A Toddlers Demise
It is no secret that life is really hard times. In anguish we shake our heads wondering why these things are happening. While the motive is good, it can be frustrating to hear someone drop a one liner bible verse and expect you to flip a switch and feel better. If you are one of my readers I am assuming you have experienced this first hand. Something like “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper...” (Isaiah 54:17) or “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.” (Romans 8:28). I could list many more but you get the point.
We can’t help but sometimes feel betrayed when difficult and hard things happen to us.
Spoiled Brat
I was contemplating this one day during my quiet time and came up with an analogy, which by no means is intended to take away the pain of whatever you might be experiencing or will one day experience. But I found this thought helpful nonetheless. A word of caution, if you read this and feel tempted to send it to a loved one who is currently experiencing something difficult, I don’t suggest it. Let this serve as a thought experience outside of pain, that it may better equip you for the days to come.
Imagine a toddler who is granted every request. His parents shield shield him or her from hardship. No knee scrapes. No bones get broken. No harmful words of a bully lashed out at them.
What becomes of this child’s future? You would likely say this child is spoiled, and you would be correct. You could also assume that the child will be unprepared to withstand the hardships of the real world. This too, is accurate. Every (or at least most) parents know this because we have all seen that one kid who seems to be entitled to everything and knows that they are a temper tantrum away from whatever their hearts desire is.
Deep down we ache for the child because we know the parents will not be around forever to serve and protect this child from the cruelty of the world.
But let’s just pretend for a moment that these parents had some sort of magical powers. That this power is what allowed this child to have an optimized life and that it has been bestowed upon him upon his parents departure from this earth.
Now a full grown adult, what would you make of his character? Will he make Mother Theresa look like a wretch of a woman because of his boundless acts of kindness? I doubt it. With a shielded from anything bad, there would be no empathy because there would be no sense of despair or suffering he could relate to.
Conversely, would he perhaps become an arrogant, self absorbed person who thinks he is of some elevated status? Probably so, and he would be right because of his magical inheritance from his parents.
With all that this child and now grown man has, what has he lacked? Sadly, he has lacked the love of his parents. He can’t fathom their love because he has everything. Nothing went wrong, no request was denied, and he is oblivious to his parents power and inheriting blessing because he can not see anything other than what he deems is “good”. To him, he is the source of all that he has in his life because when he thought it, he got it. All of life came from the desires of his mind, not the desire of his parents to provide a wonderful life for their son.
Unconscious of his parents love he lives of life void of their presence. He has no perception of their existence. To him they were just there and then one day they were not. The result is a “grown man” who is arrogant, prideful, lacking empathy, and has no idea what a loving mother and father is. In fact, he has no concept of love period. Not for himself and not for others.
Kind of depressing right?
Don’t Be That Kid
Okay, back to reality or at least our original question of why do bad things happen to Christians or people in general when God desires good.
If God were to shelter us from all the bad things in this fallen world. We would forget who He is. We would have no compassion for our fellow humans. There would be no need to or even the ability to the Father’s love to him or to others. Like our delusional man-child above, we would have no perception of what the love of God even is. We would take our inherited hedge of protection and ultimately cause more harm than good.
God did not author the evil of this world. However, with love compassion and wisdom, all of which is boundless, he makes himself available to us whenever we experience this evil. To come to him and ask and he will guide us through the struggle. One day, he will ultimately restore the earth to its original created state. But until then, God makes available to us his character to model live by. Which brings us closer to Him. Like a toddler we are dependent on the Father to learn from Him. To take on his attributes and emulate it in the world. Things like the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:
Love, Joy, Peace, & Patience
Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, & Gentleness
Self-Control.
God is wise and in his infinite wisdom he has not taken on the role of a overbearing sheltering parent as in our above example. God wants you to learn how to be more like him and that requires a desire and need to come to him and to experience his love. And through this communal relationship, we have hope that one day he will return, establish a new heaven and new earth, allowing us to live free from pain, evil, and sin.
I pray the heart of this analogy reads loud and clear. That God desires you to desire him, and a life free from any harm or difficulty prevents us from even knowing he exist.