A terrorist bombs a city.
A hurricane wipes one out.
One’s a human decision.
The other’s a natural disaster.
So what gives?
If God is sovereign, why allow both?
First, not all evil is the same.
1. Moral Evil
This is Cain killing Abel.
It’s murder, abuse, theft, adultery, slander.
It’s sinful choices made by people with corrupt hearts.
“The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth…”
— Genesis 8:21
“They have all turned aside… there is no one who does good, not even one.”
— Romans 3:12
Moral evil is what you see in the headlines daily.
It’s driven by pride, lust, hate, greed.
It flows straight out of the human heart and it’s everywhere.
2. Natural Evil
This is tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, disease.
Not a person’s fault, so we think.
But the Bible doesn’t separate creation from the fall.
“Cursed is the ground because of you…”
— Genesis 3:17
“The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
— Romans 8:22
Even nature was cursed by sin.
The brokenness of the world isn’t just spiritual. It’s physical.
So whether it’s a human choice or a natural disaster, the root is the same. The Fall.
And none of it is outside God’s plan.
“I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.”
— Isaiah 45:7
God doesn’t shrug at evil.
He bends it into submission.
He rules over both moral and natural events, not passively, but purposefully.
Sometimes to judge.
Sometimes to warn.
Sometimes to wake us up.
But always for His glory.
Always with justice.
Always with meaning.
So don’t ask, “Where was God in this?”
Answer.
Ruling over it, and using it to point us back to Him.
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