Trying to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the suffering of the world is not a light or easy endeavor. It is hard for our minds (and our hearts) to conceive that a God who is loving and good would permit such heartache in the lives of His people. When grappling with this issue, some have resorted to trying to “get God off the hook” by saying that although God did not will the suffering, He was unable to intervene because of man’s free will. Such thinking indeed shrinks God to a more manageable size, but it flies in the face of the sovereignty that Scripture so clearly portrays. Besides that, a small God is of little comfort to one who has faced great agony.
While we may try to excuse God, He takes full responsibility for the tears and the trials that He allows to touch our lives. In Isaiah 45:6-7, God says, “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.”
At the risk of sounding simplistic, perhaps it is safe to say that God’s desires for our lives differ from our own. He knows that a shallow life, void of trial and full of counterfeit pleasures, will never satisfy our souls. We were made for so much more. Perhaps the painful circumstances that are a part of our past (or our present) were designed by God as a means to giving us more of His glory – which in the end, will bring us great joy.
On a personal note - a couple of years ago, a friend shared her life story with me, which included sexual abuse that she had experienced as a young girl. As I listened to all that she had gone through, it made me wrestle with the kind of thoughts that I just wrote about in the earlier paragraphs. The following lyrics flowed as a result -
Where Was God?
Only ten, what a tender age
for dreams to be broken and trust betrayed.
Like a flower picked before the petals opened,
hope lay shattered as her youth was stolen.
Where was God when her innocence died?
Was His ear turned deaf to a little girls cries?
Time marches on but the scars remain
with layers of life now to veil the shame.
Like a private poison buried out of sight
that haunts her dreams in the dark of night.
Where is God, has He hidden His face?
Does He even care how her heart still aches?
Chorus:
Oh, there’s no easy answers in this life we’re given
Deep calls to deep on this side of heaven
Treasures in darkness, and beauty from ashes
The thief of our joy is the servant of our gladness
And He never turns away
His mercy will not fail
It’s a mystery so great
I know His purpose will prevail…oh, He will prevail
Now she’s grown in wisdom as she’s grown in years
She knows in her sorrow that He counted her tears
And the wounds weren’t wasted though words can’t explain
How His glory’s revealed in the midst of her pain
Where is God? She knows His presence is near
‘Cause His perfect love is bringing freedom from fear.
Only ten…where was God?
I know His purpose will prevail.
