"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."
-Romans 8:28
One big objection to the Christian faith is the question of how God can be both sovereign and good. The argument is that if God is sovereign and good, He would stop evil from occurring in the world. If God does exist, maybe He is sovereign but not good so He doesn't want to prevent evil. Or maybe He is good and wants to stop evil but He is not sovereign so He cannot. Either way, to those asking this question, it seems that God cannot be both sovereign and good if He allows suffering and pain in this world.
I've heard a lot about this subject and thought I'd share some of the conclusions I have come up with. First of all, if God is good but not sovereign, is He really God? One of the attributes of God is that He is all-powerful. Without this attribute He ceases to be God. Second, if God is sovereign but not good, by what measure can we determine He is evil? The concept of good and evil comes from the purpose for which something is created. We have an innate sense that pain and suffering are evil because God has instilled in us our purpose, which is to glorify and enjoy Him forever. How can we have this sense of good and evil if God had never created us for a purpose? If we want to state that God is sovereign but not good, we must give an answer for how we can say He is evil.
So if God has the ability to stop evil, why does evil exist? To be clear, God doesn't cause pain, He allows it. Pain and suffering are a result of a broken world stained by sin. Sin separates us from God, which in turn creates hurt in our world. So why does God allow evil? Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. Thus, the greatest ethic in life is love. Everything we strive for in life is really a search for love. We experience pain and suffering because we reject the love God is extending to us.
For love to exist, free will must also exist. If God simply forced us to obey Him with His sovereign power, that would not be love but compliance. We would simply be like machines that are incapable of love because we would have no choice not to love. Perhaps God allows us to choose sin and experience pain because it gives us the capacity to truly love Him. If He stopped all pain and suffering by preventing us from sinning, we no longer would be able to love Him. If the ultimate ethic of love is to be achieved, free will must exist, and thus, the capacity for evil must exist.
While this may sound like God has no interest in preventing evil, we have to remember one more thing. The verse I quoted at the beginning of this verse claims that "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him." What does this mean? Both the good and the bad things that happen in a person's life can work together for their good. Every good storyteller knows that the most compelling stories are about people who were able to turn their struggles into their success. What may have seemed to cause hurt and pain in that person's life turned out to be for their good.
God is the ultimate weaver, able to turn both the good and bad in our lives for His perfect and pleasing will. While evil does exist in this world, God never allows it to destroy us. Maybe we need to trust that God will use every experience in our lives to bring us closer to Him. Pain and suffering are a reality in this world, but God has a purpose for everything. He is still sovereign and good. One day when we go to meet Him face to face He will wipe away every tear from our eyes as we gaze into His sovereignty and goodness.
-Smart
