If God is good and all-powerful, why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? This “problem of evil” is one of the most significant hurdles for many people considering the Christian faith. The Bible teaches that God did not create evil; instead, evil entered the world through the misuse of free will by humanity. While God is sovereign and remains perfectly good, he allows evil to exist temporarily to preserve human agency and to ultimately bring about a greater purpose through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
The Origin of Evil and Free Will
To understand why a good God allows evil, we have to look back at the very beginning. When God created the world, he declared everything “very good.” However, part of that goodness involved creating humans in his own image, which included the gift of free will. Love is only genuine if it is chosen freely; a robot programmed to say “I love you” isn’t actually experiencing love. By giving us the ability to choose him, God also had to give us the ability to reject him.
The Bible explains that the first humans, Adam and Eve, chose to use their freedom to rebel against God’s design. This choice introduced sin and brokenness into a perfect creation. Evil is not a “thing” God created, like a tree or a mountain; rather, evil is the absence or corruption of good. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is what happens when we turn away from God’s goodness.
Genesis 3:6-7 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.
The Reality of a Broken World
Because of that initial rebellion, we now live in what theologians often call a “fallen” world. This explains why we see two different types of evil today. First, there is “moral evil,” which is the pain caused by human choices—things like murder, greed, and dishonesty. Most of the suffering we see on the news is the direct result of humans mistreating one another.
Second, there is “natural evil,” such as hurricanes, diseases, and earthquakes. The Bible suggests that human sin didn’t just affect our hearts; it fractured the entire natural order. Creation itself is “groaning” under the weight of this brokenness. While it is hard to see a child suffer from an illness, we must remember that this was never God’s original intent for humanity. We are living in a temporary state of emergency where the world is not functioning the way it was designed to.
God’s Purpose in the Midst of Pain
If God is so powerful, why doesn’t he just stop all the evil right now? This is a fair question. If God were to eliminate all evil today, he would have to eliminate everyone who has ever committed an evil act—including you and me. Instead of immediate judgment, God shows incredible patience. He is giving more people the opportunity to turn back to him before he eventually steps in to make all things right.
Sometimes, God uses the presence of evil and suffering to get our attention or to refine our character. C.S. Lewis once famously said that “God whispers to us in our pleasures… but shouts in our pain.” Suffering often forces us to realize that we aren’t in control and that we need a Savior. It can produce endurance, perspective, and a deeper empathy for others that we might never have developed in a world of constant comfort.
Romans 5:3-4 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
The Ultimate Answer in Jesus Christ
The most important thing to realize about the problem of evil is that God did not remain distant from it. He didn’t sit on a throne in heaven watching us suffer from afar. Instead, he entered into our world in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus experienced the very worst of human evil: betrayal, physical torture, and an unjust execution. He is not a God who is “unfamiliar” with your pain.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God provided the solution to the problem of evil. On the cross, Jesus took the weight of all human sin upon himself. His resurrection proved that evil and death do not have the final word. While we still experience the “aftershocks” of sin in this life, we have the promise that one day God will wipe away every tear and remove evil from existence forever. The existence of evil is a temporary chapter in a much larger story of redemption.
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
The Takeaway
The presence of evil does not mean God is absent or indifferent. It is the result of a world that has turned away from its Creator. However, God is so powerful and good that he can take even the darkest moments of our lives and use them for a greater purpose. The cross of Jesus is the ultimate proof that God can bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil. We can trust him with our questions because he has already proven his love for us through his sacrifice.
