Romans 8:18-30
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
St. Paul who was believed in God and later believed in Jesus wrote these verses to his believers in Rome...St. Paul was arrested three times, spent a few years in jail, yet kept the faith...This Great Saint knew that in eternity that the weight of God's Glory would by a very, very far eternal margin would outweigh the things on earth...So while others can and could look at God and say my family has died, and my children are suffering, St. Paul believed that in our world of time that God's Glory outweighed these suffering, evil, painful things...
Does the world have to have evil?...We know the God allows evil, because we hung Jesus from the cross and He died...And we know from the Old Testament that Job was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil...God allowed the evil one to come into Job's life and create many tragedies...So God allowed Job to suffer greatly...But why would God, who is LOVE, allow suffering and evil to happen?...So, since God allowed His Son (and blameless and upright Job) to suffer, the believer has to believe that both God and suffering and evil and pain can all exist in this world...So God does not solely exist without suffering, evil, or pain in our world...God could make suffering, evil, and pain go away, but He chooses not to do so on earth...I believe when we are in His Heaven suffering, evil, and pain will be gone...
God giving us freewill also plays a part in this, as does faith, as does love...To give someone freewill allows them to completely make their own decision...And sometimes in the decisions we make we suffer...And some people make evil decisions...To love someone, you have to give them an unfettered, unconditional allowance of them to love you...If you control your beloved, that is not love, but let's call it a controlling affection...
So the non-believer cannot rule out that God exists in a world of pain, suffering, and evil...But I believe the non-believer would agree that their is love in this world, and faith, and a freewill to make one's own decisions about the belief in God...So to say that evil in this world or suffering in this world rules out that God exists, to me, is an incorrect one...
So the Almighty and Completely Understanding Father, who is separate from time and is in Eternity, can let mankind have freewill but still as our time passes can make evil, suffering, and pain a part of His Plan, because we as mankind often make the incorrect freewill daily decisions that we do...God can see through to the end and what seems impossible to us and maybe bitter, suffering, pain cause the right outcome in the end to be one of good...
So the priority in life is not happiness, but faith in God and getting to know Him, and feeling His Presence...And most importantly have a loving relationship with Him as Jesus did and teaches...So, as Job listened to God, when He came out of the storm, he found that the Presence of God meant more than his suffering...Job saw there are things to wonderful to understand...And God proved that by sending His Son, Jesus to the cross, to die a long suffering death...Our Father watched His Son die on the cross to save mankind, each and everyone of us from our sins and the sins of the world...
So when St. Paul writes that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose...For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the Image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters...And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified...In suffering, evil, and pain there is a face of God, an Eternal Good...And in this Eternal Good, the Perfect Morality will be there with everyone in harmony and in love...A Place called Heaven...