Faith is the challenge of life. And it is most fundamentally challenged by evil. Our pains, our sufferings, our woes. “How could He?” we cry. “How could a good God possibly do this to me?” The all too familiar cries.

Why God allows evil may be the most significant question the world has ever known. And the solution is more significant than even the world.

Such an answer can best be understood in the form of a story. This is why our reality exists in the first place: to answer a question. All conversations, all language, all stories are in such a way as a question and an answer. The universe itself is shaped with spirals, from the curve of the galaxy to our thumbprint, and so, too, is the shape of a question mark a spiral “?”. Reality is a question to be answered. And I propose that reality itself, the story of stories – a conversation with God, is aimed at answering this very question of evil.

And if one could understand it in a non-narrative form, the answer could only be another question: How much does God Love us? So, we are only left with a story …

It’s as if you had just gotten a job interview that you really wanted. You struggle and strive, making yourself the best candidate for the position. You sit down for the interview and it goes terrific. Every sign under the heavens indicate that you indeed will be getting this job. And a smile graces your face.

However, the next day, the employer calls and informs you that are not quite what they were looking for. You break down, miserable, maybe you even cry for what you thought was in your grasp. And after, the tears remain with you, and you wait. Weeks, months, unemployed and not doing what you always wanted to do. You even consider a lesser job doing something completely different than what you had trained for. However, you’re a stubborn individual – with albeit weakness and frailty, you maintain a hope, a stubborn hope, that there is indeed something better out of life. So you wait still longer.

Until one day, unexpectedly, another opportunity arises. Expecting disappointment, you go to the interview and it goes all right. A little more hope graces your heart. And better yet, the next day you discover you got the job. You celebrate and cheer and begin the following week…

Now, this is the story that answers the question. But how?

See, what you do not know about the other job is that the employer would have treated you poorly, the pay was low, benefits none, and you wouldn’t have been doing what you signed up for. They would have made you a grunt for all your days with no possibility to rise the ranks. So too, misery would have followed you all the days of your life.

On the other side, when you began to work for this new job, the pay was better, the benefits were the best, and the supervisors were fair and courteous. Not only that – but you are doing what you always wanted to do. Life is so good in this new job that you immediately forget that there even was another job that you hoped for in the first place.

Every tear has been wiped from your eyes.

What would have happened if you took the lesser job in the waiting process? What should you have done while you waited?

Of course this may make sense from the individual perspective, but there’s more…

Now let’s say you were the parent of the child who got rejected from this job. As the parent, you work in the industry that your son or daughter is applying to. You have a lot of strings to pull in this line of work and even more experience and wisdom. In fact, you are friends with both of the employers.

When you hear that your child has applied to the first job, and you see the excitement on their face, do you tell them that they will never get the job? Or if you told them that it won’t make them happy, would they listen? How many times have we not listened to our parents’ advice – (specifically, when your mother tells you to wear a jacket when it’s cold, you ignore the suggestion, and immediately regret it).

Anyhow, the point of the matter is, we don’t often want to listen to God because we won’t like the answers, nor would we listen. But that doesn’t mean that the thing we were hoping for won’t be fulfilled in the perfect possible way, even if it wasn’t the way we are expecting it. The gift He has for you will satisfy all your desires to such a degree you cannot even imagine. I promise this, and God promises this by the mere creation of the question – in the very creation of the universe. In fact, I stake all my promises and all my hopes, and I would even stake the fate of my very own soul on this: for as long as you hope and not give up Faith and charity, for as long as you strive in these virtues (since we all must admit that we lack therein), your gift will be the greatest.

Expect satisfaction from God. For the greater the pain and constant disappointments, the greater the gift. It is the law of reality: for the gift will wipe away every tear of that former pain. And you won’t even remember the turmoil that you suffered through.

All you need to do is wait on the Lord, to prepare in this time of waiting, and to dare not give up Hope, Faith, and Charity – for these three are the pillars by which we see ourselves through the journey.

This is why God allows evil. But God is also a torrent of Mercy: even though you would suffer a thousand times the pain you’ve experience when you realize the full glory of the gift you are to receive – He will not allow you to suffer more than is needed.

Now back to the parent one last time… when your child is open to listening to you on these matters, you tell him or her in parables – like these and all those that Jesus told to the Apostles. And Maybe, God Himself, is trying to tell you something right now.

So, why has God allowed the evil in your life? Only your gift will reveal that.

“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28