A terminal disease. The death of a child. A freak accident that takes the life of a loved one or friend. The painful loss of a job. A broken marriage. A fractured friendship. A miscarriage. Bankruptcy. Mental illness. Birth defects. A church split. A stock market crash. A lawsuit.
As people struggle through such difficulties and hardships and seek solace in the midst of life’s storms, they will sometimes say (or someone will say to them), “I believe that everything happens for a reason. God is in control. I just have to accept His will in this.” As Biblical support for their outlook, they will reference passages like Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I fully believe in the truth and power of that verse, but I believe that there are some things that it affirms and some things that it does not.
Scripture does not teach fatalism, determinism, or a micro-managed predestination in which God manipulates outcomes and purposefully moves lives and events around like pieces on a chessboard. Romans 8:28 does not state that “God causes all things.” While life and history may be said to unfold within the boundaries of God’s “permissive will,” that does not mean that every success or failure, victory or defeat is the result of His “explicit will.” He permits every man, woman, and child created in His image to make their own choices. He has placed us in a world governed and ordered by natural, physical laws that most often bless us, but have the potential to harm or kill us.
So, Romans 8:28 doesn’t teach that everything happens for a reason, or that sense can somehow be made out of senseless events. But what it does affirm is that our sovereign God is so powerful that He can take any single tragedy in our lives or any imaginable combination and succession of tragedies and use them for the purposes of good and blessing, both for ourselves and for others. That is an amazing God! A lesser god would wield his will like a club, enforce conformity, and only then could he accomplish his purposes. The God of Heaven says, “Give me any set of negative circumstances, whether brought about by yourself, or created by forces and influences beyond your control, and I will find a way for it to result in blessing and the accomplishment of My will for your life.”
Joseph is a classic example of such workings of God’s providential will. God did not make Joseph’s brothers despise him with a jealous hatred. That was wrong. He did not make them sell their own flesh and blood like a common slave. That was unimaginably inhumane. He did not make Potiphar’s wife lust for him, repeatedly try to seduce him, and then falsely accuse him of attempted rape. That was entirely sinful. He did not cause Pharaoh’s cupbearer to forget about him and leave him in prison for another two years. That was a tragic oversight. God allowed all of those individuals to make their choices and enact their own will, and still He used those events for the blessing of Joseph, the preservation of Jacob’s entire family, and the sustaining of life in the entire region of Egypt during seven years of famine. In that sense, Joseph could say to his brothers that, even though they sold him, it was God who had sent him to Egypt (Gen. 45:5). They had “meant it for evil against him, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).
Our son Coleman wasn’t born with Dubowitz Syndrome and autism for some “reason” or just so that some “greater good” could be served. Yet, God has graciously brought about incalculable good and innumerable blessings for him, us, and a whole multitude of people throughout his life. God hasn’t done this so that we would now understand the reason “why.” There is no such reason. Our loving Father simply took something that was broken and made it beautiful. He took a circumstance that was senseless and gave it meaning and significance. Such is the power and grace of our God!
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February 2, 2010 at 9:25 am
Tim Archer
I very much agree. I’m troubled at times by some of the things that are attributed to God’s will. I think the Bible shows us that some things happen that aren’t what God wanted to happen at all.
God could have set up this world as a giant chessboard, with us as the pieces (as the image on this page shows). My belief is that he chose not to do so.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
February 2, 2010 at 9:53 am
Tim Pyles
Thank you, Tim, for your comments! I share your discomfort with certain things that are chalked up to the will of God which are entirely contrary to His nature and what He has revealed about His will for our lives.
Your blog continues to enlighten and encourage me and challenge my thinking. You have a wonderful gift for concisely expressing your central points, as well as eliciting helpful discussion from various sides of an issue or question.
For those of you who haven’t been to The Kitchen of Half-Baked Thoughts, you can find it at http://timothyarcher.com
February 2, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Merlin
Thank you, Tim! I was just thinking about similar topic. This is the main reason why my close one’s don’t understand Christianity. They just don’t want to understand(or listen at all) why sometimes innocent people have to suffer.
February 2, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Tim Pyles
Merlin,
So good to hear from you, and thank you so much for your comment.
I talked with Ron by phone yesterday; he and Judy were leaving today to head back to Estonia. I know that you and the others are very anxious to see them again, as they are to see you. Greet everyone in Tartu from the Pyles family. God bless you always!
February 5, 2010 at 7:37 am
Joy Anderson
It’s interesting to read this because until 2009, I believed everything happens for a reason. By the end of last year, I was disappointed and angry to realize that life is just random. Random bad things that can happen. Sometimes back to back to back filling up an entire calendar year. Before I sound too negative, I can also say that for nearly every one of those random, bad events a solution was provided.
I didn’t know the purpose in Earl losing his leg in such a random ridiculous way, when he was already ill….then it dawned on me that there was no purpose. But I know Earl’s heart and there will be a blessing come about some way.
Our family is a little gun shy, and a little weary in 2010. We’re a little bit afraid of “randomness”, but maybe the blessing of 2009 was in learning the assurance that no matter what the universe throws at us, God sees. God has a plan. He doesn’t use a “do over” button but He provides a way to deal with it. That’s my new randomness theory on life.
February 5, 2010 at 11:06 am
Tim Pyles
Joy,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I know that you and Erich and your extended family have been through a series of those back to back to back trials and difficulties. Like you, I don’t believe that God targeted those experiences upon your family for some lofty, spiritual reason; they have come as a part of living in the flesh in a fallen world. Yet, He has fulfilled His promise to never leave you or forsake you, to provide sustaining strength in every circumstance, and to use those events to bring greater faith, strength, and blessing. So glad you guys are at BA.
February 5, 2010 at 9:43 am
The Faughn Family of Four » Friday Links Roundup: “Live from Henderson, It’s iPreach!” Edition
[…] 3. I love Romans 8:28, but feel it is often used to teach that, for the Christian, everything is good, instead of all with “work out” for good. Tim Pyles shares a deeply personal look at this verse in “Everything Happens for a Reason, Right?” […]
October 18, 2013 at 6:11 am
What Not to Say | Thinking Out Loud
[…] written about this statement previously, I won’t further belabor the point here. See “Everything Happens for a Reason, Right?” for a lengthier discussion and […]
November 5, 2013 at 4:20 pm
Ribbons Undone
This was hard for me to read, honestly. I don’t disagree with you on any point really. It’s just that I’m one of those people to whom many bad things have happened. They have shaped who I am definitely, but it occurred to me after the fourth time I was raped that God, being the ultimate, all-knowing, all seeing person that He is knew what would happen to me before it happened and let it happen anyway. God knew all of the terrible things in my life would happen and let them happen anyway. After the last rape, I needed someone to blame because when a stranger assaults and rapes you, your mind searches for the reason. Your mind goes through a series of “what if’s”. In my case it was “What if I had stayed home that night?” and others. I couldn’t make sense of it because it made no sense. I eventually blamed God because I needed someone to blame (I blamed the rapist too, but since he was nowhere to be found I got no closure.) and God is always a convenient scapegoat. However, I could not escape the logic I mentioned before. There were several years where I could not even pray because I was so hurt and angry. It was the build up of a lifetime of mistreatment by others: incest, molestation, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, rape..The majority done by members of my family when I was a small child. My thought was exactly this: If God is not to blame then who is? It’s not the devil, because the devil as a created being (if you believe in a literal devil) is subject to God being created by God therefore is on God’s celestial leash (see Job). This is still hard for me to deal with when I really stop to think about it all. However, I have moved back toward God thankfully. I find myself still being somewhat conflicted about it all though not quite so angry. I’m still trying to move closer to God. Some days are easier than others.
November 5, 2013 at 11:14 pm
Tim Pyles
It broke my heart to read your description of the pain upon pain, abuse upon abuse, and injustice upon injustice that you have suffered in your lifetime. I wish I knew where to start in responding; I have no answer as to why such atrocities are allowed to occur (and sadly even re-occur) in a person’s life. But, despite my own conflicted heart and my own recurring doubts about so many things, I, like you, continue to cling to faith. I pray that your movement toward God will continue, that the easier days will increasingly outnumber the more difficult ones, and that healing, peace, and comfort will be granted to soothe the pain in your heart.