God Questions: Why Evil/Suffering?

Devotional

Day 1: When Light and Calamity Share the Same Source

The Bible insists God creates both peace and calamity, light and darkness. This tension forces us to confront His absolute sovereignty over all things—even what we label “bad.” His declaration in Isaiah 45 reveals a God who refuses to share authority with lesser powers. While disasters and suffering confuse us, they cannot negate His ultimate purpose. Trust grows when we release our demand for explanations and embrace His right to govern creation. [22:03]

“I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you struggled to trust God’s sovereignty in recent hardships? How might His claim over both light and darkness reshape your perspective?

Day 2: Goodness Isn’t a Scale—It’s a Person

God isn’t “good” by comparison to human ideals. He defines goodness itself. Like a compass pointing north, every act of love, justice, or mercy derives its meaning from His nature. When suffering distorts our view, Scripture redirects us: true goodness isn’t about comfort, but conformity to Christ. To question God’s goodness is to stand on the very standard He invented. [32:33]

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, ESV)

Reflection: What current circumstance tempts you to doubt God’s goodness? How does His identity as the source of all good anchor you?

Day 3: The Crack in Creation’s Foundation

Eventhe ground groans under the weight of humanity’s rebellion. Genesis reveals a world fractured not by God’s failure, but by Adam’s choice. Suffering entered through the door of human autonomy—a reminder that we still reap what our first parents sowed. Yet God’s command in Eden proves He values willing relationship over forced compliance. [41:02]

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16-17, ESV)

Reflection: How have you seen the ripple effects of sin’s “crack” in your relationships or world? Where do you need Christ’s restoration most today?

Day 4: Why Choice Matters More Than Control

God risked giving Adam real agency—not because He wanted failure, but because love demands freedom. Like a parent teaching a child to walk, He allows stumbles to cultivate dependence. Our complaints about evil often mask a deeper discomfort: God refuses to override human will, even when it costs Him. His patience reveals His determination to redeem, not robotize. [42:45]

“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, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you resent God’s allowance of human choice? How might His restraint actually demonstrate greater love?

Day 5: The Second Adam’s Unbroken Rhythm

While the first Adam brought death through disobedience, Christ—the Second Adam—lived the perfect rhythm of dependence we fractured. His sinless life, unjust death, and resurrection prove God’s goodness isn’t passive, but actively redeeming brokenness. Every tear becomes a thread in His tapestry of restoration. [47:24]

“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you need to exchange Adam’s legacy of rebellion for Christ’s gift of obedience? How does Jesus’ resurrection rewrite your story of suffering?

Sermon Summary

Isaiah 45 puts the first stake in the ground: God is the Lord, there is no other, and God rules over everything. God forms light, creates darkness, makes peace, and creates calamity. Romans 8:28 puts another stake in the ground: all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. The hard question rises right there: if God is good, and God is sovereign, then why is there so much bad?

The question of evil is not a little debate for people who like to “wax poetic.” The question is personal. Every funeral, every diagnosis, every fire, every act of injustice, every suffering child, every broken marriage, every preventable death presses the same thing into view. The real question is whether a good and sovereign God can rule over a world where evil exists. God does not step back and say that evil proves some other ruler owns the place. God says, “Nope. Wrong. I rule here.”

God’s goodness has to be established first. Scripture does not say God is good by comparison, like God is better than the next best thing. God is goodness itself. God is the standard, the definition, the only reason evil can even be named as evil. Evil is known because it is not God. Love works the same way. God is not merely loving in the way creatures measure love. God is love, and creaturely love is only known because love comes from him.

Creation also matters. Genesis says God made everything good, and then very good. Adam was created upright, complete and sinless, but not perfect like God is perfect. Adam still needed God, still needed to learn, still needed the helper God made for him. God gave Adam a command, and that command was not random. The tree marked the place where Adam had to choose dependence, trust, and obedience.

The fall explains the broken world. Satan’s rebellion was rebellion of thought, and Adam’s rebellion became rebellion of action. Adam did not enter a sinful world. Adam caused a sinful world. Sin spread through Adam to all who come from Adam. The problem is not merely that humanity commits sins. The problem is that humanity is sinful. The world is broken because humanity is broken, and God remains good even while ruling over all of it.

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Key Takeaways

1. God rules the whole place God does not present sovereignty as a partial claim or a distant title. Isaiah 45 says God makes peace and creates calamity, and that forces the hard question instead of letting it be avoided. The comfort is not that God has lost control, but that God has all the information when creatures have almost none of it. [21:25]
2. Evil proves goodness has a standard Evil can only be called evil because goodness is real. God is not comparatively good, as if goodness were measured outside of him. God is the definition of good, so every protest against evil is already borrowing from the moral world God made. [32:33]
3. Creation began very good Genesis does not start with a broken machine or a defective world. God saw what he made, said it was good, and then called the whole thing very good. Adam was upright, sinless, and complete with God, but still dependent on God rather than perfect in himself. [37:50]
4. Choice demanded dependent obedience The tree in the garden was not a pointless test. God gave Adam a real command because image-bearers are called to choose what is right, good, and loving in dependence on God. The command exposed whether Adam would live as a creature under God or reach for what belonged to God. [42:11]
5. Adam caused the broken world Adam did not walk into a sinful world and get stained by it. Adam’s rebellion brought sin into the world, and that defect spread through Adam to humanity. The world is broken because humanity is broken, and that keeps blame from being shifted onto God.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[18:51] - Isaiah 45 and Romans 8:28
[20:18] - Why God Allows Evil
[21:25] - God Is Sovereign Over Everything
[23:21] - All Things Work Together for Good
[25:21] - God Is Big Enough for Questions
[27:13] - Evil Is Personal, Not Abstract
[29:10] - Can a Good God Rule Here?
[30:56] - Scripture Says God Is Good
[32:33] - God Defines Goodness and Love
[34:53] - Science Studies God’s Creation
[37:50] - Creation Was Very Good
[40:29] - Adam Receives God’s Command
[42:11] - Choice, Obedience, and the Tree
[47:03] - Sin Spreads Through Adam

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Isaiah 45:5-7
“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” [18:51] [21:25]

Romans 8:28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” [18:56] [23:21]

Genesis 1:31
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” [37:50]

Genesis 2:16-17
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” [40:29] [42:11]

Romans 3:23
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” [19:49]

Observation questions

In Isaiah 45:5-7, what repeated claims does God make about himself, and what kinds of things does he say he does? [21:25]
In Romans 8:28, who is the promise for, and what does the verse say God is doing with “all things”? [23:21]
In Genesis 1:31 and Genesis 2:16-17, what do these verses show about the condition of creation at the beginning, and what command was Adam given inside that good creation? [40:29]
What are some concrete examples of evil and suffering that make this question personal rather than just theoretical? [27:13]

Interpretation questions

If God says he makes well-being and creates calamity, how should that shape the way people talk about God’s rule over painful events? [22:19]
If God is not merely good by comparison but is goodness itself, how does that help explain why people can still recognize evil as evil? [32:33]
Genesis says creation was “very good,” and yet Adam was still dependent on God. What does that suggest about the difference between being sinless and being self-sufficient? [38:45]
Adam did not enter a sinful world; Adam caused a sinful world. How does that change where blame is placed for the brokenness people experience now? [47:20]

Application questions

When suffering shows up in real life—a diagnosis, a funeral, a broken relationship, a loss—what is the first instinct: to trust that God still rules, or to assume he has lost control? Why? [29:31]
God is the standard of good, not just a better version of what people call good. Where is there a tendency to judge God by personal feelings, limited understanding, or present pain instead of letting God define what is good? [34:16]
Adam’s command in the garden was a call to trustful dependence. Where is God currently calling for simple obedience, even when the reason is not fully understood? [42:11]
The world is broken because humanity is broken, and the problem is not only sinful actions but a sinful nature. Is there a tendency to talk more easily about what is wrong out there than about what is wrong in the heart? What might honest repentance look like this week? [48:15]
God is big enough for hard questions. What painful question has been hard to bring before God honestly, and what would it look like to bring that question to him without walking away from him? [25:07]
Romans 8:28 says that God works all things together for good for those who love him. In one present hardship, what would it look like to hold on to that promise without pretending the hardship is small or easy? [23:21]
If evil is known because it is not God, how might that truth help someone respond differently to the daily flood of bad news, injustice, and grief without becoming numb or hopeless? [34:16]

Sermon Clips

50s

#GodIsTheStandard

“``But you never hear anyone going around being like, well, God is good, good, good. God is holy, holy, holy. God is perfect, perfect, perfect. God is wrath, wrath, wrath. No one ever says that, but we're all, but God is love. He is love. You're right. You just don't understand what love is. He's not comparative love. He's the definition of love. He's not comparative good. He's the definition of good. He's not comparative perfect. He's the definition of perfect. He's not comparative judge. He's the definition of justice. You understand? Like, this is who God is, and God's not merely good. Again, by comparison, he's the standard. He's by which the only way we can even understand and measure evil is because we can compare it to God.”

36s

#SovereignAndJust

“Question number one though is this, again, from Genesis 18. Won't the judge of all the earth do right? Well, this doesn't look right to me. Okay. Look. Whatever answer that God gives to a problem, it's right. God's never the author of wrong. God's never the author of sin, and yet God is also always sovereign over all the things, even the things that go wrong. And we gotta reconcile this. We have to understand part of creation. That's not the order.”

44s

#GodGivesMorality

“Look, this is what happened. What happened? How can you say God is good? I say God is good because that's how we know goodness. And everything about God, he's the character, he's the standard. There has to be a standard of good, otherwise we don't know it's not good. In fact, by the way, if if we were just taking an evolutionary standpoint, and man just evolved to this place, we don't have any standard of good. And what difference does it make? If I kill someone, if I take someone else's stuff, if I if I I do whatever, what difference does it make? But inside of us, we know. Why do we know we have a moral standard? Every every society from the beginning of society has a moral standard. Why? Because God is good.”

60s

#SovereignOverEvil

“Right? And ultimately, so this when I say all that to say this, ultimately, the real question, the question really asking that they're really asking that we're really answering is this is the question. Can a good and sovereign God rule over a world that evil exists in? Fact, I think most people find if the story was this, God's out there. And where he's at, everything's good. And we were part of the where he's at, and then we kicked him out. And so we get it. He doesn't rule here. But God shows up, and he's like, nope. Wrong. I rule here. In fact, I rule here, and I'm sovereign here. As a matter of fact, he says, and I work all things out here. And so we're gonna answer the question. We're gonna start with a certain thing, certain things that you have to know in order to address the question. And the goal of this message is not merely to answer, understand, and trust God when we have these conversations.”

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