How can God allow this? - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Then He said: A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood ... But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want … And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
Luke 15:11, 12, 14, 16

How can God allow this?
What a social descent: from an heir to a swineherd; from a landowner to a beggar! The son demands his share, goes abroad, and lives until his money runs out. Then a famine comes, and he must tend pigs to survive. A real “success story”!

How could the father allow this? Why did he give his son his inheritance? Couldn’t he have prevented him, even forbidden him, from leaving? Shouldn’t he have restricted his freedom? Doesn’t he bear responsibility as a father – or at least partial responsibility – for his son’s misery?

How fortunate that the fallen son doesn’t think this way! He admits to himself: My father has an abundance, but here I am perishing. I will arise and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned”. And then he arose and went to his father.

And even today, God allows suffering, suffering that people bring upon themselves or others. He allows people to misuse their freedom and do evil, and He doesn’t stop them when they turn their backs on Him and bring misery and guilt upon their lives and the lives of others. But at the same time, He stands ready to forgive those who have sinned and to welcome back those who have run away.

“But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (verse 20).

Today’s reading: Leviticus 9:1-24 · Psalms 55:17-23