It can be very hard to live with painful experiences as Christians, wondering “Where was God?” We love Him and trust Him, but still struggle when His providence permits heartbreaking events. He is our Heavenly Father; we are His adopted children; He has told us that He loves us. We have no doubt that He will be with us always, even when we go through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23) or go through the deep waters and fire (Isaiah 43). And we know that He is absolutely sovereign, so there is nothing that happens to us apart from His will. But we can’t help but wonder why He allows things that hurt us so much. We call these matters of “theodicy;” how do we justify God in things He does which don’t make sense to us?
Some of those things that trouble us are personal and private: a cancer diagnosis, the death of a child, a disastrous car accident, the impact of vision loss. Others are just as private and personal, but more emotional than physical: a friend that turns on us, a wonderful job where we’re terminated, a child that turns away from the Lord, an embarrassing realization of our inadvertently having hurt another. Other things bring us distress and confusion from events around us that touch us and steal our peace of mind: a devastating storm, a destructive flood, a terrorist attack, the outbreak of war, the collapse of a government.