God or Good?

We stand now among a people shell shocked in the wake of incidents in Boston, West, Texas, and now Oklahoma. Not to mention the unthinkable crimes revealed in Cleveland and in the recent Gosnell and Arias trials. We’ve barely recovered from the shootings in Colorado and Newtown, and we are slung yet again with inexplicable atrocities. In the face of the fear of terrorism, accidental chemical explosions, and the unpredictability of Mother Nature, to whom shall we turn? The government? But with the scandals surrounding Benghazi and the IRS, are they really to be trusted? Or do we rely on ourselves? Surely we cannot stand against the unexpected violence of a determined criminal or defend our neighbors against the devastation of a storm. Who then? Who can deliver us from the world that seems to be caving in around us?

We can try to deny the brokenness. We can turn off the news; we can close our eyes and ears to reality. But for all our wishful thinking we will yet live in a world that is riddled with injustice, disease, starvation, poverty, corruption, and death. Even the most imaginative forms of escapism cannot protect us against the evils that surround us. No government, no institution, and no individual can bar us against the harms that are sure to ensue.

So, what? Are we to simply mourn the fact that humanity is constantly being trampled by tragedy? We hear news stations asking for prayers. We tweet Bible verses and post Facebook statuses inviting others to join us in praying for whatever city has been afflicted. But to whom are we sending these prayers? Is it to someone who can do anything to actually help us?

Are we praying to some ethereal being, who we hope has still got things under control?

Are we praying to Comfort, so that those hurting will know they’re not alone?

Are we praying to Hope, so that the darkness of death won’t seem so utterly bleak?

Or are we praying to Power, that he might intervene and carry out justice for those suffering?

Is it a good God we’re praying to? Or is he a malicious tyrant seeking revenge on a rebellious people?

Is he a capable God? Or is he simply unable to stop misfortune from persisting?
Is he present? Or is he in some distant place, only attending to the needs of those closest to him?

Certainly, he cannot be all three. If God is good, powerful, and present, how do we account for the sorrow that’s saturating the world around us? If there is a God, he can either be good and powerful, but not present. Or he can be good and present, but not powerful. Or he can be powerful and present, but not good. He can only be two of the three that Christians claim for him to be in order for his existence to co-align with these unexplainable tragedies. Or so it seems.

I’ve heard people say, “Don’t blame God.” And, “It’s not God’s fault,” as if trying to shift people’s focus from God to other factors: bad karma, happenstance, or even from a Christian perspective, the fallen state of our world. But do we really need to let God off the hook? Do we, as Christians, really want to move people’s focus off of God onto other, much less important, parts of the equation? And if we do decide to point others to God by offering Scripture or prayers, to which God are we directing them?

In the midst of tragedy, Christians must be aware of two things:

1)   God is in control. He is the One to whom we should look during hardship, no matter how devastating or unjust the circumstance. He does not need to be relinquished of blame.

2)   The character of the God to which we are referring. Simply offering prayers up to an unknown, unspecified higher power is not sufficient. If we are praying to the God of the Bible, He is altogether good, powerful, and present. We must know how to reconcile these three attributes, as 1 Peter 3:15 reminds us to always “be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you”

So who is this God, who allows the death of innocent children, the devastation of homes, and murder of the masses? How can he be good, powerful, and present, and still let such brokenness remain unrepaired?

Well, I don’t have a concrete answer. But I do know that our God, the only true God, is good. There are countless descriptions in Scripture of the goodness of God. Perhaps most famously, Psalm 136 opens with, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” The chapter then restates the endurance of God’s steadfast love for the proceeding 25 verses. Throughout history, God has displayed his faithfulness and love to His people; to expound upon each demonstration of his goodness would exceed the limits of this post, to be sure! He is a loving, compassionate Father, who cared for us so much that he sent his only son, Jesus, to live a sinless life and die a sinner’s death for our sakes. He so badly wanted to be reconciled to us, his estranged, rebellious children, that he allowed Jesus to be the acceptable sacrifice for our sins, thus restoring our relationship with him forever. All we have to do is acknowledge our sinfulness, trust in Jesus as our Savior, and receive God’s incredible grace. We are then in complete fellowship with God, and we get the gift of spending eternity with him in heaven. All because he loved us and wanted to forgive us. If that isn’t an awesome depiction of goodness, I don’t know what is! (See John 3:16, Ephesians 2:1-10)

God is also all-powerful. He is sovereign—he is in control of all that happens on this earth. Colossians 1:3 says, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He knew about the bombing in Boston, the explosion in West, and the tornadoes in Oklahoma before they happened. He knew how many lives would be lost and the sorrow that would follow. Yet he still allowed them. And, since he is in complete control, we can, in fact, hold him accountable. I know that gets a little uncomfortable—essentially blaming God for the misfortune in this world—but that’s not my intention. I’m simply pointing out that since he is all-powerful, he does not need to be released from responsibility. He is sovereign, even over the sin and sadness. (See Hebrews 1:3, Revelation 19:6)

The God who is good and powerful is also here with us. Genesis 16 refers to God in Hebrew as “Beer Lahai Roi,” meaning “The Living One who sees me.” This may be the hardest aspect for me to reconcile with the rest of God’s attributes. If he is good and powerful, how can he possibly be looking down upon our hardships and seemingly doing nothing? How can he allow such pain to persist? But if we are to believe in any part of God, we must believe in all of who he is. We must know and trust in the fact that he is here, he is with us, and he is moving. (See Psalm 139:7-12, Jeremiah 23:23-24)

So where does this leave us? Simply knowing that God is good, powerful, and present may comfort us, but it’s also confusing in the midst of such fearful times. Tim Keller paints an analogy that is much better than any that I could think of on my own. I will paraphrase:

When we are children—around 4 or 5—we are taken to the doctor to get our first round of shots, at least the first that we can remember. We feel dread as we see the doctor walk in with the needle that we know will inflict pain, and we look to our mother or father with a look of perplexity and terror. We kick and scream and ask our parents, “Why? Why do I need something that’s going to hurt so badly?” But instead of answering, they simply comfort us with their presence and words of assurance. They know that, despite how desperately we want to know the reason for our pain, there would be no point in explaining. How can we, at the age of 4 or 5, be able to grasp the necessity of such a seemingly horrid thing? If our parents had explained that the doctor was simply injecting our bodies with a concoction of chemicals and forms of a disease that will one day build an immunity to a greater disease, could we have understood? And would it have eased the pain? More than likely, we would have kicked and screamed all the more.

If this is the case between two finite beings, a parent and a child, how much wider, then, is the gap of understanding between us finite beings and God, an infinite Being? If he explained why we must endure pain and suffering, if he unveiled the greater purpose behind it all, would it help? Could we even comprehend? I don’t think so. (paraphrased from Tim Keller’s Reason For God)

This to say, God’s character is not conditional to our opinion, or what we believe is right and fair. He is who he says he is, not because it’s easy to comprehend, but because He Is. And really, we shouldn’t want it any other way. God is not God if we can fit him into our own imaginative boxes. He is good, he is powerful, and he is present. He has a plan, and we need not know what it is to know that it is working. Pain, rejection, loss, injustice—all these things exist, and they will continue to exist as long as there is life on earth. But what’s important is not why these things happen but Who is on your side.

We serve a God who is a loving, compassionate Father, near to the brokenhearted and a healer of their wounds. He is sympathetic to our weaknesses and gracious to our faults.

We serve a Consuming Fire, a mighty, powerful God who will not long stand to be mocked. He is an avenger of his people and will repay the wrong done to them.

We serve a present God, who sees us, who is with us, and who has given us his Spirit that we may draw near to Him at all times. All these things and more, God is a God of life and of hope.

And amidst tragedy and despair, to Him alone do we find solace and strength.