Isaiah 45:6-7 reads “I am the Lord, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.”

We love the good news. Everybody is in favor of the God who says, “I am the One who causes well-being.” But most of struggle with the God of the Bible who goes on to say, “Wait! I’m not only the Author of well-being, I’m the One who creates calamity.” Whoa. How can we marry those two facts about God?

Here’s the truth: God created a world in which we have the freedom to choose right or wrong, good or bad, sin or righteousness. God is not the author of sin, but He is the One who created a world in which we can choose. And from our choices flow the sin and suffering we see all around us. Much of the pain in the world s the direct consequence of individual sin. But there is also the suffering we all must bear as members of a fallen race. The effects of a sinful humanity show up randomly n human sickness, natural disasters, and the very process of aging itself. While God does not hurl these hardships at individual people or nations, He most often refuses to prevent the fallout from a fallen world. In that sense it can accurately be said that God is the author of a world in which calamity does strike.

In spite of that reality, the world He made is a good one for all who receive the gifts He offers freely. Into this world of sin and suffering God does not hesitate to say, “I’m the One who made the world this way, and if you trust me you will see that My ultimate plan is good.”

-Excerpt from James MacDonald’s Gripped by the Greatness of God