Asking For A Friend: The Struggle Is Real

Pastor Christopher Coats

April 19, 2026

Everyone has asked it at some point. If God is real, and he is good, and he loves us, why is there so much evil in the world? Philosophers have called it the "rock of atheism," the single question that has kept more people from faith than almost any other. And it is a fair question. The problem is that it arrives in our lives as an emotional experience, but the answer lives in a completely different place. That mismatch is brutal, and it is worth naming honestly.

The book of Habakkuk is written by a prophet who took this exact question straight to God and didn't let go. Working through his conversation with God, we see that evil and suffering do not disprove God. In fact, our universal sense that evil is wrong actually points toward him. We also see that God never wastes suffering. Sometimes he uses it to grow us, producing the kind of deep, tested character that comfort never could. And sometimes, when there is no tidy lesson to be found, he doesn't explain himself at all. He just shows up. Like he did for Job. Like he did on a cross.

 

The God who entered suffering on a cross is the same God who is at work in yours. That is not the answer most people expect. But it may be the best one there is.

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