Suffering and Sovereignty

I find myself struggling with reconciling the goodness with God with the news. I read scripture and I see that God is good and that He is worthy of praise of Trust. He is the anchor of our souls and our only hope. The central message of scripture seems to be that He is and that He can be trusted. But how do I reconcile that with the constant barrage of tragedy and evil that comes through the news. A constant stream of evil and the resulting suffering in almost mind numbing variety flow from every news outlet.

God’s children are not immune from these things. God’s own children are victimized by evil men along with others in their communities. They are subject to extortion, racism and other systemic evils as well as those more personal but no less invasive attacks against their person or property. They have traffic accidents and get cancer. They are stolen from and burglarized. They are molested and raped. They are mugged, beaten and murdered. So where is the ever watchful eye of God the Father caring for His children when these things are happening?

I know that some sacrifice His sovereignty for His goodness. But I don’t see how that solves the problem. How can we make him more worthy of praise by diminishing his power and ability? How can we feel better about Him by ignoring, or doing violence to, the revelation of Himself through the scriptures? No, that can’t be the answer. He must be sovereign because He says He is, and because if He isn’t then He isn’t worthy of our worship. If Yahweh isn’t in control then I am worshiping the wrong deity.

It is true that my life has been a good one. I have had very little suffering up to this point, and I am truly grateful for that. I can see His goodness and care in so many aspects of my life and I am humbled and grateful. What I am struggling with is how to trust a God who isn’t tame. I am realizing how much of my theology has been built on my relatively pleasant experience. It’s easy in the comfort of my home, surrounded by those I love, to believe that God is good and sovereign. The hard part is that there really are no guarantees. I want to know what I can do to be secure, to make sure that my kids have a good life, a comfortable life. How can I protect my kids? How can I trust a God who doesn’t promise to protect my kids?

I was taught and believed that if I did the right things and applied biblical principles to my life and parenting that everything would turn out in a predictable and pleasant. The longer I live the more I see that life doesn’t work that way. It isn’t enough for me to practice principles and wait for the desired results. Wash, rinse, and repeat and you will have bouncing and behaving hair. But what if the product doesn’t perform as advertised; with biblical principles results may vary! The frustrating fact is that we are not in control, and the One who is in control doesn’t promise that our lives will turn out as we want them to if we just follow his 10 step plan.

So, if God doesn’t promise to give me what I want, why follow Him at all? I find myself with Peter responding, “Where else can we go Lord, who else has the words of eternal life?” I think that the secret must lie in the eternal life. God knows the end from the beginning. He knows what is best for us, for our children, for the world and everyone in it. He knows what He is doing, and it is far too complicated for us to understand. If this world were all that there was, I might well conclude that it is not worth it to follow Christ. Those who follow him often suffer in this world, my own experience and that of many Western Christians not withstanding.

So, I find myself standing on the promise that He is both good and sovereign. He must make it all right in the end. It’s just that I can see neither the beginning nor the end from where I am standing; thus the need for humility and faith, the twin pillars of my trust in Him.