Accusations against God, with emphasis on the pain and suffering of humanity, are an attempt of the wicked to dispel the very notion that He even exists. Building a straw god, they imagine bringing Him before them to judgment and condemning Him by questioning His righteousness and His power. They sow doubt by asking, “If God exists, how could He allow so much evil and suffering and do nothing to stop it?”

God is fully aware of all things that have happened and that will happen. He not only allows horrible things to take place but also has ordained them. Not even one sparrow falls to the ground without God—that is no one’s doing but His. (Matthew 10:29).

The reality is, the Lord commanded his people to destroy other nations, including the women and children, so they could take their lands for themselves. It is an unimaginable thought in the minds of those who cannot comprehend God—“the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5).

How could slavery be allowed and ordinances given instructing how indentured servitude was to be instituted? Why are seemingly oppressive patriarchies and hierarchies allowed to exist that appear as institutions of systematic disparities and inequality? Why is the position of man elevated as the head over woman, placing her in a subordinate role? Why does God permit polygamy in the Bible and later instruct against it?

These are challenging questions; such questions irk the ungodly and confuse those who lack understanding. Many unbelievers use these questions and others like them to judge God because they hate Him. They have no desire for God to exist; they would be gods. “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

The wicked see God and His righteous laws as shackles that bind them from indulging in their lusts; they desire freedom from morality. “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:4)

The desire for sinful liberties drives the wicked to conclude that the God of the Bible does not exist, and if such a God did exist, he would be a cruel, genocidal, and unjust misogynist filled with all evil. Many go so far as to say if God did exist and came into the world, he would be worthy of death—which did indeed happen.

Therein is fulfilled the words spoken to Daniel the prophet, saying, “The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.”

The world judges God for His work. The wicked reject His eternal righteousness. Nonetheless, every word and action of God, as seen and understood through the eyes of God, is righteous and good; all things are done with perfect purpose. The end of all things—whether it is good or evil—works for the good to the glory of God. Such an understanding is beyond the comprehension of a worldly mind; it is only spiritually discerned.

As spoken by the LORD through the prophet Isaiah, “…My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

People develop a worldview based on what they see and learn, all of which are things of this world. God has an eternal view and knows all things. Only God’s conception of reality is perfect and complete.

Our time in this world relative to eternity is as nothing; it is less than a flash when it is past. Our days compared to eternity as a ratio only become infinitely smaller as eternity rolls on without end. As horrible as the world could ever be, it is temporary—and it is necessary to bring forth eternal righteousness and perfection—for without suffering it is impossible. There is no alternative way to perfect imperfect beings or to achieve the perfection of eternity.

Jesus went to John to be baptized; John resisted. Jesus answered, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him. (Matthew 3:15)

The Lord is greatly grieved by all the evil that has occurred from the beginning until the present; He also knows the evil yet to come. Unlike us, He sees all from everlasting to everlasting; still, it becomes Him to suffer it to be so now, to fulfill all righteousness.

The path to perfection runs through the valley of suffering. Paul spoke to this, saying, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

God weighed suffering against eternity; eternity weighed in without measure—this is what the wicked will never understand.

“The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10)