If you’re like me, I’m sure that more than once you’ve wondered and perhaps even said out loud… God why do you let bad things happen? Why do “bad” people seem to be having it all when all I seem to do is struggle? Why do you allow us to suffer? Why didn’t you stop that murder? How can you allow this cancer diagnosis?
These are the huge questions of life that most, if not all of us, don’t have an answer to. Sure we have the pat answer that “God was there when that mom lost her unborn baby”… or “God was right there weeping when that young girl was killed”… or “God was holding you as you said your final goodbye to your husband” or my favorite… “Your husbands work on earth was done and God needed him in Heaven, more than you needed him here”!!! But to me, that is all they are … simple, pat answers that really don’t mean anything when you are in the midst of it all.
As a Christian, the biggest question that I struggle with is: God… if you are so good – and I truly with all my heart do believe that you are – then why do You allow evil in this world? You could so easily have stop those planes from crashing and killing thousands, with almost no effort you could have stopped that young girl from being murdered, you could so simply have cured him rather than taking him from me – or better yet, you could have just not allowed that cancer to take hold in the first place.
I came across this answer in a book that I just finished reading. This is a simple, yet profound answer:
“Volumes have been written on what I’m about to summarize in a few paragraphs. So please know that there is no way I can exhaustively explore and explain this concept. (As if I exhaustively understand it myself!) but in the briefest way, let me try to put plain words around what I mean:
- The goodness of God allows for free will. In God’s morally pure and benevolent virtue, He lovingly created human beings and angels with the ability to choose to obey or disobey Him.
- Free will allows human beings to choose evil. Our free will is a gift we often abuse, despite its intended purpose for good.
- The human ability to choose evil allows for the consequence of evil.
- The consequence of evil is not only the due suffering of the individual who commits evil but also undue suffering of the innocent. (God Is Just Not Fair by Jennifer Rothschild – Page 164)
This book that I just finished reading – God Is Just Not Fair by Jennifer Rothschild is really a remarkable book. It isn’t a book that you read once and put up on the shelf. It is not just a book, it is more of a study.
The author uses her own life circumstances and allows us in on her journey out of the darkness of a year-long deep depression that shook her to her core. A darkness so deep that it caused her to question everything that she had known to be true about her life and her faith. Jennifer wondered who God was and why He continued to allow her to struggle and doubt.
In this book she tackles the big questions of faith that will help you to trust God more than your feelings. Strengthen your faith when you feel beat up by life. Embrace your obstacles and start experiencing their purpose and face your disappointment and grown stronger from your loss. This is a book that you don’t want to miss.
As always, I am required to post an online review of books that I receive. Below is that review
God Is Just Not Fair: Finding Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Jennifer Rothschild
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
God Is Just Not Fair by Jennifer Rothschild
“Do you believe God is just not fair? If you’re like Jennifer Rothschild, you wrestle with question when you experience painful circumstances. Does God care? Does he hear my prayers? Is he even there? Having become blind as a teenager, Jennifer overcame daunting obstacles, found strength in God and launched a successful speaking and writing ministry. Then in her forties, everything changed.
This is a book about finding more than just answers; it’s for anyone who needs hope when life doesn’t make sense – for all who reach for a God who feels distant.”
You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it… gosh I’ve even said it myself and you probably have too. Why does God let bad things happen? Where was God when we got that cancer diagnosis? Why didn’t He heal him? With all the injustice in the world, so much pain and suffering… God where are you? Do you not care? Are you really there God? These are the huge questions that we all wonder and sometime ask out loud. These are the questions that people of faith rarely have an answer to.
In this book, God is Just Not Fair, we are privy to the author’s yearlong battle with a deep depression. It is on the other side of that season that she opens her journal for us and gives us an unvarnished look at her darkest time and the lessons she learned along the way.
Using her own life experiences, the author probes six big questions of faith – God … are you fair? Did you err? Do you hear prayer? Do you care? Are you aware? Are you there? While every difficult, confusing season in life offers a choice, you can either surrender your questions and sorrow to God so he can use then, or you can surrender to bitterness and the enemy of your soul, who will use them against you. The choice is yours.
This is not just a book to read and move to the bookshelf. This is a book to keep at hand for when your own hard seasons come along and I highly recommend it.
To learn more about this book and the author, Jennifer Rothschild, go to: https://www.jenniferrothschild.com/th…
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
*Reviews of this book were posted at the following locations:
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Deeper Shopping, and Goodreads
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