Not everything that happens in the world is the Lord’s will.
But we hear the opposite fairly often, from the pulpit and books and popular podcasts. I once heard a speaker say he believed that everything in the world that ever happens is all part of God’s plan and purpose for our lives.
But that’s not true; it’s completely unbiblical. It’s also a slippery way of accusing the Lord of perpetuating evil.
Yes, sometimes He allows things…but consider how much He prevents that we are completely unaware of.
Yes, He takes what the enemy means for evil and He turns it for good (see Romans 8:28)…but no, that doesn’t mean that everything that happens in the world is His will.
God gives humans free will. Sometimes humans do evil things that the Lord never sanctions.
To say that everything that happens is part of God’s will and plan is to tell a rape victim that the Lord is okay with what happened to her. It is to tell an abused child that they need to suck it up and deal because this is part of the Lord’s plan. It is to tell the grieving parent who lost their child to cancer or a drunk driver that this, too, is the Lord’s will.
Someone who says those things has not spent much time with God or in His word. Those beliefs (which are actually pious-sounding accusations) are completely against His character, and lies from the enemy.
Here’s what the Word says He is:
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.— Psalm 145:8-9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
— 2 Peter 3:9
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
— James 1:16-17
This is the message we have heard from him
and proclaim to you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all.— 1 John 1:5
So if God doesn’t want evil to happen, why doesn’t He prevent it?
He often does and we are completely oblivious. And also, He also put us here to help prevent things, too: We are to partner with Him in this work. We are to act and intercede to prevent evil – not to condone it or shrug our shoulders and say it is His will.
He is a good father, not an abuser. He loves you. He has a good, beautiful, holy, joy-filled plan for your life, for this season, and for the situation you’re facing.
Sometimes we come up with good reasons for why we’re going through a particular trial. Since we know God has a reason for everything, and everything works for good, we convince ourselves that this situation must be part of God’s plan, since He loves us very much and wants us to suffer miserably for His sake.
Really. Many of us grew up believing a bunch of half-truths, and they center around that one.
When we come up with reasons for why we’re going through something, we sometimes end up agreeing with the circumstance, which often was never God’s will at all. Sickness is not His will. Abuse is not His will. Trauma is not His will.
Just because He can make good come from anything — and He does, remember Romans 8:28? — it doesn’t mean that He wanted the bad thing to happen in the first place.
You keep mentioning that chapter, Romans 8. What is it, anyway? Okay, here you go:
And we know that for those who love God
all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom he predestined he also called,
and those whom he called he also justified,
and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?— Romans 8:28-32
We don’t have to make excuses for our situations, or give good reasons for them, or try to explain them away. We might be in a really crappy season that has no excuse other than that we fight a real enemy in a fallen world, and this place is a cleanup operation.
But we also serve the one real God who loves and cares for us, and equips us, and covers us with His righteousness and favor, and calls us His own. He has good plans for us, and that’s what we need to agree with.
This is chapter 7 of Grit: Kindling to Relight the Wounded and Weary. It is especially for those who have been burned, burned out, disappointed, dealing with hope deferred, and needing to get your fire rekindled.
