How can God let bad things happen?

A friend posed this question on Facebook recently:

Do you see any conflict in this reasoning? "God is all powerful, but He doesn't ALLOW bad things to happen to us; they just do."

I suppose the conflict is that God cannot be all powerful and yet not have the ability to protect us from the bad things in life that happen. At the same time, though, if He allows those bad things to happen, that seems to be in conflict with the idea that He is a loving God.

I would argue, though, that there would be more conflict and inconsistency of character if God didn't let bad things happen.

The world is what it is: a flawed, cursed place that is destined to feel the wrath of God. A holy God cannot look at mankind's sin, shrug His shoulders, and say, "Oh, well; people will be people." If He did that, He would be our accomplice to sin. Look at it from a more human standpoint: If the CEO of a company knows that his employees are engaged in illegal activities that are wreaking fiscal havoc on people and turns a blind eye to it, we would find him complicit in their schemes. Even if the CEO had no direct part in the activities, we would still question his character if he let it continue without stepping in. Could you imagine having respect for a holy, perfect God who let sin slide? Thus, God reacted to man's original sin, resulting in the flawed, cursed place that we live in today.

If faith in God and Christ bought us indemnity against the effects of God's curse on earth, then who wouldn't want to get in on that deal? "Believe in God, and you'll never get the flu again!" Aside from the questionable motivations for faith, this would also bring the problem of splitting our focus. This world is not an eternal retirement community. The guarantee of perfect health, uninterrupted happiness, and financial security would go a long way toward taking our focus off of our ultimate destination: heaven and the presence of God himself. Christ did not give His life so that we could have the house of our dreams. He did it to give us access to God for all eternity--a far better deal, I think. The apostle Paul knew this well. Look at Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT): "Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." It wasn't that he had an easy life; it was that he learned to rely on God for strength through any situation in which he found himself. I'm sure his testimony--and our benefit from it--would have been quite different if God would have shielded him from bad things.

One of the situations that brings out this question about good people and bad things is death. In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that my immediate family is still alive; I've never lost a parent, sibling, spouse, or child, so I can't honestly say that I can empathize with people in those situations. The very thought of losing one of my daughters hurts so much I can't breathe. I know that I'll have to face the reality of death one of these days, but it won't be because God is impotent and unable to stop it from happening to me. It won't be about me at all, really, even though I'll feel the pain of loss. A woman who was a fixture in the church I grew up in passed away recently, and I know that her family was heartbroken over it. But what was God supposed to do--let her live here forever in a body that wasn't meant to last? Was he supposed to deny her an eternal reward for her stewardship in order to protect her family from pain?

This woman and her family sang in the church, and one of the songs they sang was called "Promises." "Promises, promises and all of them true / He's done exactly what He said He would do. / He didn't tell me that my heart would not be broken / Oh, but He did say He'd mend it again." We are promised that God's grace is sufficient for us (I Corinthians 12;9). We are promised that God is, indeed, behind the scenes, bringing everything together in a way that will be for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). We are promised that we can find strength in Christ in whatever life throws at us (Philippians 4:13). But nowhere are we promised that nothing bad will happen to those of us who have chosen to believe in Christ. In fact, Romans chapter 8 goes on to list a litany of trials that Christians may have to face--but that list is included to demonstrate the promise that nothing we face here on earth can separate us from God's love.

He's done everything He promised. We just have to focus on what those promises are, not what we'd like them to be.