Have you heard someone say: how can I believe in God when there is so much evil in the world? Or how can I believe in a loving God that allowed a horrific event to happen? I challenge the idea that God’s existence hinges on our experiences in life, either good or bad.
What do we expect of God?
Is it fair to expect of God that only good things must happen? Why must that be true? And where does that belief come from? What is it about our expectations for God that he cannot exist because of evil in the world?
If God allows for bad things to happen, does he also allow good things to happen? Where do the good things in life come from? And how did they get there? Did man create the good things, or did God create them?
Who serves Who?
What do we expect of ourselves? If we have free will then we cannot ascribe every outcome solely to God. What is our role in fighting for good over evil?
Why must it be that God is the one to create, maintain and uphold justice and love? Are we to sit back and sip on champagne and wait for God to create a world full of beauty and peace and prosperity, as if he serves us and is at our beckon call?
All things work together ...
Paul addresses this topic in the book of Romans:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8:28-29
If we assume that God must only do things we like, we are missing out on this blessing: that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. This is a redemption of the bad things, the evil things, the things in your life that you hate, that even those things will be used for good for you by God for those who love Him and work towards His purposes.
Why does God to this? So that we can be conformed to the image of his Son. This is such that we can be with God the Father in everlasting life:
I do not ask for these [apostles] only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
John 17:20-23
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
John 14:2-3