WHY? MAKING SENSE OF GOD’S WILL

If God is all loving, and God is all powerful, then why is there suffering the world? We see a tsunami hit a poor country, thousands die, made homeless, and lose everything. A woman wonders how can you believe in God when you see such devastation? How do you answer that?

A man who goes to church, volunteers to help others, prays, gives money to the church losses everything in the 2008 recession. He wonders why God is punishing him and what did he do that was so bad, that God would do this to him. How do you respond to that?

A man dies, leaving his wife a single mother to care for two children. Her friends try to comfort her telling her that his death must have been God’s will. Is this a good way to comfort someone?

Suffering, unanswered prayers, and the unfairness of life may lead us to question God’s goodness and maybe even God’s existence. Have you ever wrestled with these questions, and how did you resolve it?

Theodicy – coined in 1710 is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence (all-loving), omniscience (all- knowing), and omnipotence (all-powerful). The fundamental dilemma of theodicy is the continued existence of evil and God's apparent inability or unwillingness to eradicate it.

Do you believe that evils exits? How do you define evil? Evil may be seen as that which goes against, or is outside of society, both in terms of values and actions. Why does God allow evil to exist?

This study may not resolve this issue, but hopefully it will help you as you seek to answer these questions for yourself. Typically, we make assumptions about how God is supposed to work in our world. When God fails to meet those expectations, we may get disappointed, disillusioned or confused.

What assumptions have you made as to how God is supposed to work in the world? One assumption from the author is that if I believe in God and try to be a good person then God will take care of me, bless me, and nothing bad will happen to me. Do you agree with this assumption?

Do you ever feel like God is punishing you when something bad happens? The Bible does not promise that those who believe will not suffer. The Bible is filled with stories about people who refused to let go of their faith in the face of suffering. The Bible tells us that through God, we can find comfort, strength, and hope.

How do you feel about God not preventing us from suffering, but gives us strength, hope, and comfort to get through it?

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? What does “everything happens for a reason” mean? The author says it usually means that God has a plan and although we cannot see that plan, the suffering we are going though now has a purpose and God has a reason for it, so we just need to trust God.

The author considers this a second misguided assumption. If everything happens for a reason then we are saying it is part of God’s plan. This means God planned this tragedy for your life and willed this thing to happen which means God caused it to happen. Think of the very worst thing that has happened in your life. Do you believe that God caused it to happen?

Belief that everything happens for a reason is one of the reasons people will tell you that some tragic event in your life was God’s will. If someone murders another person, and God wished for it to happen then God is responsible for putting this into the mind of the murderer. Is this an all-loving God?

If a baby dies, is this part of God’s plan. Does God really want to take babies away from the mothers and fathers? 30,000 people a day die from diseases related to malnutrition, starvation, and a lack of proper drinking water. Is this God’s will?

If it is God’s plan for 30,000 people a day to die, then there is no need for us to help. If it is God’s will that we become sick, then why go to a doctor. That would mean the doctor is going against God’s will to heal us. If we say that everything happens for a reason or this bad thing is just the will of God, then we are left with the impression that God wills evil and suffering in the world.

Are you willing to rethink a belief that everything happens for a reason? This type of thinking could easily cause people to turn away from God. Now we will begin to try and make sense of the relationship between God and suffering

Read Luke 16:19-26 What did the rich man do to deserve being placed in a place of torment? And what did Lazarus do to be placed in a place of bliss? He ignored Lazarus, not a sin of commission but a sin of omission. Is this fair? How many people have you ignored?

Read Matthew 25:31-46 Note that this takes place at the second coming. Again we see sins of omissions not commissions. How easy is it to commit a sin of omission without even knowing it?

How much of the suffering in the world today is caused by Christians sitting on the sidelines and not taking part in alleviating the suffering of the world? Notice that this is all about doing, not faith. If you were called to stand before the throne of Christ today, would He send you to the sheep or the goats? We must learn to walk the talk.

The author presents three basic ideas to provide a foundation for reconciling God’s goodness with the suffering we experience in today’s world. 1.God has given humans dominion over the world, we are responsible for what happens. 2.God has given us the ability to choose between good and evil. 3.We struggle with our freedom will.

1.God has given humans dominion over the world, we are responsible for what happens. God created everything and made natural, physical laws that govern it. God gave us intellect and a conscience to help us know right from wrong.

In the OT, God gave man the law and prophets. In the NT, God gave man Jesus. IF you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Jesus shows us God’s will as to how we should live and it is centered around love. Finally God gave man the Holy Spirit to guide us.

When God wants something done in this world He sends people empowered by the Holy Spirit. He send people to offer love and encouragement. He sent Moses to free the Israelites from Egypt. To spread the Gospel, Jesus sent the disciples. What has God sent you to do?

2. God has given us the ability to choose between good and evil. As an expression of love, God has given each of us free will, so we can make choices. Sometimes we make wrong choices that lead to suffering for ourselves or for others. Sometimes we choose to do what God does not want us to do. How do you decide between what is right and what is wrong?

3. We struggle with our freedom will. Sin means to miss the mark, fall short, or stray from the path. We have to decide each day whether or not we will follow God’s will in the choices we make. It is easy for us to be tempted to stray from God’s path for us.

If we choose wrong, then we bring suffering to ourselves and others who might be affected by our actions. What God has intended as a gift for us, when misused, can lead to suffering. Give some examples, where a decision made by one person has led to suffering by others.