The Problem of Evil

If there is a God, then why are over 27 million people currently being trafficked? If there is a God, then why are 3.1 million children dying of hunger annually? If there is a loving God, then why is it that pain and suffering seem to penetrate all of life?

If there is a God, then why is my wife plagued with a chronic illness that leaves her debilitated and exhausted?

The problem of evil, sickness, and pain is one that I’ve personally struggled through. With tears in my eyes, I have had to witness the person I love the most anguishing in so much pain, and all I can do is lay on my closet floor crying out to God to have mercy on her, not understanding why an all-powerful God would not step in to heal her and help her when it seems like she needs Him the most. All I can think of in those moments is: Why is this happening? Why is this being allowed? Where is God in the midst of this?

All of the questions that race through my head are fundamentally rooted in one overarching question: why do humans experience evil and suffering, and why would an all-loving God allow this to take place?

Whenever I find myself asking this question, I am sad, angry, and feeling completely alone. Frankly, it’s difficult to approach this question with a clear head when I am in that kind of emotional headspace, and because of that, it’s important to take a step back and think through the realities of life, differentiating between what is objectively true and what I’m feeling in that moment. And so, as I attempt to answer the dilemma between an evil world and a loving God, I want you to take a step back and hear what I’m going to say with an open mind and an open heart.

In the Beginning, Everything Was Good

The first question that must be addressed is this: has evil always existed, and if not, when did it come into existence? According to the Bible, the answer is no; evil has not always existed, and there is, in fact, a point when it entered into the world. If you take a look at the biblical text in Genesis Chapter One, where the story of creation takes place, there’s one word that stands out on the page, and that word is “good.” In fact, the word good is used seven times in the first chapter of the Bible:

“And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”— Genesis 1:31

What this shows us is that God created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in it and designed all of it to be “good.” No pain, no sickness, no death, and no suffering.

What Went Wrong

Well, this begs the question: if everything was made good by God, then where did evil come from? In Genesis chapters 2 and 3, the Bible clearly lays out what went wrong:

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’”— Genesis 2:16–17

In other words, God created the world good, He placed man in a perfect environment to have community with Him, but gave man a choice. That choice was essentially to enjoy the relationship he had with his creator in a perfect environment that had zero pain and zero suffering, or for man to disobey God and face the consequences.

Genesis chapter 3 details the creature’s decision to rebel against the creator. The Bible reveals that God, the creator, gave his creatures the ability to make a decision: to choose life or death, to choose peace or suffering, to trust in what God told them and obey Him, or to succumb to the voice of temptation and rebel against Him. This choice would be the most consequential decision in the history of humanity, and the decision the first man and woman made was to rebel against God.

This rebellion not only separated the creature from their creator but unleashed the pandora’s box of sin and corruption into the world:

“Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.”— Romans 5:12

God makes the world perfect; the creature to whom He gave freedom chose death. Therefore, the origin of evil on planet Earth starts with two human beings, not God, and the perpetuation of evil begins with all human beings, not God. And if God decided to rid the earth of all evil, He has every right to start with me and move to you and on and on until the world is ridden of the primary perpetrators of evil—that is, mankind.

God’s Redemptive Plan

You see, the very first time that man disobeyed God, God had every right to put him to death then and there. After all, He warned them, didn’t He? Yet instead of obligating His creature to the punishment that mankind deserved, God moved toward His creature with a plan and a purpose—a purpose to redeem these wayward humans, restore His unworthy subjects, and rescue His creation, which had now been subjected to corruption by man’s disobedience.

Creation was made good. The creature was given a choice. The choice the creature made was bad. Cosmic treason was committed against the creator and King of the universe. The creature, mankind… we—now live in a fallen and broken world with sin and death, separated from God, and the only one who can rescue us from this darkness is the creator Himself.

Where Is God in the Midst of Suffering?

So, where is God in the midst of my suffering? Where is God in the midst of your suffering? Where is God in the midst of this evil world?

I don’t have all the answers to that question, though I can comprehend with my 3 lb. brain why one thing happened over another. But when I feel the darkness closing in and I find myself clueless as to why God chose to allow the world to go down this horrible spiral, I go back to what I know.

I know about 2,000 years ago, there was a virgin named Mary who miraculously conceived a child. I know that this Child was not simply a prophet or a messenger but was the eternal God himself. I know that the eternal God chose not only to condescend to the earth in an act of absolute humility but also took on the form of a servant. I know that this child would be named Jesus, which means “God saves.”

I know that Jesus lived the perfect life and called those who were most lost back into a relationship with God. I know that Jesus, God in the flesh, king of the universe, willingly chose to go to the cross, lay down his life, and undergo torture and death for one reason—so that his wayward, rebellious, treasonous creation would not have to suffer God’s judgment but be able to have peace with God and hope for their future. A hope that one day God would make all things new where there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more evil in the world.

I know that God is love regardless of how I feel in any given moment, and He demonstrated His love by dying on the cross. I know that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead three days after his crucifixion and calls all people everywhere to turn away from their sin and rebellion against God and to choose to obey God by believing in the work that Jesus did on their behalf.

I know that God loves me even when I’m crying out to him and I don’t feel comforted, or feel loved, or understand what is going on. I know that he loves me because he made a way for me and you to have a relationship with him. Even though we live in a fallen and broken world, this is not the end; this is not the final destination. God will rectify every wrong and restore all things.

A Choice Set Before You

So why is there evil in this world? Simply put, there is evil in the world because God chose to suspend the judgment that mankind deserves and has provided a way for all people everywhere to be saved from the corrupt world that we live in by making a choice—a choice to believe in Jesus Christ as the one and only one who can save humanity from the judgment that will take place. Make no mistake: God will deal with evil, and this reality is predicted throughout the Bible from the first book to the last; God will deal a crushing blow on all evil and rid the earth of it once and for all.

The only question left is: have you chosen to follow God by turning away from sin and placing your faith in Jesus Christ, or will you take part in the flood of judgment that will cleanse this world from all evil? In the same way that God gave the first man and woman a choice to choose Him and live or rebel against Him and die, God presents this choice to you now.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”— John 3:16–18

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”— John 3:36