Why does God allow abuse to occur?

The answer to the question is easy enough to understand.  Even though God created the universe and everything in it, God has designed life in such a way as there can be no divine intervention in particular matters of life until the end of time.

Whilst this is quite plain and understandable, there’s no comfort there to those for which abuse continues as an echo of trauma throughout the rest of their lives.

No comfort, whatsoever.  Is there anything else that can comfort an abuse survivor who has been betrayed at an existential level?

We can well imagine — knowing the character of God — that God HATES abuse — and knowing that God is omniscient and omnipresent — that God KNOWS everything that happened — every bitter blow in every event in the abuse that took place — that God is saving up the consequences of the abuse that was suffered for an indeterminate time.

It’s the great hope we hold to, that the Judge will judge fairly, and for that matter, harshly when the time comes.  And we can believe that whatever we suffer in this life that cannot be reconciled we will be compensated for when we go to meet God.  We hold to these beliefs by faith.

For the survivor of abuse, there is probably little comfort in the foregoing.  There is a life robbed of the joys and the safety of a life that would have been infinitely better and freer without the scourge of abuse affecting it.

But what is life without faith?  It is a shadow of what it could be.

I urge all survivors to nurture their faith, because even more so is it needed in the time between now and the eternity that awaits, and it will often prove to be enough as we look back.

Perhaps God allows every bad thing that happens to us as a test.  It’s a test for the one inflicting pain and damage on the one made in God’s own image.  That’s a sin that will be judged unless the offender owns it in this life and makes good of restitution, which must satisfy the survivor completely — to the extent of tangible healing.

We can well imagine sitting with a trauma survivor who is sharing their story wondering where God was as they suffered it day after day.  God may not have been able to stop it, but God certainly witnessed it, and as it says in Ecclesiastes 12:12b-14:

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all humankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.” (bold used for emphasis)

Those who do not fear God — for instance, abusers who will never repent or acknowledge their wrongdoing — WILL pay dearly.  And those who have been abused will receive their compensation.

If you think that’s too long to wait — i.e., eternity — think about how LONG eternity will last for!  The consequences will last forever, even as they appear to last forever for you in this lifetime — which in all reality is just the blink of an eye.

From heaven’s viewpoint, it’s blessed to have been the betrayed, and cursed to have been the betrayer.  The betrayed stand acquitted.  The betrayer stands guilty as charged.

Whether you have faith or not, would you go against an inspired book that has endured for thousands of years?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not taking that risk.

Photo by Patryk Sobczak on Unsplash