One of the challenges about the biblical teaching of providence is this: If God is fully in control of everything, why do bad things happen to us?  Is God really in control?  Or, if he is, perhaps He’s not always good. Let’s explore this teaching in more detail.

#118 What Good Comes from Suffering?

For 2000 years, the followers of Jesus have been on a mission, even as Jesus himself was on a mission.  Often wrongly understood as “saving souls,” this mission of Jesus actually is about bringing people into a new kingdom, a new reality.  Life in this new kingdom requires not only a change of heart and mind, but a change in life-purpose and worldview.  As Jesus himself observes, there are not many people who will want this change.  But for those who are changed by God inwardly, life in this new kingdom, brings new meaning and purpose in life.  Everyone who becomes part of this new kingdom finds that almost all their prior beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and perspectives become turned “upside down.”