Only God really knows the answer to this question since only He knows the purpose of what He wills (Is. 55:8-9). The best we can do is to try to understand what God’s revelation expressly or implicitly tells us about it.
Although God, from all eternity, of His own good will ordains everything that comes to pass, nevertheless, by this, God is not the author of sin and he doesn’t abrogate the creatures’ free will (WCF Ch. 3). The Bible teaches that nothing happens unless God allows it (Eph. 1:11). God has also revealed to us that He is the only source of good (Psalm 5:4) and that God is righteous and good in all things (Ps. 145:17). Moreover, God is perfectly good and there is no evil in Him (1 John 1:5).
We can infer from the foregoing that although God allows anything and everything that happens in our corrupt world, he is nevertheless not the source of bad or evil deeds. When we see bad things happening around us and we cannot understand why they happened, we may rest assured that these things happened according to God’s purposes and that those purposes are for good not for evil. God has told us that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).
When we become believers in Christ Jesus, God imputes the merited righteousness of Jesus, which he earned by living a perfectly obedient human life, to us and He accepts the price Jesus paid on the cross as redemption for our sins. God’s requirements are thus met and He justifies us and accepts us as his adopted children with the assurance of our inheritance of future salvation and glorification on Judgment Day. From the day we believe until the day we die, we are in that phase of God’s Plan of Salvation called sanctification. This sanctification is a progressive and cooperative effort by God and the believer. During this phase, God acts as a loving, perfectly righteous, and just Father God and justly disciplines his disobedient children (Heb. 12:6). Often, He leaves them to their own devices when they are disobedient allowing them to suffer trials and tribulations for their eternal good. So, one answer to this question is God allows bad things to happen to His disobedient children as discipline for that bad behavior. In other words, we get what we deserve from a righteous Father.
Another reason is that we can expect to suffer because of our belief in Christ and that suffering in the end will glorify God. Americans are rarely persecuted for their faith in Christ Jesus. But for those few who are, perseverance in such times of pain and suffering serves to build them up as they move toward their ultimate glorification in heaven. As the apostle Paul wrote For I considered that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18). Jesus told His disciples, just before He ascended into heaven I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20). There is never a moment when Jesus is not with us in good times and bad. God will allow bad to happen through persecution because of our Christian faith but He will always be with us during that persecution.
Consider that God allowed Jesus to die a horrible death on the cross at the hands of evil men. For Jesus’ family and His apostles this surely was a terrible tragedy at the time. Nevertheless, God foreordained this tragedy to serve a good purpose just like he allows other bad things that happen to work together for good according to His purpose. Often God’s purpose for allowing bad things to happen remains a mystery to us but we should take comfort in the fact that God is a gracious, loving, just and righteous God who ordains that all things work together for good.
God allows suffering to bring the person to God or closer to God. Sometimes circumstances require God to allow bad to happen to people whose hardness of heart requires such drastic action so they will realize their need for God. Remember that Nebuchadnezzar wandered in the wilderness like a wild animal for seven years before he came around (Dan. 4:31-37). Even some Christians must be brought to their knees in order to wake up to their disobedience; remember the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).
A result of the fall was that sin and suffering entered the world (Rom. 5:12) causing both direct and indirect consequences. Though we live in this corrupt, sinful world that is full of pitfalls, dangers, illnesses, injuries and wickedness, believers can rest assured that when they face these bad things in their lives, that God has ordained it for a good purpose. Moreover, He is not in some distant locus during these trials and tribulations but is right beside us and is available to assist us according to His grace and mercy.
