My Version of "If God Loves Us, Why is There so Much Pain in the World"

Funny how the "why" questions don't usually pop up when good things happen, but when bad things happen, we bombard God with why why why. We often take good things in our lives for granted. We ascribe all the credit to ourselves when good things happen. "I worked hard. I deserved this big house!" "I was smart and I knew it would work!" Sometimes we even ascribe it to something as vague and cheesy as "luck"- "I was lucky that I didn't get hit by that truck!"-rather than giving credit to the One who truly is behind all things good.

I have been very humble these few years to learn that God has a lot to do with the good things and blessings in my life. Isaiah 29:11 says "The Heaven and earth are yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom! We praise you for you are in control of everything. Riches and Honor come from You. You are the ruler of all mankind. You alone control power and might, and it is in Your discretion that men are made great and are given strength." Doesn't that say it all? How can I not be humbled by the magnitude of His greatness and power from this verse! I believe that it would take a total paradigm shift for many people in this country to realize that good things come from Him.

We have been taught from very young that we can do anything if we give our 100%. Little do most of us know that this Almighty God is behind all the results of our labor and is in fact the provider of the strength and ability we have to accomplish anything.

Okay. Enough said about good things. After all, the topic is if God loves us, why is there so much pain in the world. From the world's perspective, things around me currently are definitely far from being good. In a children's book my son loves to read a lot, A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the main character in the book experienced a miserable day as a boy and as a student. Comparatively, I should title my book "A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad SUMMER." My circumstances at this very moment are certainly beyond my understanding and control. In fact, many things that happened to me and my family in the last few years would be considered as miserable and bad luck by many folks. To name a few, financial crunches to a point of almost zero balance in my bank account, heavy debt, my son's kidney problem and stay at the ICU, my husband's layoffs are just a glimpse of the storms in my life for the past three years and at the present. Nonetheless, again and again, God has taught me to put down the crooked spectacles from this earthy world, and take up His binoculars, seeing "bad" things in a way I have never seen before.

When we try to see things from God's vantage point, it could become like the song says "and the things on earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glorious grace." A verse that reminded me to correct my perspective is Hebrew 12:7-11.
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

It talks about God's discipline for those who He loves. I will not say that God is punishing me at this point for something I did or did not do, but I believe my circumstances are a way God is disciplining me. From my educational background, discipline could be translated to positive guidance and training. When I look at my circumstances with God's binoculars, I certainly can see that God is training me for His purpose. The best part of this is, we can share in God's holiness as a result of His discipline, and yield a harvest of peace and righteousness. Thus, instead of grumbling, I am learning to praise God in this storm and thank Him for His discipline.

To conclude, I would like to use Dr. Warren Wiersbe's quote from his Back to the Bible's devotional writing"Your perspective doesn't change the painting or the facts, but it does change your reaction to the facts. So we need to go into the sanctuary of God. We need to know from His point of view what it means to live for the Lord."

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