Why Has God Allowed the Coronavirus?

Romans 8:22 – “The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (NAS) 

If God is truly all powerful and all good and loves all people, why and how can he allow this horrible virus to spread throughout the world and kill so many people? If this question has crossed your mind, you are not alone. Throughout history many people have wondered how evil – whether in nature, like the coronavirus, or as a result of human choices, like the Holocaust – can exist in a universe under the control of a good and loving, yet all powerful, God. Seasons like this one tend to brings this question fresh to the surface again.

Romans Chapter 8 provides a powerful description of both why we suffer in times like this and why we can look forward to a time when we will never suffer again. That chapter is really the culmination of the seven before it, where Paul’s spells out how every person has done wrong and that wrong has dramatic consequences that affect all of humanity and all of the world itself. Sin may not be a popular word today, but it is undeniably real. Just watch the other drivers the next time you are in your car if you doubt the reality of sin. Romans 8:21 says creation is enslaved to corruption because of this sin. The good news is that this season won’t last.

“Everything God created looks forward to the future. That will be the time when his children appear in their full and final glory.” (Romans 5:19, NIrV) The day is coming when there will be no mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4), but that will be when the New Earth comes and the present world will be destroyed.

Now is a season when disease and evil are allowed to exist because it is a season in which sinful people can make the choice to repent, turn from their evil, and seek God’s forgiveness. (II Peter 3:8-10) This is not an absence of God’s goodness or power. It is an opportunity for people to choose. When the day comes when there will be no more war, violence, or coronavirus, your eternity will be set. There will be no more sin. There will be no more sinners. Now pain is a real threat, but we each also have the opportunity to turn to Jesus and receive forgiveness and eternal life. If you have not done that, I invite you to make Jesus your Lord right now. Ask him to forgive the wrong that you have done and empower you to live your life for him.

Can God stop the coronavirus? Absolutely. I pray he will end its effects soon and bring healing to all those afflicted. In the meantime, we can know “that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18, ESV)