I SPENT a very entertaining afternoon at the South Cerney Street Fair and Duck Race on Bank Holiday Monday, watching ‘my’ ducks and hoping they would find a way to the front and win as they bobbed their way down the river.

Sadly it was not to be this year and there was nothing I could do to improve their chances.

It wasn’t their fault either – just a random occurrence, luck or chance.

It can seem like that when we see suffering and ponder on the circumstances people are born into. 

Just a lottery of good or bad luck, whether the place you live has rain or drought, food or famine, peace or war.

When so many seem to struggle in different parts of the world, people sometimes express doubt that there can be a God who presides over the difficulties we witness.

If there is a God, why doesn’t he do something about these things?

I think there is a God who is good and cares about suffering.

But He is not like a puppet master, controlling the decisions and actions of everyone in the world.

That would contravene the free will which we have as humans and make us slaves, as some people sadly are today. 

God’s intention is for each of us to be free and seek him for wisdom and guidance as we try to create a good and just world, a place where each person is accorded the dignity that befits one made in the image of God.

We have the Bible to show us how to love our fellow humans and the earth and in it God asks us to share in his creativity and make the world a good place and do battle against injustice.

So when anyone asks of God, “why don’t you alleviate suffering?” He may well respond, “I was going to ask you the same question!”

REV KIM HARTSHORNE
The Upper Room