Lesson 18: Trusting God’s “Circumstances”

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

All through history people have wanted to know, "Why is there evil or suffering in the world?" One apologist of our time answers simply that a world with both good and evil, and our ability to choose between them, is the only world in which love can exist.

For love to exist, there must be the possibility for someone to choose not to love, and therefore to do harm to someone else. Our choices have consequences for others, creating circumstances over which the other person has no control. For example, if I choose to drive a car in a reckless way, and I lose control of the car as a result and I crash into another vehicle, I have created a situation over which the other driver has little or no control. Someone in the other vehicle may have died. Damage has been caused to the other car. Someone may have lost a leg or an arm as a result. My carelessness has caused permanent “circumstances” in other people for which they had no choices.

Could God have stopped me from making bad choices? Yes, but then I would not have had free will. Could God have stopped my car before it hit the other car? Yes. Then why did He not stop the accident from happening?

There might be many answers to that question. He might have been talking with me for some time to pay more attention to Him in how carelessly I have been driving, and I have not paid attention, so He allowed this situation as a reminder to me of how my choices impact others. I have learned a lesson the hard way rather than listening to Him through gentler reminders.


But there is also another certainty: He also chose the other vehicle in this situation for a specific purpose. His reasons could be far too many to list here. Let us take one example of an incident where a leg was lost in an accident; not the fault of nor controllable by the person losing the leg. There was no punishment from God involved for this man – it was simply that God wanted to use him in a way this man would never have considered possible any other way. His response to the accident was that of looking for opportunities rather than giving in to bitterness. Within a very short time he became a person able to help others through similar situations of great loss, and has continued to expand his ministry in this way.

At some point in our lives we will be in both situations – the guilty, or the innocent. The guilty person must confess to both God and victim, and make whatever restitution to the victim that is possible to make. The victim must forgive, without which they can never freely move forward in their life.

In our last lesson we read the verse from Romans 8:28, and it is true for this lesson too. But the story of Joseph, damaged so greatly by his brothers and spending many years as a slave or in prison as a result, shows that forgiveness is possible in the worst situations as we understand that “what [others] meant for evil God meant for good!” (Genesis 50:20). God is in control of all circumstances in the lives of His children, and we can BELIEVE that promise.

Memorize 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”