When Everything Happens for a Reason
This article reflects on the common phrase “everything happens for a reason” and the theological implications often attached to it. The author affirms God’s care and activity while cautioning against implying that God orchestrates evil, tragedy, suffering, or disaster.
- God is active in our lives, but Scripture does not teach that every event happens exactly as God would have it happen.
- Human choice, a fallen world, and the activity of evil all help explain suffering and tragedy.
- Romans 8:28 points to God working through all things for his people’s good, not necessarily causing all things.
By Terry Allcorn
This well-intended phrase is often used to explain good or bad incidents that occur in someone’s life. I do not question that it is most often said by someone who wishes to bring comfort into the life of someone who is suffering or to give credit to God for something positive that has happened. I also do not question that we serve a loving God who directs our paths. David says that the Lord leads, protects, and prepares in multiple psalms, including Psalm 23. Among his other teachings, Jesus instructs us in his model prayer (Matt. 6 and Luke 11) to pray for the necessary provisions of life, to ask God not to lead us into temptation, and to seek deliverance from evil. I do believe that God is active in our lives and cares for us deeply.
A Fallen World and Human Responsibility
What I do not see modeled in Scripture is that “everything” happens for a reason in the sense that it happens as God would have it happen. For this to be the case, all individual choice would need to be removed from the equation. And should all individual choice be removed from the equation, it would seem logical that all individual responsibility would also be removed. To follow that logic chain, then, we would not need a Savior if each of us is not responsible for our actions.
Further, we live in a world that is decaying and waiting to be liberated from bondage according to Romans 8. In addition to being in a state of decay, we also live in a world where given realities were established by God at creation. Gravity is, of course, a key reality in our world. Yet, it can also be a primary factor in several dangerous scenarios. It is also a reality in our world that two items cannot be in the same space at the same time. This is typically helpful, but there are lots of scenarios such as traffic accidents where it can be detrimental.
Finally, we live in a world where the evil one is active. In 1 Peter 5, among other verses, it’s made clear that the devil is active and looking to do damage.
When Evil People Do Evil Things
With all of that said, I agree that everything does happen for a reason. But I’m uncomfortable with the implication of the popular statement because the implied reason is that God did it. Sometimes it is because an individual or individuals elected to do something atrocious. We are all aware of unspeakable tragedies in the world. There was once a young lady who died a horrific death in a town where we lived. Several made well-meaning statements such as, “God must have wanted another angel.” Ignoring the fact that Scripture does not teach that people become angels after death, the implication was that God had orchestrated her horrific death for selfish reasons. I don’t find that to be in the character of God as revealed in Scripture and I absolutely did not take any comfort in thinking that God was in any way pleased with what had happened. The first few verses of Luke 13 mention Pilate mixing the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. Sometimes evil people do evil things.
Jesus mentions a building collapse that all of his hearers would have been aware of just a couple verses later in Luke 13. A tower fell onto a crowded area and 18 people were killed. Jesus points out that those killed were no worse than everyone else. We live in a fallen, decaying world where structures fail. Lately we have seen everything from balconies to entire buildings giving way to the deteriorating nature of our fallen world. Sometimes structures fail.
We do not need to look far to see evidence of evil in our world.
Finding Good Without Blaming God
I have thought about death and suffering a bit. Like many of you, I have sat with those who are grieving or suffering. There are no simple answers and, sometimes, there are no good words to provide comfort. It is during those times that many of us have attempted to provide words of comfort that, if taken to their logical conclusion, somehow imply that God orchestrated a given event. This is often the meaning attributed to one of Paul’s concluding thoughts in Romans 8, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom. 8:28, New International Version). I’m not convinced that this verse teaches that there must be good in everything or that God orchestrates “all things.” I believe it to mean that God has and will continue to use the summation of all things for the good of his people. I have stopped trying to find the “good” in every event, although how God’s people respond often brings good into the situation. Contemporary events such as war and natural disasters are regularly responded to by Christians who engage in unbelievable acts of service and kindness. This is the church being the church. It is the church responding to suffering as it has since the book of Acts. What it does not imply, in my view, is that God causes all illness, suffering, war, and natural disasters to simply provide a context for Christians to do good. I believe that a significant part of the explanation for the evil that we experience in the world is that we live in a fallen world and we are not in Heaven yet. It is only Heaven that can promise a suffering-free existence, and it is only through the suffering and death of Jesus that we can have the hope of being present in this suffering-free, God-filled place through obedience to him.
So, I guess everything does happen for a reason, but the actual reason may vary.
Author: Terry Allcorn
Terry Allcorn is President of his alma mater, Kentucky Christian University.
