Wednesday Read: When God Doesn't Stop the Catastrophe
Yesterday we remembered September 1, 1939 - the day World War II began. A common question haunts that memory: where was God? If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why didn't he stop Hitler? Why didn't he prevent the Holocaust? Why did he let six million Jews die, along with tens of millions of others?
These aren't theoretical questions. They're visceral, agonizing cries that echo through history. Job asked them after losing his children, his wealth, and his health in a single day. The Psalmist asked them: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?" (Psalm 22:1). Even Jesus asked them from the cross, quoting that same Psalm.
The Bible doesn't offer tidy explanations for why God allows catastrophic evil. It doesn't say "God had a beautiful plan requiring six million Jewish deaths." That would be obscene. Instead, Scripture acknowledges the reality of evil, the mystery of divine sovereignty working alongside human freedom, and the promise that God will ultimately make all things right - while refusing to explain why he doesn't do it sooner.
Genesis establishes the pattern. God creates a good world, gives humans freedom to choose, and then doesn't override that freedom when they choose rebellion. The consequences cascade - brother murders brother, violence fills the earth, humans build empires through oppression. God doesn't prevent these atrocities. He lets human choices produce real consequences while promising to ultimately redeem what humans destroy.
After the flood, God makes a covenant: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood" (Genesis 8:21). This isn't God saying human evil is acceptable - it's God committing to work within a world where evil exists rather than constantly overriding human freedom. He sets boundaries (the rainbow covenant limits total destruction) but doesn't eliminate human capacity for wickedness.
The prophets grapple with this constantly. Habakkuk asks God: "Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you idly look at wrongs? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds" (Habakkuk 1:3-4). God's answer doesn't explain suffering away - it reaffirms his sovereignty while acknowledging evil's temporary triumph: "The revelation awaits an appointed time... Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:3).
Jesus taught that this pattern continues until his return. The wheat and weeds grow together until harvest (Matthew 13:24-30). God doesn't immediately separate good from evil because doing so would require judging humanity before redemption's work is complete. Patience that looks like inaction is actually mercy - "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
But patience has limits. Romans 1 describes God "giving people over" to their choices - letting them experience the full consequences of rejecting him. When humans persistently choose violence, oppression, and cruelty, God eventually withdraws his restraining hand. World War II wasn't God causing evil - it was God allowing humans to fully experience what they'd been building toward for decades: nationalism, militarism, racism, totalitarianism.
This doesn't excuse the perpetrators or minimize the suffering. Nazi Germany chose evil; God didn't make them do it. But it recognizes that God's normal pattern isn't miraculous intervention but allowing human choices to produce real consequences while working redemptively within the mess humans create.
The cross demonstrates this pattern most clearly. God doesn't prevent Jesus's murder. He doesn't stop the whips, the thorns, the nails, the spear. He lets evil do its worst to his own Son. Yet through that very evil, God accomplishes redemption. The cross doesn't explain why God allows suffering - it proves that God can work through suffering to accomplish purposes evil never intended.
This is mystery, not explanation. It doesn't make the Holocaust less horrific or World War II's deaths less tragic. But it places them within a framework where God remains sovereign while humans remain responsible, where evil is real but temporary, where current suffering is acknowledged without denying future redemption.
What catastrophes are you watching, wondering why God doesn't intervene? Where do you see evil triumphant, wickedness unpunished, innocents suffering? The question "Why doesn't God stop this?" is valid. Scripture doesn't silence it with easy answers. Instead, it promises that God sees, God cares, God grieves, and God will ultimately make all things right - while refusing to explain why he doesn't do it on your timeline.
Faith isn't pretending suffering doesn't matter. It's trusting that God is working purposes you can't yet see, that present evil won't have the final word, that the One who redeemed the worst evil humans could imagine (murdering God himself) can redeem whatever you're facing. Habakkuk's conclusion becomes yours: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines... yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior" (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
