The biggest challenge to my faith is the seeming randomness of everything.

Some are born into the lap of luxury while others are born into unspeakable misery. Wonderful people suffer unbelievable tragedy, while complete monsters live the life of Riley. King David also had these though when he would pen, "Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous perish.? " These things do no destroy my faith, and it is an age old question. I'm just saying it's the one thing that I haven't had a totally satisfactory answer about. Perhaps bloated skeleton in the horn of Africa goes to such bliss, that his or her afterlife is actually worth the suffering and misery they experience on earth.

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Frank52 · 70-79, M

Age old questions. I remember seeing TV news footage many years ago of the Ethiopian famine where an emaciated mother with her empty breasts, clutched her baby and cried out in a weak voice, 'Jesus, help me!' over and over. I still have tears as I think about that image.

As one of those who 'prosper' in a material sense (I lack no essential thing and have many non-essentials) I suppose the thing I have to ask before God is: What is my responsibility in handling my comparative wealth so that others don't suffer? I am not God and am not responsible for the whole world, but only those things he has given into my stewardship. The rest I have to leave to others for their conscience.

As for the 'monsters', I'm with David. The great thing about the Psalms is that they show the whole gamut of human emotion. A lot of modern church 'worship' is about feeling good, confident in the fact of God's goodness and being upbeat. That is important. But so is not denying the real world challenges of poverty, injustice and plain evil which blights our world. I want to know why my friend died on Monday with COVID when he did so much good. I am not angry, but I'm not going to pretend I can be happy. I need to express that to God as well.

The answer I have come to is that this side of Glory there will be many things that confuse and defeat our thinking. We do what we can where we are in prayerful submission. In Gory, to be honest, I doubt it will matter.