Sovereign God and Suffering Children: A Conservative Christian Response to Evil

I was online earlier today and perusing through Reddit. In one of the topics there I come across a question that stopped me in my tracks. 

"If there is a God who watches over everything, he has watched every child molestation in history without intervening. Why?”

As a Christian for well over 50 years, and a student of the Bible, I knew the answer in my heart, but trying to explain that simply to a Reddit group just made my mind fuzzy. My solution? I sat down dug in to the scripture and a lot of prayer and resources and I hope the following answers this question to the satisfaction of a a sick world. I know that as Christians read this, they will understand and God will talk to their hearts. I am just praying that the same will be true of those that are not saved that God will still convict and talk to their hearts.

This is one of the toughest questions a person can ask, and it deserves a straight answer. If God really is watching over everything, why has He seen every single act of child molestation throughout history and not stepped in to stop it? Why the silence? Why the apparent inaction?

I’m not going to offer some polished, feel-good response that dodges the pain. The Bible doesn’t do that either. What it does is face evil head-on and give us several clear, if sometimes uncomfortable, truths. Here’s what Scripture actually says, drawn from a conservative Christian perspective that takes the Bible as God’s fully trustworthy Word.

First, we have to go back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, something profound broke in the human race (Genesis 3). Sin didn’t just enter the world—it corrupted human nature itself. The Bible describes the human heart as “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus said evil things like sexual immorality come “out of the heart” of man (Mark 7:21-23). Child molestation is one of the most horrific expressions of that fallen condition. God is not the author of evil (James 1:13), but because of the Fall, we now live in a world where sin runs rampant unless He specifically restrains it.

Second, God values real love and real choice. He doesn’t want robots who obey because they have no other option. Deuteronomy 30:19 and Joshua 24:15 make it clear: He sets before us life and death and calls us to choose. Genuine relationship requires the freedom to say no. The terrible flip side of that freedom is that people can—and do—choose monstrous evil. If God instantly overrode every wicked decision, love, trust, and moral responsibility would become meaningless. That doesn’t make the evil okay. It just explains why He allows the terrible consequences of our freedom to play out.

Third, God is completely sovereign, even over evil, but His ways are often far beyond our understanding. Isaiah 55:8-9 puts it plainly: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” The book of Job is the classic example—after all his suffering, God never gives Job a full explanation. He simply reveals His majesty and asks Job to trust Him (Job 38–41). Romans 9:20 asks, “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask hard questions. It means we aren’t in a position to fully judge the One who runs the universe.

Fourth—and this is the heart of the Christian answer—God didn’t stay distant from our suffering. He entered it. On the cross, Jesus endured the worst evil imaginable: betrayal, torture, and an agonizing death. The prophet Isaiah described Him as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53). When Jesus cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), He was experiencing the very abandonment and pain we feel when evil seems to win. The cross shows us that God didn’t just watch suffering—He took it on Himself to defeat sin and offer forgiveness.

Even now, God draws near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). He invites our honest laments and anger. But the Bible also points us forward to the day when everything will be made right. Revelation 21:4 promises that God “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” Every victim will be comforted. Every unrepentant perpetrator will face perfect justice. In the meantime, we’re called to trust that “for those who love God, all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28)—not because evil is good, but because God sovereignly weaves even the darkest threads into His redemptive story.

The Bible doesn’t pretend this is easy. It records the same cries we feel: “How long, O Lord?” It doesn’t give us a tidy philosophical answer that removes all tension. Instead, it gives us a sovereign, holy, loving God who has proven His goodness at the cross and promised that the story isn’t over.

If you’re wrestling with this question right now, you’re in good company. Job asked it. David asked it. Jesus asked it on the cross. The call of Scripture is not to have all the answers, but to trust the God who does—even when we can’t see what He’s doing.

DMMC 

5-27-26