorrow. All over the earth, right in the middle of all this despair, is a shout of adoration and worship to the One True God who gives us life.

You see, God doesn’t ever promise us that our troubles will vanish here. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Don’t be deceived; this verse doesn’t say that your treasures can just be material things. Your treasure could be a world without pain, suffering, mental illnesses, war, and all other horrific things about sin. But that’s not what’s going to satisfy you. Jesus says that your treasure should be in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy. But, without Jesus, what is heaven worth anyway?

Jesus is our ultimate prize. Psalm 16:9-10 says,

”No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead, or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.”

Jesus will not ever, never, see decay. He is in heaven, protected by the Father’s hand (John 10) and living forever.

Jesus doesn’t promise us that our troubles will vanish. But what he does promise is that he will be here with us through them all (Matthew 28:20).

So the next time you see something bad happen, your question needn’t be, “Why is God letting this happen?” See what is good in that season, and remind yourself of the wonderful love God has given us that allows this good thing to happen. As you focus on Him, and you may not notice this at first, but as you focus on Him, I promise you, from the bottom of my heart I promise, all the worry that plagues you over the horrific realities of sin and its devastating effects will literally vanish within you. They’ll be so dead there won’t even be a memory for you to be tempted to return to.

Run to Jesus. Fix your eyes on Him and don’t ever look anywhere else because if you do, this world, the very world full of sin and despair that His death on the cross and resurrection have forever defeated, will swallow you up. It’s up to you.