I was recently asked why God would heal someone of cancer only for it to return a little while later. The shortest correct answer is, “I don’t know.” Here are some terribly wrong answers.

Wrong answers:

. “The person didn’t have enough faith or they should have just prayed more, etc.” I don’t think we would say that the Apostle Paul was lacking in faith, yet he prayed for a “thorn in his flesh” to be removed multiple times but never healed (2 Corinthians 12:7). This argument of just having more faith for healing is faulty at best and perhaps cruel and damaging.

. “God was mad at them.” Now God does allow us to experience the consequences of our actions. Sometimes He spares us, but often we will face them. Alcoholic livers will eventually shut down. Criminal behavior (right or wrong) may be punished. STDs and pregnancy are possibilities for those who have sex. I would call these consequences, punishment we bring on ourselves. On the other hand bad things happen to really good people all the time, innocent people. Free will, sinful behavior, fallen world-these all affect us daily. Certainly God flooded the earth when he was grieved in his heart at the wickedness of mankind, but for the average person this just doesn’t hold up. Was God mad at Stephen, the first martyr?

So what do we say and do? Certainly we fast and pray for healing. God may yet heal them. However, in the moments after another diagnosis or impending death have compassion. Jesus wept when he arrived after his friend Lazarus’s death even though he knew he would raise him from the dead (John 11:35). Just cry with people, and consider the following:

I’m sorry you are going through this. I don’t know why it is happening, but

1. I trust that God will carry you through it and he will redeem and use it in ways we cannot even imagine.

2. Can I bring you dinner?

We, particularly in the West, tend to think that if we are good, that everything will be smooth sailing, that we are owed good things. Therefore we often believe that bad things should only happen to bad people. This is an erroneous logic and far from what Christians in many other parts of the world believe. Did the child born to poverty do something wrong? How about the aborted one? It’s really ridiculous form of logic.

Walk with people through their pain. Don’t try to explain it away. God is God. I am not. I don’t understand all that happens, but I didn’t hang the stars (see Job 38:4-7). I will trust Him, because He is good and His ways, which include all people in all time, are higher than mine (see Isaiah 55:8-9), which are largely centered around the small community and family just around me.

Sometimes we face unimaginable battles and sometimes more than once. Faith cannot be built in a life free from adversity. If we only have faith when life is easy or as expected, that is not truly faith. Faith is only truly grown and tested in adversity (I Peter 1:7).

And so I return to my simple answer. I just don’t know, but God is good. His ways are higher than my own, even when they feel as though they may crush me.

God does want us to cry out to him. “Out of Darkness” may speak to your heart if you or someone you care about is facing a battle that you thought was already won.