Why does a good God allow bad things to happen?

"And I say to myself what a wonderful world!" - Ever heard this song? Ever thought about what it actually says? How can we call a world wonderful that is full of illnesses, wars, natural disasters, homelessness, death, sadness, worry, stress? To be honest I think that our world is far from wonderful, in fact I know so! Yes there are many wonderful things in it and beautiful sites to see but there is so much wrong with it and so many bad things happening that I find little in our world that is 'wonderful'. 

But the real question is "Why?" Why does a God who proclaims that He loves us so much allow all these things to happen? Why does He allow hurricanes or tsunamis or earthquakes to kill so many people? Why does He allow wars to break out? Why does he allow people to become ill? Why does he take good people away from us? These are questions that I am sure you have ask yourselves at least once in your life. These are questions I ask myself all the time! And to be honest I don't understand why God does allow these things and I probably will never know in my lifetime on this earth, but over the past few years I have began to understand that God knows what he is doing even if we can't see it. 

I had a fairly peaceful childhood with no real dilemmas or tragedies. I had a happy childhood filled with fond memories and was brought up in a house that loved God and put him first in our lives. Looking back I see that I was so fortunate as due to the heavy Christian influence in my life I gave my life over to God at a young age of 6 and since then I have been able to grow in my faith and learn more about him each and every day. This has given me a strong foundation as I live my life as I know that God is walking with me. And now I see that without this strong foundation I might not be the person I am today. 

Let me explain why I say this. 2 and a half years ago a friend of mine, who was like a big sister to me, was taken away very suddenly after a car accident. At the time I kept reciting Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." And to be honest for a month after this all happened I was in so much shock that this verse was the only thing that could get me through it. However nearing towards the end of October 2011 I really started to question God. "God how could you allow this to happen?" "Why would you take someone away who is so young and has so much life left to live?" Questions like these raced through my mind constantly! Questions that led me to stop doing my daily devotions and spending time in prayer with God! Questions that made me think badly of God and questions that started to tear apart the relationship! Questions that made me very bitter for a period! Questions that I am not very proud of now! However on the outside of my life I put on a front and went to all the places that helped to encourage me; Scripture Union in school, Youth Fellowship, Girls' Brigade. And I heard a message that told me that we have a good God that loves us and wants what is best for us. I sat at these places and thought "Yes, God is so good that He takes away good people from us!" (Like I said I was very bitter!) 

These thoughts lasted up until the summer of 2012. In July of this summer I served in a community outreach team and every morning we had a time set aside just for our own personal devotions and for the first time in 10 months I picked up my Bible and read it and prayed with meaning. When I opened my bible it feel open to James 1:2-4 which says, "When troubles come your way. consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." It was at this exact moment I realised that while I didn't know why God had taken Jordan away from this world He was using this opportunity to mould me and perfect me. I was going through a hard time but I soon came to realise that God loves me and he doesn't want to punish me, he wants to perfect me. He wants to make me better each and every day and sometimes he needs to use bad times to mould us into the person he wants us to be. It might not be easy, and we might think it is not fair, but remember this, a quote from Corrie Ten Boom “There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still.” So no matter how low your life seems or how low you are feeling God's love for you goes even deeper than that and he will not leave you and when you are feeling low and thinking why would God allow this to happen, remember that he loves you and wants what is best for you.

Another verse that I found last April when my Uncle suddenly passed away is Isaiah 43:2-4, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour... Others were given in exchange for you. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me. You are honoured, and I love you." Again I was just flicking through my Bible the day that this had happened and I came across this verse and I thought to myself WOW! God is never going to leave me! He will never let me walk through nothing that I cannot bear! Even though right now I don't understand He is there calling for me to come to Him! He loves me, I am precious to him! He has created me special and he won't let me walk through more than I can bear!

A verse that helps me when bad things happen or I am going through something that makes me question God is 1 Corinthians 10:13, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." Whenever I read this verse I am reminded that God is faithful all the time! He will not let the temptations and bad things in our lives to be anything more than we can handle! And He will show us how to deal with our problems if we come to Him! HE LOVES US SO MUCH!

So last night I was doing my quiet time and in my devotion book this verse was at the bottom and really just stuck out for me. Deuteronomy 31:8, "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." I had never seen this verse before and last night I was like this is so true. No matter what we go through in life remember that God goes before you to lead you and He is never going to leave you no matter what happens; HE IS ALWAYS THERE! Such a promise when travelling through hard times! And a quote from my devotion to go along with this said, "You may not understand the reason for the change, but God knows what He is doing!" Such a reassurance!!

Just one final thought/story. Have you ever heard of the Footprints in the sand story?? Well if not here it is; "One night I had a dream that I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. For each scene there were two sets of footprints in the sand; one set were mine and one set were the Lord's. When the last scene of my life flashed before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the way there were only one set of footprints in the sand. I noticed that these were at the very lowest and darkest times of my life. I questioned the Lord about it saying, "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you would be with me the whole way. But I noticed that during the lowest point of my life there is only one set of footprints in the sand. Why when I needed you most did you leave me?" The Lord replied, "My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During you times of trials and sufferings, when you see only one set of footprints, I carried you." Isn't that such an amazing thought that while we are suffering and hurting God doesn't leave us he carries us through it and wants to comfort us!!

I hope in some aspects this has helped you to understand the God that we live for a little bit more. I know I haven't properly answered this question but the truth is that I do not know the real answer and probably won't know until I reach heaven and get to ask Jesus himself. I hope that by reading this you are encouraged and realise that whatever you are going through or however far you are away from God, He still loves you! No matter what you think He loves you more than you can know and all He wants is for you to run into His arms so that he can comfort you! Life is never going to be easy and being a Christian does not mean that you live a life without any pain or bad things. I hope that from the experiences that I shared you see this and know that everyone goes through hard times. Even though I questioned God He never left me and looking back on it now He has made me stronger and is perfecting me through hard times in my life. Why does a good God allow bad things to happen? I do not know the full answer but Corrie Ten Boom (this woman has so amazing and inspiring quotes by the way!) put it, "You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”