From Newsweek:

I just got to a point where I couldn’t explain how something like this could happen, if there’s a powerful and loving God in charge of the world. It’s a very old problem, and there are a lot of answers, but I don’t think any of them work.

The suffering in Haiti has reminded us of an age-old question:  If God is loving and all-powerful, why does He allow tragedy and suffering?  Like the article points out, there are myriad ways we answer this question.  I, like Job, don’t have a complete answer, but I do have some questions about how we view God.

In the article quoted above we find a typical description of God–loving and powerful.  That’s all.  But, is that all God is?  Is He only a heavenly Santa supposed to use His power to prevent any form of suffering and pain?  And, if so, then shouldn’t we all be living in some form of Eden, right now?

Perhaps, while God is love, He is also much more.  Perhaps He is also just, righteous, holy, pure, jealous and wrathful.  Perhaps He is also all-knowing, able to see each event as it connects to all other events.  Perhaps, in His perfect knowledge and wisdom, He is able to see good, righteous reasons to allow calamity to occur.  Thus, while He might hate suffering and calamity, He might be inclined to allow it because of the bigger, eternal picture.

Let me give you an example.  Earlier I wrote:

The second is a young girl, dying from cancer.  This little girl didn’t just want prayer she also wanted answers.  I tried my best to answer her questions, and we prayed for her and her family.  Now, this little girl was not healed.  However, something even more amazing happened.  Before cancer claimed her, Christ claimed her.  This little girl accepted Christ, and even asked to be buried with one of the letters I wrote—so she could show it to God!  The peace with which she died, and this request led her parents—non-Christians—to ask their own questions.  Even though they lived two states away (they were in our area for her treatment) we prayed for them and put them in touch with a good church.

A few months later I received a letter from that little girl’s mom.  In it was a picture, which still sits on my desk, and a note.  That note shared how she and her husband came to know Christ, and how they could see God’s mercy.  She understood that her little girl died so that the girl, the mom and the dad could find eternal life.  She believed that it was a part of God’s plan, and though painful, worth it.

While God never promises to tell us what good end He achieved through allowing suffering, we can know He does not allow anything without a good, perfect and pleasing purpose.  The story of that dear little girl is evidence that God does not bring calamity where God does not send grace.

Perhaps God is not 2D after all.