It is not always immediately obvious why people think and believe this way and not differently. I have already experienced various situations with this question. Here are some possibilities.

The denial of God

However you define the concept of God, there will always be someone who disagrees with it. However, it seems strange to me when someone who explicitly does not want to believe in God refers to the suffering in the world and hypocritically asks: “Why does God allow this?”. It’s not a serious question, but rather a defense. It begins with the emotion that God does not exist and then looks for a reason to make this somehow plausible for others (and perhaps for itself). Anyone who asks in this way is not asking a question, but merely making a defense. An answer is not necessary because you are not looking for an answer. People actually think that there can’t be a God, because otherwise everything in the world would be different. Perhaps you are resigned, disappointed, bitter, or speaking from certain experiences.

Two things emerge from this:

1. People talk about God, but they don’t mean Him (that doesn’t seem very productive to me)
2. People have a certain image of God, who obviously does not do what is demanded of Him.

The second reason is strongly reminiscent of the question of theodicy: “If God is love and is omnipotent, why doesn’t He change the suffering in the world?”. These are of course important questions, but they also speak of a certain attitude, of a certain understanding on the part of the questioner, who measures God against his own understanding. Such questions are not neutral.

Perhaps someone only asks such a question in the presence of Christians who apparently believe in this “lame” God. Then the question would even be a kind of dumbing down of the audience. I myself never feel affected by this, because the question says more about the questioner than about the God who is supposedly not ticking properly. It would not be a direct rejection, a frontal attack, but rather a form of passive aggression.

Suffering in the world

However, the same question can also be asked sincerely. With the best knowledge one has of this God, it seems inexplicable why there is suffering in the world. It may be that your current life is falling apart. There are enough difficult things to experience in this world. The loss of family and friends, for example, or the experience of illness, burn-out, psychological problems, limitations in old age, loss of work, relationship problems, abuse, existential hardship, the consequences of natural disasters, war, persecution and much more. These are all huge challenges that could turn our world upside down.

Then you’ve heard about this God that you trust, and you don’t understand the world, that all these things happen that make life infinitely difficult. So the question could also be: “Why does everything have to be so difficult?”.

This is also about an internalized image of God, from which the question stems. You think you know that God is only good and that it is His job, so to speak, to plant flowers everywhere and keep people happy. It may be helpful here to critically question your own theology. Such an attitude can be found in the preaching of a “prosperity gospel” and in some charismatic circles.

Why does God allow this?

You could also interpret this question as a question to yourself. Something like: “Why do I think God has to solve the misery in this world?”. Then the question speaks of me and asks about my image of God. Then I myself am at the center of the question. It’s about my thoughts and motivations. If you ask the question in this way, it is easy to recognize that God is someone else. The way I function and think is not the way He has to function and think. It’s about my expectation, more than about what and who God actually is. This is a helpful realization because I can then differentiate between my thoughts and His. If I only know myself and do not know God, then I can – like Job once did – come to a new realization:

“By hearsay (with the hearing of the ear) I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you.”
Job 42:5

If you first focus the question on your own understanding, understanding can grow. Everything else is perhaps just distraction and projection. However, when it comes to your own understanding of God and your own understanding of this world, you can and must be honest with yourself. It is not enough to condemn God. I have to deal with myself.

World view, image of God, image of man

The question “Why does God allow this?” speaks first of our own understanding. Although the dismay at the suffering and death in this world is real and must be taken seriously, the idea that God must “fix” the misery seems to prevail. This is a clear expectation and projection to the outside world. You should be aware of this if you are seriously looking for an answer to the question.

Our world view, image of God and image of man are connected. There are these three points and if you change the settings for one of these points, the settings for the other two points also change automatically. So if you expect God to fix the world (immediately and now and actually since yesterday), you are swimming in a certain understanding of God, the world and yourself. Now you can’t avoid this fact, but you can deal with it more consciously and realize that you could see the world, yourself or even God differently.

For example, many people think that “God is only good”. Jesus formulated it in a different way in a conversation and said:

“What do you call me good? No one is good but one, God.”
Luke 18:19

There is a difference between God being “only good” and “only God” being good. Because God is not only good in the Bible. He even created evil, we read in Isaiah (Isa 45:7). We cannot therefore assume that God is only good and therefore obliged to do good. This is not the case. The idea that God only has good things to do is perhaps a little naive?

A God who deserves this name is one thing above all: God. He is above everything and does what He likes. He does not need our consent. He acts as He wills. Just as Paul describes God:

“Who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
Eph 1:11

Image of God
Anyone reading this for the first time may find the idea uncomfortable. Some people draw the short conclusion that God “is therefore arbitrary”. That is not the case. The mistake lies in our thinking, which declares God to be “exclusively good”, although the Bible speaks about this in a much more differentiated way. Is it hard to believe what Paul wrote in Ephesians?

World view
The world, they say, “must be good”. Expectations of the world and of life also play a major role in understanding. Anyone who perceives suffering naturally wants it to stop. The sick want to be healed, the poor want to have enough to live on, justice should prevail. These are all things that play a role in the ideas of the messianic kingdom, for example. We wish for a better world and the prophets of the Old Testament outline such a better world. You long for it. However, this situation has not yet materialized. You should stand still here: Someone who cultivates hope and expectation is in a different place than someone who wants everything to be better here and now and immediately. This is the difference:

• Anyone who lives now and expects change now is in a conflict that cannot be resolved. It is the starting point for a rebellion. Sobriety shows: The world is not fair, everyone will die, with all the consequences, and much remains unresolved.
• Those who live out of an expectation feel the same suffering, but stand in it with an expectation and an outlook. This can help to overcome the current hardship.

Image of man
In both cases, the world will not change, but how we stand in it will change. How we perceive and understand the world is a way of life, perhaps even an attitude of faith.

Those who live from expectation have a positive image of humanity, not from experienced reality, but from the anticipated reality of the future. This does not refer to a vague afterlife, but to a power that can also unfold in the present time (“Therefore be of good cheer, you men! For I trust God that it will be as it was spoken to me.” Acts 27:25). That is why people who cultivate a living faith are resilient in the most difficult circumstances. This is not limited to a particular piety, denomination or even religion. You will find this all over the world. This also applies when I consciously recognize my understanding of the Bible as the best view.

The point is this: perhaps “truth” (“I believe right and you are wrong”) is not the only criterion for a Bible study. Perhaps the Bible itself speaks more about what inspires us here and now. This means that the Bible speaks out of today’s time and need, but outlines an attitude to life and faith that is characterized by confidence and grace.

Rethinking faith

The Bible can be sober and remain anchored in this world, while the message looks beyond it and speaks of a God who acts in time, but not necessarily today.

If I can look at it this way, God remains Himself and I also keep both feet on the ground. This world may be perfectly imperfect, but it is also God’s world. Many things are not perfect today, but that doesn’t mean anything is out of hand. I can start to rethink faith.

But then the Good News takes on meaning because it is both anchored in this world and speaks of God’s work. Then everything makes sense. If I then live from this joyfully and gratefully, but also realistically and with an outlook, I experience grace in this time.