Seeing God’s Goodness Even When He Allows Evil to Exist

A hard truth that we as Christians deal with in our faith is that evil, destruction, hatred, wickedness, struggles, hardships, and trials still occur in the world around us, in our own lives, and in the lives of those we love. It’s easy to fall into a mindset that God doesn’t care, that His goodness is absent in times of evil. You may even be asking, how is God fully good when He allows such evil to exist? Is God good? This is a HARD topic for many of us. But I want to bring some light and encouragement to this topic with the goal that your trust and faith in the Lord grows deeper and stronger.

Is God good? This is a question that my husband and I have wrestled with this past year. We have struggled to understand how He can allows such horrible things to happen when He has the ability to put an end to it now. So we sought to find the answer. To be completely honest, this task was a little overwhelming. But I thank the Lord that He helped us by showing us some sermons, some resources, and opening our eyes along the way to the truth. So let me share with you what we learned.

Is God good?

We know that God is good because the Bible tells us. This might seem like a typical Sunday school answer, but in reality, it’s true. If we 100% believe that God’s Word is 100% true, then we need to 100% believe that God is 100% good. Over and over, scripture reminds us that God is good. Nahum 1:7, Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 100:5 and so on and so on. God is good. It is undeniable.

God is good. We see His goodness in the smallest details to the biggest phenomenons. God’s goodness is played out continually and daily both amidst and in the evil that thrives in this world. When we choose to dwell on His goodness, we cannot help but see it. If you’re questioning God’s goodness in this moment, stop for a moment and dwell deeply on the ways He has shown His goodness to you today, this week, this month, this year, or the last 10 years.

God is also righteous. God is also loving. God is also merciful. God is also wrathful. God is also glorious. God is also sovereign. God is also faithful. God is also patient. These are characteristics of God that we must understand before we attempt to tackle the question of how He allows the existence of evil. We have the choice to accept God for who He fully is or not. We cannot choose to accept part of who He is and ignore the rest of Him. To do so diminishes God and the hope we have in Him. To do so clouds our understanding of why He allows evil to exist.

I also want to point out that God is sovereign, meaning He is in control of ALL things… absolutely, perfectly, wisely. If we doubt that God is good, we doubt His sovereignty. God has a good purpose and a good plan for everything. It’s because of His goodness and His sovereignty that we can know without a doubt that God means everything for good (Genesis 50:20) and that God will work all things together for good according to His good purpose and to those He calls (Romans 8:28).

So if God is fully good and fully sovereign, how can He allow such evil to exist?

This is where things become difficult and hard for us to understand and accept. God is good and sovereign, we can’t deny that. So why does He allow such evil to exist? If God’s plan is good, why is evil part of it? How is He fully good if He allows evil?

This is when we need to remember, understand, and trust that God is good and in control of everything. Because it means that He is in control of the evil in this world. Before you get confused or grow angry, let me explain. God cannot be sovereign and in control of all things if He does not also control evil. This does not mean that God creates evil or is evil. Remember, God is good, God is righteous. “In Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you” (Psalm 5:4). He allows evil to occur in order for His good purpose and good plan to prevail. God is in control. He has a bigger plan than evil will ever have. God will not allow evil to hinder His plan, but He is not hiding from the fact that He uses evil to accomplish that perfect plan.1

There are a few reasons why God allows evil to occur, reasons that show He is fully good even in the midst of evil.

1. God uses suffering and evil to grow us.

Think back on your life in the hard, difficult, and painful times. Do you see God? Think back at the point you were at in your relationship with God. Through those trials and suffering, did you grow to trust God more? Did you grow, not necessarily in understanding, but in gratitude of how God used that hardship for good? God does not allow anything to happen without a purpose and a plan. What we often see as intended for evil, God intends for good (Genesis 50:20).

It’s in the times when we are brought low that God lifts us up higher. It’s in the times that we feel completely out of control that we see God is in complete and total control. It’s in the times that we are angry at evil that we see God’s anger at evil too. God uses the evil, wickedness, and suffering in this world to draw us closer to Him. God is fully good, even when He allows evil to occur, because in His goodness, He draws us closer to Him. He doesn’t have to. But out of His love for us, He wants to and He does.

2. God uses suffering and evil to reveal His righteousness.

Romans 3:5 says that “our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God.” Read that verse again. The evil that is within us, the wrong that is within us, the wickedness, the foolishness, the sin that is within us reveals God’s righteousness. We would not be able to see God’s goodness or God’s righteousness displayed in His perfect plan of redemption if there was nothing to redeem.2

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins… It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26). Friends, we see over and over that God uses hardships, evil, wickedness, and suffering to reveal His righteousness. God reveals His righteousness by overcoming evil. God reveals His righteousness in order that we may be saved, made right with Him, and live in eternity with Him. We are saved from our own unrighteousness through His righteousness, through His good plan to redeem us, and through His love for us.

But why does He need to reveal His righteousness? Because God deserves all praise and glory. Nothing, not even evil, changes the fact that God deserves all glory. He deserves all glory. He doesn’t narcissistically want it or crave it, He deserves it. When His righteousness is revealed, when we see His goodness, when we see how He overcomes evil and is victorious over evil, we can’t help but praise Him for who He is and give Him all the glory. (As I’m writing this, my heart is overflowing and about ready to explode as I’m realizing these things too!).

God is fully good even in allowing evil to exist by showing His righteousness and glory to us when we don’t deserve to glimpse it. God is fully good even in allowing evil to exist by revealing our need for His righteousness and providing the perfect and ultimate sacrifice to bring us into His righteousness.

3. God uses hardships, evil, wickedness, trials, and suffering to prepare us for eternal glory.

Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” The sufferings we endure right now are so “light and momentary” that they are trivial to what will be revealed to us. They are  “preparing us for the eternal weight of glory” beyond anything we can imagine (2 Corinthians 4:17).

We are not fully like Christ yet. But as we continue to walk in faith with Him, we are being transformed to be more and more like Him. As we go through suffering and hardships, God uses that to grow us in Christ-likeness. And one day, when Christ returns or we go home to Him, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). God, in His goodness, uses evil and suffering to prepare us to be like Christ, to prepare us for eternal glory with Him. God is fully good in using the evil that causes suffering to reveal His glory and the glory that we will one day have when we spend eternity with Him.

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Could God use other ways to grow us, to reveal His righteousness, and to prepare us? Yes, He could. But He doesn’t. And in this we have to trust Him. Is God good? Yes He is! God triumphs evil. God will not let evil have the final say. God is good. God is righteous. God is sovereign. God deserves all glory. God deserves all praise. God is in control over EVERYTHING. God does not delight in evil, God cannot create evil, but God allows evil to exist so that we may see His true character, that we may become more like Him, and that our faith may be strengthened in Him.

God foreknew and predestined that evil would exist. In His sovereignty, in His goodness, He predestined the plan for Jesus to be our redeemer, to overcome evil. In His sovereignty, in His goodness, He provided a way of escape from the evil that came into this world through sin and through rebellion. In His sovereignty, in His goodness, He reveals His grace and mercy, His wrath and love which, without evil, we could not see.3 I choose to praise God and trust God that He is in control over everything, including the existence of evil. I choose to glorify God even when I don’t fully understand why He does everything He does. My God is triumphant over evil. My God can do all things. Nothing is impossible with God. No purpose of His can be thwarted (Job 42:2, Luke 1:37). I am thankful that my God is in control over evil and not the other way around. God is good. God is sovereign. What a beautiful thing to rest in.

I encourage you to rest in God’s goodness. I encourage you to thank God that He is in absolute, 100% control. I encourage you to pour your heart out to God, to cry out to Him in the midst of all this evil and suffering. I encourage you to dwell on who He is, the good He is doing, and the triumph He already has over evil. Praise God for Jesus. Praise God for salvation. Praise God for justification, sanctification, and one day, glorification.

God, help us to daily see your goodness, your sovereignty, and your glory. Help us to find peace and rest in the fact that you are in control, even over the existence of evil. Help our unbelief, help our doubt. Help us to trust your perfect plan of redemption. May we have faith to see that through allowing evil in this world, you are revealing your righteousness, love, glory, mercy, your perfect plan for salvation and redemption, and your care for us. You are triumphant, Lord. You are good. I pray that we may always know that and see that. In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.

If you find yourself frustrated with God because of this topic/issue, I encourage you to check out this blog post –> What to do When You’re Frustrated with God

Notes:

1, 2, 3 MacArthur, John. John MacArthur: Why Does God Allow So Much Suffering and Evil? Ligonier Ministries, Youtube, 12 May 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LFzk1afiD8 .