Some years ago, a well-known Christian leader told the story of a visit that he had just paid to an orphanage in Haiti.

He described 250 emaciated children with bloated stomachs, tears in their eyes, and flies on their faces. None were likely to live much longer. But during his visit, someone had organized the children into a choir and they managed to sing the little chorus: “God Is So Good.” This man said that as he listened to those children singing those words, something deep within him wanted to scream: “God, You’re not good! And you don’t love them. Or this wouldn’t happen.”

There are times when it seems almost impossible for any of us to reconcile the concept of an all-powerful loving God with the horrific images of a hurting world. How can God be good when he allows multiple thousands of lives to be destroyed by hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes? If God is really in control, why are things in such a state?

Why is there cancer? Why are little children abused? Why are marriages breaking and hearts aching? Why is there poverty and injustice and loneliness everywhere we look?

Can we even really depend on God anymore? How do we know that things won’t get much worse? If he hasn’t stopped war from killing thousands, why should we think that he will stop the bird flu from killing millions – including us? If he hasn’t intervened in the wretched predicament of other decent folks, why should we hold any hope that we won’t also be abandoned to some miserably tortured fate?

Even people of strong faith sometimes struggle with these issues. Do we really know that God is good? The Bible says so (Psalm 100:5). We want to believe it. But what do we make of all the pain and chaos?

For starters, we probably need to recalibrate our understanding of just what it means that God is good. For instance, shouldn’t we expect that his goodness would transcend that which we as mere humans perceive as being good?

Joseph was sold into slavery and imprisoned. Yet God had charted a path for the good that totally eluded human comprehension at the time (Genesis 50:20). He still operates that way today (Romans 8:28).

Another common error is to assume that divine goodness guarantees immunity from adversity and evil. The godly Old Testament sufferer Job knew better. In spite of suddenly losing his children, property and health, he refused to curse God for being anything less than benign. He rather said: “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

I recall reading a news release in 1989 that said: “Evangelist Billy Graham preached to 73,500 in Wembley Stadium in torrential rain to close London Mission.” Christians had prayed long and worked hard to make the event flawless. But there stood the totally drenched preacher in a totally drenched stadium. The scene depicted a theology of God’s goodness at significant variance with modern thought.

We must not infer from the precarious nature of a sin-fallen world that God himself is capricious. The world is a dangerous place. Bad things happen to everyone. It rains on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).

Is God able to instantly end such chaos and evil? Of course (Mark 4:39). But at present he seems inclined to withhold judgment until a time of his choosing (2 Peter 3:7).

Meanwhile, he is willing to come to us in our pain (Hebrews 4:15), bear our burdens (Psalm 68:19), and guarantee us ultimate release in heaven (Revelation 21) – if we will trust him for grace and recognize him as good even when it might seem otherwise.

In “Hope for the Troubled Heart,” Graham cites the late Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian whose family hid Jews from the Nazis during World War II. He writes: “After being a prisoner in Ravensbruk, the infamous women’s concentration camp, Corrie traveled throughout the world, telling her story of suffering and joy. For 33 years, she never had a permanent home. When she was 85, her supporters provided her with a lovely house in California. It was a luxury she never dreamed she would have. One day as her friend, the late movie director Jimmy Collier, was leaving her home, he said, “Corrie, hasn’t God been good to give you this beautiful place?” Corrie replied firmly, “Jimmy, God was good when I was in Ravensbruk, too.”

The Rev. Daryl E. Witmer is founder and director of the AIIA Institute, a national apologetics ministry, and associate pastor of the Monson Community Church. He may be reached via AIIAInstitute@aol.com or through ChristianAnswers.Net/AIIA. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.