These questions are probably easier to ask by those who do not have strong religious convictions or beliefs in God. They do not hesitate to raise a challenge and are not afraid of offending a religion or a God in which they do not believe. Even for those with very deep faiths and beliefs, these same types of questions may still be asked in distinctly different ways. It may be an unspoken question to one’s self. It may be spoken aloud in a disguised or subtle way, "I can’t believe this is happening to me", or, "Why me?". Other times, when the incident is more significant or tense, God’s name is referenced directly and called upon to either explain or to provide help in the situation. These are reactions to matters that immediately and personally affect us. However, there are times when we are not directly affected and we learn about some terrible incident or difficulty. When there are disasters of epic proportion, even the most fervent of believers may on occasion quietly ask themselves how could God let such things happen to innocent people.

There are many severe trials and tribulations that happen to humankind. They happen on an individual basis and there are times when large multitudes of people are affected. The types of occurrences may range from human diseases to natural disasters. Some of the worst tragedies are those inflicted by one person onto another, or one group of people onto another. Drastic changes in climate can leave people unable to feed themselves and lead to situations of mass starvation. Quite often it is incredulous to find that food supplies are stopped from getting to the needy due to greed, internal politics, and strife within the area. Or, people are stopped from reaching safer havens due to different tribal, cultural, religious, or political backgrounds.

The questions as to God’s mercy appear to flow easier when the disaster is of ‘natural’ causes. It seems appropriate to some that God should be blamed for not regulating and controlling the forces of nature. The same questions do not seem to flow when the disaster is inflicted by one group of humanity onto another. When there is war or civil strife, the blame does not flow quite so readily. It is though an exemption is issued because everyone is suddenly understanding. It is somehow excused as being human nature, even though the act was evil or the aggression was ill directed. While one is not condoning the actions, it is being overlooked as the free will of one people to take up arms against another. Yet, the free will of nature, with forces that can humble the most powerful of civilizations, is expected to be moderated or regulated by God.

Without a doubt, the hardest questions to answer are those that involve children. Due to youth, purity and innocence, these are the hardest questions to answer and are never rationalized. Circumstances with children that involve suffering and death are untenable. They cannot be explained away. There are no simple answers to explain why a child, who is innocent to the ways of the world, and who has barely had much time to experience life, should suffer due to illness or die. This is when it must be the most painful, especially for parents, to try to understand these situations and the resulting questions, whether they are stated aloud or not.

So, is God punishing us when some type of tribulation befalls us? Punishment is a very extreme outcome, especially when it includes the totally innocent. Are there writings about disasters and the punishment of the wicked? Biblical writings in Genesis 19 describe the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and all of its inhabitants. The story of Noah and the great flood is another account that involves punishment by God due to the evil of humankind. This is the only account where, except for Noah and his family, all the inhabitants of the Earth were destroyed. Yet, after the flood, Genesis 8 - 21 tells us that God said, "I will never do it again - I will never again curse the Earth, destroying all living things … ".

Severe trials and tribulations, young or old, singly or affecting multitudes; does God let these happen? How could it be part of a master plan? Is this a test of some sort? All of these are incredibly perplexing questions that are puzzling and for which no one on Earth can attest that they have the answers for. I do not pretend to have the answers and can only offer, like others, my thoughts and feelings on these matters.