{"id":57736,"date":"2023-01-08T14:13:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T20:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=57736"},"modified":"2023-01-08T14:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T20:24:34","slug":"is-everything-that-happens-gods-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-everything-that-happens-gods-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Everything That Happens God&#8217;s Will?"},"content":{"rendered":"\nby Gardner Hall<br>\nvia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mountbethelpublishing.com\/growing-in-christ-blog\">Mount Bethel Publishing<\/a>, 25 November 2014\n<p>After the death of a child, a horrible mishap, or any other tragedy there are always some who say, &#8220;It was the will of God.&#8221; Is that statement always true?<\/p>\n<h2>It Depends!<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes\u2026 It is the will of God to permit tragedies and trials. Everything that happens is permitted by him.<\/li>\n<li>No\u2026 However, God doesn&#8217;t want everything He permits! There is a subtle but important difference between <em>permitting<\/em>&nbsp;something and&nbsp;<em>wanting it<\/em>&nbsp;<em>to happen<\/em>!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Illustrations<\/h2>\n<p>God\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2026 did not want the ancient Israelites to divorce, but he permitted it because of the hardness of their hearts (Matthew 19:8).<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;\u2026 did not want ancient people to have more than one wife (Gen. 2:24), but regulated it when Israel was a primitive society (Deuteronomy 21:15-17)<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;\u2026 did not want Israel to have a king (II Samuel 10:17-19), but tolerated it and even had his prophets anoint them.<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;\u2026 does not want anyone to rebel against Him and be lost (II Peter 3:9), and yet gives men the free will to do it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Often Christian parents will allow their teenage children to do something that they don&#8217;t necessarily want them to do so that they will learn to face the consequences of their actions.<\/p>\n<p>I can think of two Biblical reasons why God allows things to happen that He doesn&#8217;t necessarily want:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>He wants to give us free will (Deuteronomy 30:15-19). He wants us to have the freedom to choose. He doesn&#8217;t want us to make bad choices but He allows them.<\/li>\n<li>He allows tragedies because He doesn&#8217;t want us to become too attached to this world that has become corrupted by sin. Rather, He wants us to prove our love by learning to deal with trials and then have eternal life with Him (II Corinthians 4:17).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Be Careful with Our Words!<\/h2>\n<p>Whenever a child dies or someone suffers horribly, we must be careful before saying, &#8220;God wants this.&#8221; Yes, God allows trials and tragedies, as in the case of Job, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that He wants them. When we suffer, let&#8217;s blame Satan and the curses that come upon our world because of sin. Let&#8217;s never blame God!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Gardner Hall via Mount Bethel Publishing, 25 November 2014 After the death of a child, a horrible mishap, or any other tragedy there are always some who say, &#8220;It was the will of God.&#8221; Is that statement always true? It Depends! Yes\u2026 It is the will of God to permit tragedies and trials. Everything&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[426,562],"class_list":["post-57736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-free-will","tag-predestination"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6731,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-just-want-to-understand-why-did-this-happen\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":0},"title":"I just want to understand, why did this happen?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm sorry if I'm always coming to you for answers. It's just that I can't still sleep at night. I think and think they're still coming home, but what I don't understand is why do bad things happen to good people that have nothing but good in them? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-cannot-lie\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":1},"title":"God Cannot Lie","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Kings 22:1-28 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Heathen men molded their concept of their gods into their own image - Romans 1:22-23 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We can read stories of the Greek gods and in their interaction with men they often lied and cheated to accomplish their goals. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Greeks saw\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55201,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-change-always-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":2},"title":"Is Change Always Right?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Glen Young Change is difficult. We all have experienced this truth. How many New Year resolutions have fallen by the wayside after a few weeks? There is no doubt that changing bad behavior is necessary even though it is difficult. It is not my intention to discuss the need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60538,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-preachers-amos-and-amaziah\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":3},"title":"Two Preachers: Amos and Amaziah","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mark White The Old Testament prophet Amos was a shepherd turned preacher. The crowd to whom he preached was the upper class of Israel, including the King himself. He was not their choice of a preacher, however. They did not choose him -- God chose Amos for them. His\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93879,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-way-of-balaam\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":4},"title":"The Way of Balaam","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier via Read the Bible, Make Disciples Peter's descriptions of the false teachers in II Peter 2 are as creative as they are intense. We could spend pages and pages walking through each description. However, I want to home in on one allusion. This reference highlights the slippery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8851,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-allow-polygamy-under-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":57736,"position":5},"title":"Why did God allow polygamy under the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Wondering if anyone has any materials on \"multiple marriages\" in the Old Testament? Would like to hear your views on why this was tolerated among God's people. I understand this was not God's choice, however, there is no outcry from the prophets against such. The practice of multiple wives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}