Sometimes when I see devastation, suffering, or horrific sin, I wrestle with the goodness of God. If He’s so good, why does He allow atrocities to happen? In His great power and omniscience, He could stop them…if He were good.
I asked a wiser, more spiritually mature person how to handle that logic, especially when unbelievers use it as a central argument for their disbelief. He turned the question back on me, “Where do you get your definition of good?”
That stopped me.
You see, my measure of goodness is finite and short-sighted. And by my own measurement (and probably most people’s), natural disasters, sin, sickness, and war are the opposite of good. But that’s the problem with little-g goodness. It’s insufficient to encapsulate all that is right, just, and holy about the Creator of the universe. Biblical, capital-G goodness, as it’s described throughout scripture, cannot be measured by mere mortals.
“The Lord is good and does what is right” (Ps 25:8).
“The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made (Ps. 145:9).
“For the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Ps 100:5)
Pain and suffering were never part of God’s original design. In fact, Lamentations 3:33 reminds us, “He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.” Sin opened the door to destruction and sorrow, distorting what was once perfect. And though we live in the fallout of a broken world, God’s character remains unshaken.
I won’t pretend to understand all His ways or why He allows pain to run rampant and seemingly unrestrained. But I choose to trust that He is GOOD by a definition of goodness far deeper than my human mind can grasp. A goodness that is eternal, holy, and redemptive.
God is faithful. He walks with us through the wreckage. And in Jesus, He entered into our suffering, not to explain it away, but to overcome it. One day, He will wipe every tear, right every wrong, and restore what’s been shattered.
Until then, I rest in the mystery and cling to the promise: He is good. Even when life is not.