“Nothing can happen without God’s permission, and God will not allow a difficulty unless he has a divine purpose for it.”
A close friend of mine posted this quote in a private Facebook message to me the other day and suggested I consider writing a blog around it. They had seen it posted on someone else’s Facebook page and totally disagreed with it. After some deliberation, I realized I felt the exact opposite as my friend and actually agreed with the context of the quote.
One of the things my friend said to me when I told him this was how they couldn’t believe things like Dennis Hastert sexually abusing members on teams he was coaching was part of God’s divine plan. That was just one of a few of their examples of several tragedies that have come to light lately in the news, all of which my friend couldn’t believe was part of some divine purpose.
While I understand what my friend was getting at, the reason why I differ is that I don’t believe God causes these things. People use their self-will all the time in this world to do things for their own selfish benefits. They kill, maim, steal, overindulge, cheat, etc. and consequences happen because of it. Could God prevent those consequences? Well if you believe that God is God and God is all powerful, then yes, God could. But what if our minds can’t conceive of what’s truly happening by allowing each of them to happen? What if each of the events that unfold because of all the self-will based tragedies create ripple effects that actually help bring people more into a greater place of spiritual centeredness.
I’m sure some are thinking about the other examples, of when accidents happen or when disease suddenly comes upon a person for no apparent reason. Well, something I’ve always considered is maybe these are things we already know about prior to entering our life? Maybe we have agreements that we make with God about what will happen to us eventually in our life? Maybe the accidents or health issues are only to help bring us and others closer to God instead of farther away.
I know these are quite bold philosophical questions to ponder, but I tend to think that most of us who come into this world sway towards finding our own way, most of which comes on a selfish slant. But if we’re all meant to be aligned with a divine purpose or guided by a Higher Power, it’s not possible for that to happen if we are on a selfish path or one that our hearts are more closed than not. Thus could it be possible that God allows so many difficult things to happen specifically to help bring one or more persons in alignment to their greatest, highest good?
Take my addiction-based life for example. If God had miraculously touched me and removed all the components that constantly led me to engage in addictions, I never would have sought God in the first place. Instead, I would have just continued on my self-serving path, finding some other way to please myself, most likely money and power.
And for those who have been following me on my blog for a while and know the pain and suffering I’ve been going through for some time, if God had prevented all of it, I’d still be thinking it’s ok to engage in adulterous relationships, to date multiple people at the same time, to be greedy with money, to be resentment at those who aren’t doing what I want them to do, and the list goes on. All of these things and more have completely changed because of my long-running pain and suffering and I don’t regret it one bit.
Thus I ultimately hold the belief that God allows tons of things to happen in this world that at first glance seem really terrible. But what none of us have is the ability to be all-seeing and all-knowing. We don’t know what types of agreements we might have made before entering this life and we can’t fully see the path that these tragedies might bring one or more people onto, that could change their life for the better forever. Regardless, I stand firm on this quote and support the idea that God has a divine purpose for everything and I believe it’s only our ego’s and small-minded brains that can’t fathom it all.
So I leave all of you with a question rather than an answer. If God had prevented all of the pain and suffering in your life you ever experienced, would you ever have sought out God in the first place?
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson