It seems that Christians and all those who practice faiths holding to a single God have always been troubled by an unanswered question. God has limitless power and can do anything, yet many who are innocent of wrongdoing and who live according to the morality of their faith face great tragedy. Disease, criminal violence, and natural disasters harm or kill loved ones who are guilty of nothing, and believers wonder “where God is” at these times. Theists then try to address this dilemma. Many who counsel those in distress claim that God is as pained by their suffering as they are, and this is meant to be comforting. At the same time, the belief here ignores what concerns many Christians; namely, as God is all-powerful and if God feels for the person suffering, then why doesn’t He prevent the pain in the first place (Ware 207)?

There may be no answer to this question, but there is a way of seeing the broad issue in a way that explains it. This is based on how people perceive God’s relationship with humanity. Because it is generally accepted that God loves all human beings, people expect that this must go to the all-powerful creator’s ability to protect good people from harm, and because people believe that God’s love must go to protection. However, it is very possible that this thinking mistakes God’s will and incorrectly views how God perceives human beings. His being all-powerful does not necessarily mean that He chooses to use that power in such cases of tragedy. Instead, it is possible that God, having given human beings free will and a world with many possibilities in it, does not actively involve Himself in human affairs because this weakens human independence and strength.

How, it may be asked, can humanity evolve if the safeguard of God’s intervention is always in place, and no good person need ever fear tragedy? The explanation also gains in validity because theologians, Christians, and other worshipers of a single God always maintain that mankind may never know God’s mind. Consequently, human suffering is not incompatible with belief in an all-powerful God when human beings accept that God views humanity in a different way, and His will supports the independent state of human existence that allows for growth.