A young boy rides his bike into a cross walk and he gets hit by a car. It’s dusk and the driver doesn’t see him. No charges are filed against the driver; he wasn’t speeding nor was he under the influence of any substance. The parents ask, why did God allow this to happen? A neighbor asks, where was God when this terrible thing happened? Someone else says that God was punishing the parents so He took their little boy. To me these statements are foolish and unfounded. We have a tendency to look for blame in others and often refuse to put things in a proper perspective.
I believe there are three reasons things like this happen in our lives. The first stumbling block we face are the choices we make. Each day there are choices we make that will affect us for the rest of our lives. Everything from what we will eat and drink to whether or not we should cross a street. Sometimes our decisions are made with a lot of thought and other times we do impulsive things which may or may not have a good outcome. The foundation of our thinking may have an awful lot to do with choices we make.
Next we face the influence of the adversary and what he may entice us to do. In this world we live in, we must realize that the adversary has dominion over all things that aren’t looked after by God. One of his most effective devices is the fact that so many don’t believe he exists. Have you ever seen the picture of a man with an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other shoulder? As far as I’m concerned that’s pretty much how it is in life. If one doesn’t hook up with God and have the still small voice of His Holy Spirit whispering in their head, they will have the other voice enticing them to do things that may have a bad outcome.
Lastly, I believe there are just plain accidents that occur in life which are the result of living. Sometimes it can be a choice we’ve made that is affected by uncontrollable events. In any case because life moves so fast and we must travel with it; there are events that occur that no one can control. I believe there are near misses that are affected by God’s influence at times, so we come out all right. Perhaps there are things that shouldn’t be so bad and are affected by the other guy’s influence, so we don’t come out good. Whichever is the case, they happen and we are all subject to them.
The beliefs I have mentioned are based on scripture that speaks to us of God’s promise to never be very far from us. Deut. Chapter 31 verse 6 says, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you”. Another scripture is Hebrews 13 verses 5 & 6 which say, “ Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have; for He has said “I will never fail you nor forsake you”. Hence we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?” If God is for you who can be against you?
Matthew, Chapter 4 verse 1 says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. If Jesus was tempted by the devil then surely you and I will be tempted also". For those who still think God is the creator of the hurtful events we see in the world, I ask you to remember that we are all children of God. Now think about your own children and whether or not you would bring hurt into their lives. Now if you and I who are sinful, love and want the best for our children, then how much more is God capable of loving and nurturing his children. No matter what you’ve been told, God is a God of love and that is what motivates His interaction with His children.
