Friend, would you kick a blind man? Could you think yourself just in adding to the agony of any struggling soul? Most of us would be horrified at the very thought of doing such a thing. Yet sometimes, surely without intending to do harm and with no desire to speak irreverently of God, we stomp hearts that are already broken and lay the blame for some of life's greatest tragedies at the feet of a loving God!

However, most of the things that happen in this world are NOT God's will!

The newspaper carries a report of a four-year-old girl who was abducted, raped, and beaten to death. How dare anyone say it was the will of God! A God who arranges such fates for children would be a wicked, contemptible, and offensive deity. Or how dare anyone say the little girl "deserved" what happened to her because of something wicked she had done! No child could execute a deed so wicked as to deserve such a punishment.

What of a family driving home from church services that is killed when a drunk veers across the freeway and hits their car head-on? What about the most spiritual person you have ever known, who nevertheless died of cancer and suffered terribly? What of the baby born with Downs Syndrome, or with only one arm?

If such things are attributed to God, how can we expect people to love Him? If we believe such things happen only to people who deserve them, how can we be justified in feeling compassion for them and trying to relieve their pain?

The book of Job is in the Bible to warn us away from the false notion that suffering is a sure sign of God's displeasure with someone, or a punishment for some sin. Jesus fought the same false view throughout his ministry among men. For example, when he was told about the deaths of some Galileans at the hands of Pilate, he asked, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus?" (Luke 13:2).

Suffering is random in the world! The laws of nature do not make exceptions for nice people, useful people, or the people you love most. A bullet fired into a brain or a car out of control will kill prime ministers or assassins, doctors or drug dealers. Precisely because of the randomness of suffering, life isn't always fair. Good people die horrible deaths, and scoundrels live comfortably into old age.

Therefore, it is false theology which teaches that everything in human lives happens because God wills it. We've all heard (and maybe even used) such statements as "We have no right to question the will of God," "It's for the best," or "It is God's will, and we must submit." I repeat: Most of what happens in this world is not God's will.

Friend, let me ask you again, would you kick a blind man? Would you do anything to hurt or further complicate the life of someone who is hurting or in despair? Of course not! And neither would the God in whose image you have been created.

It is a serious mistake to hold God responsible for human woes. And to help explain why such a view is mistaken, I'd be happy to send you a small booklet titled "Would You Kick a Blind Man?" This booklet provides a clearer view of God's nature and might make a difference in your own life between faith and unbelief, courage and bitterness, life and death! To receive your FREE copy, just write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE, P.O. Box 1540, Albany W.A. 6331. You may also request "Would You Kick a Blind Man?" by Phone on: 98 418 418, or via E-mail at: abl-alb@omninet.net.au