by Pastor Barron Greenwalt
En-Joy Ministries
November 18, 2025

In our small home group — the one that gathers in my living room on Sunday afternoons to walk through my book Deliberate Steps: A Journey of Faith, Leadership, and Revival — one of our sisters asked the question that has shipwrecked more faith than almost any other:

Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”

We’ve all felt it. Some of us have lived it. Cancer diagnoses. Sudden loss. Betrayal. Natural disasters. The ache is real, and it deserves a real answer — not a cliché, not a dismissal, but the truth of Scripture spoken with compassion.

So, I decided for her (and all of you) that I would put the answer in writing. It is also for the moment that someone asks you the same question, and you want to give them hope instead of a bumper sticker.

Here is what the Bible teaches about suffering.

1. God Did Not Create Evil — Sin Did

And We All Chose It

The world was not originally broken. Genesis 1:31 states that God looked at everything He made and declared it “very good.” Pain, disease, and death were never part of the plan.

But God created us for love, and love cannot be forced. So, He gave us real freedom. With freedom came the possibility of rebellion. We chose rebellion (Genesis 3), and the entire creation was fractured (Romans 8:20-22). 

Think of it like this: God built a perfect house. We spray-painted graffiti all over the walls and punched holes in the drywall. The mess is not His fault — but He is the One who moved into the graffiti-covered house with us to fix it.

2. Ten Biblical Reasons God Allows Suffering

(Yes, the Bible Actually Gives Reasons)

Scripture never says suffering is good, but it repeatedly shows God sovereignly using it for good. Here are ten clear biblical purposes:

Scripture never says suffering is good, but it repeatedly shows God sovereignly using it for good. Here are ten clear biblical purposes:

Reason	Scripture	Simple Explanation
1. Consequence of the Fall	Genesis 3:17-19	Creation itself is groaning under sin’s curse
2. Loving Discipline	Hebrews 12:6-11	God corrects His children like a perfect Father
3. Others’ Sin Affects Us	Genesis 50:20	Joseph’s brothers meant evil — God meant it for good
4. To Draw Us to Himself	Job 42:5	“I had heard of You… but now my eyes see You”
5. Persecution for Jesus’ Sake	Matthew 5:10-12	We suffer because we belong to Him
6. To Display God’s Glory Through Our Faithfulness	John 9:3	The blind man’s suffering showcased Jesus’ power
7. To Produce Christlike Character	Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-4	Suffering produces perseverance → character → hope
8. To Make Us Long for Heaven	2 Corinthians 4:16-18	Light and momentary troubles → eternal glory
9. To Share in Christ’s Sufferings	Philippians 3:10	We know Him more deeply in the fellowship of suffering
10. To Testify to the Watching World	2 Corinthians 4:7-11	Our weakness displays His all-sufficient power

These are not theories. These are promises God has kept in millions of lives — including mine.

3. The Cross Is God’s Final Answer

The most powerful response to the question isn’t an explanation — it’s a Person.

When we ask, “Why doesn’t God do something about evil?”
The answer is: He did. He became the ultimate innocent Sufferer.

Jesus was perfectly good. And the worst thing that ever happened? It happened to Him.

On the cross, God Himself entered our pain, absorbed the full weight of evil, and defeated it. The resurrection proves evil does not have the last word — Jesus does.

So, when we cry, “God, where were You?”
He stretches out nail-scarred hands/wrists and says, “Right here. I was with you the whole time.”

Why Does God Miraculously Deliver Some — But Not Others?

Many of us have seen it: one person walks away from a wreck that should have killed them, another is dramatically healed of cancer, an angel appears and rescues someone in the nick of time (Acts 12:7-11), while a godly mother prays just as fervently and still goes home to Jesus far too young. Scripture is remarkably frank about this mystery. Paul was delivered from deadly peril multiple times (2 Corinthians 1:10), yet he left Trophimus sick in Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20) and watched Epaphroditus almost die –but God had mercy on him, allowing him to recover (Philippians 2:27). God’s ways are not illogical, but they are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). Sometimes He heals and rescues to display His power and advance the gospel now; other times He heals and rescues by ushering His child straight into His presence where there is no more pain (2 Corinthians 5:8; Revelation 21:4). Both outcomes are acts of sovereign mercy, not cruelty. The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:45), and so do miracles and homegoings. Our comfort is not in figuring out the “why” of every instance, but in knowing the “Who” — the same loving Father who did not spare His own Son will never withhold what is ultimately best for His children and most glorifying to His name (Romans 8:32). One day every believer will say with absolute clarity, “He did everything perfectly.”

4. One Day the Tears Stop Forever

This is not the end of the story.

Revelation 21:4
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Every injustice will be made right. Every wound will be healed. Every grave will be emptied. The day is coming when suffering will be as impossible to find as darkness at noon in the new heaven and new earth.

Until then, God is not distant. He is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). He collects every tear in His bottle (Psalm 56:8). And He is working everything — everything—together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

To everyone reading this: He is big enough to handle your doubt and loving enough to heal your heart. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you right now, turning even your deepest wounds into testimonies of His grace.

If you’re reading this and you’ve never trusted Christ, please hear this: The God who allowed suffering is the same God who entered it to rescue you. He’s not asking you to understand everything first. He’s asking you to come to Him — broken, angry, confused, weary — and let Him carry you.

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
— Jesus (Matthew 11:28)

I’m always here. Message me, call me, or come over for a visit. We’ll keep wrestling through the hard questions together — because that’s what family does.

Pastor Barron Greenwalt
En-Joy Ministries

P.S. If this ministered to you, share it with someone who needs it today. And if you’d like to go deeper, Deliberate Steps––Chapter 5 Trusting God Through the Fire: Overcoming, Growing, and Testifying–– explores how trusting in God, leaning not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), and sharing our testimonies can encourage others and build His kingdom.

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