The amount of times I’ve heard the question “how can God be good when there’s so much evil in this world?” in my Christian walk is endless and friends, I have a very simple answer for you… because God is good and people aren’t. 

My church is currently in a series about justice and this morning, the CEO and founder of International Justice Mission, Gary Haugen broke down God’s heart for justice in such a powerful way. He mentioned that God is passionate about two things… the world and justice. He also mentioned that the goal is to have a heart that’s more and more like the heart of God. A heart of justice, a heart of mercy, a heart of grace, a heart of fairness.

If you watch any sort of news, check social media or simply don’t live under a rock, you know we live in a dark, cruel and unjust world. There are millions of children all over the world in sex slavery who are being beaten and sold for just a few dollars up to dozens of times a day. Approximately one million people commit suicide a year. People every day are dying of unfair diseases, car accidents, drug overdoses, etc. Around 17,000 children under the age of five die daily of starvation. You get the point. So… where is God in all of this? Where was God when you were assaulted? Where was God when your dad passed away? Where was God when your best friend committed suicide?

God is a God who hates abuse and wants it to stop. God desires for our world to be a just and fair world; He’s not the one who’s allowing it, that’s you. That’s me. That’s the enemy. God wants us to take a stand when we see injustice and when we don’t, the flame will be fanned and it will never come to an end. Rather, it will only be built up.

For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. / Psalm 37:28-29

Since God is a God of justice, how we treat people matters to Him. When we help the poor, the hurting and the broken, we are lending to God. He has called us to be the light of the world and to bring His goodness and grace into it. When we say yes to being a vessel of God, we are saying yes to fight against injustice. Just because God is good doesn’t mean this world will be and just because this world is full of evil doesn’t mean God is. God only has one plan to stop the injustice and wrongdoing of this world and that’s us. We are His plan. His only plan. He has entrusted us to be light in a dark world and when we fail to do that, we not only prove ourselves untrustworthy to God, but we add onto the darkness. Jesus wouldn’t pass by a need and turn His head; rather, He would meet that need.

I’ll say it again… God is good, people aren’t. We live in an unjust world because we choose to live in an unjust world. Rather than becoming angry at God and placing blame on Him for an unjust world, do something to stop it. When Jesus passed by the sick, He didn’t blame God for their sickness; He healed them. Jesus tells us in John 14:12 that we will do even greater things than He… and this is what we are to do.

Right now, imagine how it feels to be blamed and hated for something so evil and corrupt that you didn’t even have a single part in. Not even the smallest. Imagine having the blame placed on you for starving children. For war. For sickness and disease. God faces that daily. The only part God takes in corruption is making beauty out of it. He doesn’t cause it. He doesn’t add onto it. He restores it… But only if we let Him.

If you hate injustice, pain, and suffering, you and God are on the same team. If you want it to stop, you and God are interested in the same thing. Why turn your back on someone that feels an even greater passion for justice and goodness than you do? So, rather than turning your back on God and placing the blame on Him, ask Him for His heart of passion and ask what your part of removing the injustice of the world is. You and God are on the same page, so why wouldn’t you wouldn’t want to team up with an omniscient God and find a means to stop the injustice? We cannot ignore the one thing that has the ability to turn any darkness into light just because we believe He is the cause of that darkness. Spoiler alert; He isn’t. We are. The enemy is. Ephesians 6 says our battle isn’t against flesh and blood but our battle also isn’t against God; it’s against the enemy who is the bringer of corruption. If you fight with God, you will always win. If you fight against God, you will always lose.

We are called to bring justice into an unjust world. Jesus says to us “you are it. You are the light of the world.” So, what’s your part? What are you doing to stop the injustice? Are you becoming angry at God or are you asking God for a holy anger towards injustice? If your anger is at God, your anger is in the wrong place. He is the good. He is the bringer of light. He is the bringer of justice. I challenge you with this: if you have no anger towards injustice, ask for it. If you do have anger towards injustice, do something about it. If you’re not doing your part, do it. If you are doing your part, do more of it. God’s heart longs to see a world of wholeness, justice, and kindness by seeing a world that comes to Him. Is this your heart too? If not, let it be.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? / Micah 6:8