“God creates, not that there may be witnesses to render Him His due glory, but beings who shall rejoice in it as He rejoices in it Himself and who, participating in His being, participate at the same time in His beatitude. It is not therefore for Himself, but for us, that God seeks His glory; it is not to gain it, for He possesses it already, nor to increase it, for already it is perfect, but to communicate it to us.” 

― Étienne Gilson

A question for the ages is why God allows suffering to happen. If you’re faith-based, you understand the origin of a broken world, plus the systemic impact. Yet the “Why?” piece of the puzzle is still confounding. Plenty of smarter minds than me have wrestled with the reality for centuries. One theological deduction is the bad stuff allows for the good to shine through in times of darkness. When tragedy strikes, we see the triumph of human character as leaders and heroes emerge. Amen.

Please hear me, I’m not saying God is a sadistic despot who enjoys manipulating pain for His greedy pleasure. However, He does appear to allow us as participants in a cosmic game including free will and predestination. How do we know we’re in the game? His Word tells us.

Romans 5:3-4

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Romans 8:18

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:28

“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.”

On some days the Romans verses satisfy, or at the very least provide a peek behind the spiritual curtain. The verses pertain to the common cold, an easy one to reconcile, and all the way up the scale to include horrific calamities. For our finite minds, we can’t grasp how traumatic events can be turned into anything good. Admittedly, many of the worst will only make sense when we’ve had 30,000 years of eternity under our belts, which is what verse 18 speaks to when it mentions a future glory to be revealed later.

God could fix all the brokenness, cure cancer, and remove all disease. Scripture promises He will in the final quarter of the game. Yet for now He allows us to lean-in and participate. For example, the Lord gives individuals the dreams and desires to become Physicians and nurses, who then channel their curated intellect and fortitude to heal others in need. Their medical actions mirror His miraculous healing. Think of a cut on your leg. Through His supernatural grace, God created the healing process, and the wound magically fixes itself. It’s a statistical impossibility for evolution to create the conditions without an intelligent designer guiding the mechanism for healing. Evolution healing on its own without agency, would be like asking a rock to build an airplane.

Often we overlook the opportunities generated by the Master Engineer. For starters, there’s this little thing made up of nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and methane, plus 21% oxygen. Commonly called “air,” and we ain’t gettin’ too far down the road of world domination without it to giddyup. I have to remind myself daily of all He’s provided for us to live and operate. When I choose a posture of surrender, I receive humbling indications of my limitations in every facet of life.

This idea extends to all silos. The Lord moves the chess pieces of work, commerce, business and industry. If you disagree, we should have been able to forecast and control the global economic crash from COVID. Yes, we will adapt, but the recovery will be additional evidence of God allowing His creation to participate and produce positive outcomes.

Think of creativity. The ultimate designer allows people to produce works of art, the same way He “sculpted” the world, or painted the millions of hues we see in landscapes and oceans. He also pushes us to new discoveries through science. With physics, biology, genetics, and technology, He allows us to use those complex systems as elements of new creation.

God provides the materials to generate electricity and fire. We then amplify their core purposes to power cities, to create vehicles of transportation, and a thousand other utilitarian uses. Most important, we use electricity for amplifiers we can turn up to “eleven,” and listen to the gorgeous melodies of Iggy Pop, Prince and The Beatles.

Maybe the most extraordinary event of all is God allows us to procreate, to “create” life. We couldn’t make life happen without the process He created. Not only does the Lord allow us to partake, He makes the act itself — sex — an incredible journey of love.

He could skip the processes and fix the world with a snap of His unfathomable fingers. We would then sit on the sidelines eating popcorn and watch. But no, God says “I want to watch you revel in the activities.” The same way a loving parent finds enormous joy when their child spells his or her name, or finally gains balance with riding a bike; our Lord smiles as we trip, fall, and engineer spectacular outcomes to impact humanity.

Sometimes God allows global pandemics, earthquakes and wars to humble us, to push us to extend ourselves, to bring heroes in medicine and healthcare to the forefront. Am I stating Gospel truth? Not a clue, the Lord is mysterious to me on so many levels. However, I can paint broad strokes based on His character, and the Romans verses above. Through prayer, I can open the spigot and allow His merciful Spirit to fill me with trust and hope there’s a purpose to what appears to be random affliction.

When challenging circumstances arise, the Lord gives us free will to get in the game. He allows us to show grace and extend a helping hand. With amazing organizations such as Austin Street Center, Our Calling and a thousand other outreach programs, God provides opportunities for us to help others. We get to prevent people from worse outcomes, the same way He saved us from the finality of death through the healing resurrection of Christ. Our Lord allows all these things as a means to shine His amazing grace through us.

Mind. Blown.

See ya next time. ML