Hi friends. I know there are a lot of wounded hearts out there today. Mine is too. Images in the news stories have ripped our hearts. The images in our minds are even worse. Those sweet little babies . . . Evil has reared its ugly head . . . again. It doesn’t make sense to us.

Here are some things you can do in the aftermath of evil’s rampage.

Pray

There’s a safe place for you to go. Into God’s presence.

• Throw yourself at his feet.
• Express your feelings to him honestly. (Habakkuk 1:2-3)
• Tell him you don’t understand. Demand answers.
• Press in and keep the dialogue going. God wants you close to him.
• Don’t just vent. Be willing to listen for God’s response.

In this environment, you can expect God to:

• Reveal himself to you
• Comfort you
• Give you his perspective
• Grow your faith
• Blanket you with his love
• Provide some answers

“I have heard them crying out . . . and I am concerned for their suffering.” Exodus 3:7

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13

Acknowledge God’s sovereignty

Believe that God is still in control. (Isaiah 46:9-10, Isaiah 40:25-26, 2 Chronicles 20:6)

In his sovereignty, your God voluntarily chose to give mankind the freedom to make choices. The origin of evil comes from people’s choices.

In the Bible, evil is:

• Anything that violates God’s moral will
• Anything that flows not from loving God but from rebelling against him

Satan is the original rebel. He deceived Eve and caused her to question God’s goodness, his intentions, and his instructions. She and Adam disobeyed God. That was the first evil. Their relationship with God was fractured. Their rebellion brought the consequences of suffering and death into mankind’s existence.

People who practice evil have chosen to reject God and his ways. When someone practices evil, it affects others. It causes suffering.

This suffering hurts God’s heart deeply. To prevent it, he’d have to remove our freedom. Without freedom there would be no evil. Honestly, would we want to give up our freedom to live robotically? God is good so he won’t do that.

Know that it’s actually humans who inject evil and suffering into our world. God shouldn’t be blamed.

Remember that God himself came to earth to endure evil/suffering at our hands to repair a broken world and deliver us from an eternity of evil, suffering, and death.

No matter what happens, God is still in control.

Trust

Believing in God isn’t the same as trusting God. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

When we trust, we have confidence in someone’s character and believe they always have our best interests at heart. They are good and we trust them to work for our good.

Satan uses evil and suffering to get us to question God’s goodness. To prevent us from trusting God. To keep us apart.

It’s impossible to trust someone you don’t know. How can you trust God if you don’t know him – especially during times of evil and suffering?

The entire Bible tells the story of God’s goodness to mankind. If you haven’t read it, you might want to nestle into the Psalms during this time. The Bible helps us know God.

God is more than worthy of our trust.

Hope

Those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ always have hope.

Throughout history, God has accommodated our choices while he continues to move mankind forward according to his ultimate plan.

His ultimate plan is fantastic. It includes the creation of a new earth where:

• There’s no death, mourning, crying or pain. (Revelation 21:4)
• He lives with us and wipes every tear from our eyes.
• There’s no evil!

Our life in heaven will be hugely different from our existence on earth. Yay! That’s why not everyone will get in. God is good. He’ll keep evil out.

He’s provided a way to this place through faith in his son, Jesus Christ who came to destroy evil’s work. (1 John 3:8). So hold onto hope! This isn’t all there is. God wins in the end.

Other related posts:

Answering Evil with Good

Recognizing the Goodness of God in the Presence of Evil

If you have questions about evil and suffering, leave a comment. I’ll do my best to answer.

Thanks for coming here. Hope to see you again soon. I’ll leave the light on for you.

Praying and believing in the goodness of God . . .

Lisa ~

If you know someone who might be interested in this post, just click one of the buttons below to share it. If you subscribe to this blog today, I’d be happy to send you my overview of the Bible, “God Never Lets Go,” - a teaching outline of the entire Bible that you can use with your children, in your church, or anywhere else it’s useful.