Is God Good?

Life can cause very heavy hearts sometimes.  Today I read about a young woman who had a wonderful husband and young son.  Several weeks ago, they went out for a canoe ride in the late afternoon and never returned.  The son was probably reaching for something in the water and fell out.  The dad dove in after him and swam towards shore.  The water was too cold so they never made it.

I was reading Ann's book A Thousand Gifts and she told about her little sister.  She was in the front yard and a delivery truck ran over her.  She watched her die in her parent's arms.  Her brother-in-law lost a baby at four months and one at five months from the same genetic disease.

Another young mother of three has been battling cancer.  They just found another lump on her liver.  A good friend's son took his life when he was in the prime of life.  We just found out that our young children's pastor has a tumor over one quarter of his brain.  On The Today Show today they interviewed a mother who lost her three adorable daughters and parents on Christmas Eve from a fire in their home.

I could go on and on about all the sadness going on around us.  Where is God?  Why does He allow so many terrible things to happen?

We all die.  No one will get a pass from death.  Sin entered the world due to man's sin.  God gave man a choice to obey Him or not.  Love is not real love if there is no choice.  Man chose to disobey and the result was sin and death. 

Sin infests this world everywhere.  It's fingerprints invade everything.  We are reaping the consequences of sin and death is the ultimate consequence.  This is where God had a plan.  He sent His son to die and pay the penalty for our sin that we may live again.

Yes, God could have prevented all of the above circumstances, but He didn't.    He can use all of those circumstance to bring people to Him.  He can turn evil into good.  Death causes people to question life and the purpose of life.  Without Him, we would have no hope.  With Him, there is hope.

O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory? 
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God, which gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

I Corinthians 15:55-57