If there is disease, if there is cancer, if there are murderers, if there are bad things that happen every day, how on Earth can anyone say that there is a God? Even if there is a God, He isn’t good. If He were a good God, He’d see my struggles. He would see how badly I need help. If He wanted me to believe in Him, He would stop my family member or my friend from dying from something that they never deserved. He either doesn’t exist or He doesn’t care that I exist.

We question if God exists when bad things happen. When was the last time we questioned how God can’t exist when good things happen? When you wake up without sickness? When you wake up next to your husband or wife? When you make it home from work? When you have just enough money to scrape by on rent and groceries? Why do we always say “I get paid just enough to afford to go to work next week” and not “Thank God I got paid just enough to call this place my home for the next month.”

The simple fact is that we take good things for granted and only care about what happens when things aren’t good.

Now perhaps your mindset has shifted just a little since reading this, but I still haven’t answered your question. How can a good God let bad things happen?

As a result of those bad things happening, you questioned the existence of God. Would you have consciously questioned that existence if that bad thing didn’t happen? It’s a reminder that we have a Creator and we should acknowledge His existence. To show that we don’t have any power to control the world no matter how badly we want to.

If your first objection is that God could reveal the cure to cancer, or smite murderers as soon as or right before they commit a crime, I’d raise two problems with that. The first is that God does good ALL the time, but we take it for granted and only question the bad. We’d say that the cure was a great scientific discovery, which it would be, but it’s through the grace of God that we were able to reach that discovery. The second problem, pertaining to crime, is that it would take away free will. If God immediately punished crime, or a better word would be sin, there wouldn’t be a single person alive right now. Lying is a sin. Lust is a sin. Gluttony is a sin. Idolatry is a sin. Thank God that He has enough mercy on us to let us try to better ourselves for His glory.

1 Corinthians 10:31 states, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." If you’re struggling with your faith, remember to think about God when things are going well, not just when times are hard.