Note: This article is not written to take advantage of any tragedy. Any books mentioned are provided only to help deepen biblical understanding and offer real comfort. If you cannot afford a book, please write support@christianpublishers.org

Charlie Kirk was first and foremost a family man, whose love and devotion to his wife and children shaped the core of who he was. His faith in Christ was not a veneer but the foundation of his convictions, guiding him to stand boldly for biblical truth in an age when such courage was rare. He spoke of God with conviction and humility, never shying away from affirming the authority of Scripture and the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. As a patriot, he cherished the freedoms secured in the Constitution and dedicated his life to defending them, believing that liberty was both a divine gift and a national trust that must be preserved for future generations. His voice was strong, yet his character was marked by service, integrity, and a willingness to stand where others would shrink back.

Charlie Kirk’s assassination confronts grieving families, friends, and fellow believers with the piercing question, “Why would God allow this?” Scripture neither forbids that question nor rebukes those who ask it with tears. The prophet cried, “How long, O Jehovah, will I cry for help, and You will not hear? … Why do You make me see iniquity, and why do You look at trouble?” (Habakkuk 1:2–3). God had those words preserved “for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). This article brings together a simple, Bible-saturated explanation that comforts without distorting God’s character. It explains how perfect humans could still sin, how God’s foreknowledge does not cause evil, why He never tempts anyone, who presently rules this world, why God permits suffering for a limited season, and how His promises bring real comfort as we mourn a righteous man murdered by violence.

What Adam’s Perfection Was And Why He Still Could Sin

Genesis declares: “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). After completing His work, “God saw everything that He had made, and, look, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Moses exalts God’s workmanship: “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice; a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). God does not create moral defects. He fashioned true humans with understanding, affections, and will—capable of loving Him freely and obeying from the heart.

Human perfection does not mean an inability to choose. Scripture consistently places real choices before real people: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your offspring may live, by loving Jehovah your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20). Joshua spoke the same way: “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). Love that cannot choose is not love at all. Jehovah wanted devoted children, not programmed machines. “You must love Jehovah your God and keep His charge” (Deuteronomy 11:1). “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

Scripture also explains the pathway by which a perfect human could fall. The apostolic warning reads: “Each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. Then the desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14–15). Eve entertained a slander against Jehovah’s character. The serpent asked, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” and then denied the truth: “You will not surely die … you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1–5). Adam listened to his wife and joined her rebellion: “She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6). Perfect humans misused perfect freedom. That does not indict their Maker; it exposes the seriousness of freedom and the reality that love is meaningful only when it may be withheld.

Jehovah’s Foreknowledge Does Not Cause Evil

Jehovah announces “the end from the beginning” and declares “things not yet done” (Isaiah 46:10). “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5). “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33). Yet the Bible never confuses knowing with causing. He foreknows free choices without coercing them. His knowledge is like a faithful witness—perfectly accurate, never guilty of the crime it sees. The God who “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2) also “cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). Therefore His foreknowledge of a murderer’s act implicates the murderer, not God. Men will answer for their deeds, for “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).

This distinction comforts the grieving. Jehovah did not script Adam’s disobedience, Cain’s murder, or any assassin’s bullet. Scripture lays responsibility at the feet of the one who chooses evil: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Divine foreknowledge secures the certainty of Jehovah’s promises while preserving human accountability for sin.

God Never Tempts And Never Authors Moral Evil

The inspired Word is explicit: “Let no one say when he is under pressure, ‘I am being tried by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). “Jehovah is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works” (Psalm 145:17). “The Rock, His work is perfect … all His ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:4). “Far be it from God that He should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that He should do wrong” (Job 34:10, 12). To attribute cruelty or moral evil to Jehovah is to slander His holy name.

The Scriptures also tell us where the blame truly lies. “The intent of the thoughts of the heart was only evil continually” in Noah’s day (Genesis 6:5), and after the Flood Jehovah said, “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). When men are “enticed by their own desire,” sin is conceived and “brings forth death” (James 1:14–15). Much suffering comes at the hands of other humans who choose violence and deceit. Some comes from what Solomon called “time and chance”: “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the mighty … but time and chance happen to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). None of this indicts Jehovah as the cause. He allows a fallen world to function for a time; He does not delight in its ruin.

Asking Why Without Accusing God

Faith does not silence honest lament. Habakkuk asked why violence filled the land, and Jehovah received his questions (Habakkuk 1:2–3). David said, “This poor man cried, and Jehovah heard him” (Psalm 34:6). Jehovah told the oppressed in Egypt, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people … I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7). “During all their distress it was distressing to Him” (Isaiah 63:9). “You have kept count of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8). He is not aloof. He is compassionate and near: “Jehovah is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). Let mourners ask, let them cry out, and let them refuse the lie that evil comes from His hand.

Who Rules This World Now, And Why It Matters For Our Pain

Many assume that everything that happens is God’s direct will. Scripture says otherwise about this present age. “The whole world lies in the power of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Jesus called Satan “the ruler of the world” (John 14:30; see also John 12:31), and Paul speaks of “the god of this age” who blinds minds (2 Corinthians 4:4). This does not mean Jehovah has abdicated; it means He permits a season in which a usurper exercises influence and in which human governments and cultures develop apart from God’s rule. The result looks like what we see: lies exalted, violence normalized, and those who love righteousness targeted. That framework helps us understand how a Christian leader publicly contending for truth can be cut down by hatred without charging Jehovah with wrongdoing.

Why God Permits Suffering: The Edenic Challenge To Moral Government

The question stretches back to Eden. Jehovah gave a clear command coupled with generous freedom: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Genesis 2:16–17). The serpent slandered God’s character, denied His word, and dangled self-exaltation: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). The issue was not botany; it was moral government. Who defines good and evil—Jehovah, or man? Will creatures thrive under Jehovah’s wise rule, or will they improve on it by self-rule? Before “the thousands times ten thousand” holy ones (Daniel 7:10), the question was raised. The only way to settle it beyond dispute was to allow the consequences of rebellion to unfold within Jehovah’s sovereign limits.

The book of Job exposes Satan’s accusation that human obedience is mercenary: “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9). The adversary claimed that if the benefits were removed, devotion would fail. Jehovah permitted a bounded demonstration that proved the accuser a liar and vindicated faith that loves God for God. In a larger sense, human history is the stage upon which the malignancy of rebellion is being shown and the goodness of Jehovah’s rule is being vindicated. He is in no way the author of evil; He permits it for a time so that when He ends it, every mouth will be stopped and every slander against His name silenced.

Why The Delay Is Not Indifference

We feel the delay sharply because funerals are immediate. Yet Scripture teaches that Jehovah’s patience serves righteous ends. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise … but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). If He prevented every consequence of disobedience right now, the world would misread the nature of rebellion and imagine that life apart from God carries no cost. If He stopped every murderer’s hand in the moment of intent, the courtroom record would be obscured and the watching world would not see the true wages of sin. Instead, He permits a season of sowing and reaping while setting a day when He “will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed,” giving assurance “by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). Meanwhile “the creation was subjected to futility … and we know that the whole creation groans” (Romans 8:20, 22). The groaning is not proof of Jehovah’s absence; it is proof of our need for His Kingdom.

Read carefully a text often misused as a slogan: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). The verse does not say all things are good, nor that Jehovah orchestrates every detail to spare us from pain now. It promises that He weaves even the darkest strands into an outcome that fits His saving purpose for His people. He can “comfort us in all our affliction” so that “we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4). He gives wisdom to those who ask: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach” (James 1:5). He sustains faith through His Word, for “this is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has given me life” (Psalm 119:50).

Jehovah Has Not Stood Idly By

Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17). From the first promise—“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15)—Jehovah has been moving history toward the triumph of the promised Seed. He pledged that “in your offspring shall all nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18), and the apostle identifies that offspring: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring … who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). The Messiah preached the Kingdom: “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God … for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43). He gave living previews of the world to come: “He had compassion on them and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14), “He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ … and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39), and He cried, “Lazarus, come out,” and “the man who had died came out” (John 11:43–44). Of all God’s promises it is written, “as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are Yes” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

This same Jesus will return to rule. Daniel saw “One like a son of man … and to Him was given dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him” (Daniel 7:13–14). In that Kingdom, “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:8). “No inhabitant will say, ‘I am sick’” (Isaiah 33:24). “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore” (Revelation 21:4). That is not wishful imagination; it is covenant promise.

Applying These Truths To A Murdered Brother

With Bible in hand we can say plainly what must be said. Jehovah did not cause this murder. “God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). An evil man chose evil in a world that “lies in the power of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Satan “was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44) and delights to silence voices that magnify truth. Yet Jehovah was neither absent nor defeated. He permitted what He hates for a time in order to advance what He loves forever—the vindication of His name, the unmasking of rebellion, the gathering of a people for His Son, and the public display that His rule alone brings life and peace.

Jehovah sees and records the pain of the bereaved: “You have taken account of my wandering; put my tears in Your bottle” (Psalm 56:8). He draws near to the crushed: “Jehovah is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). He will bring perfect justice: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). He will not forget labors of love offered in His name: “God is not unjust to forget your work and the love that you have shown toward His name” (Hebrews 6:10). He has secured victory over death. Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out” (John 5:28–29). That is why holy ones grieve, but not as those who have no hope: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Death is not an immortal soul escaping; death is the cessation of personhood, and the hope is resurrection by Jehovah’s power at the time He has appointed.

Paths Of Comfort For Those Who Mourn

Pour out your heart to Jehovah. “Cast your burden on Jehovah, and He will sustain you” (Psalm 55:22). “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). He promises peace that guards the heart and mind “in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). Ask Him for wisdom for the days ahead; He “gives generously to all without reproach” (James 1:5).

Stay close to the congregation of the holy ones. “We, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:5). “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Comfort one another with the hope of resurrection and the sure promises of the Kingdom (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Let the Word do its strengthening work: “Your decrees are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24). “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has given me life” (Psalm 119:50).

Pursue justice without hatred. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities” in the civic sphere that restrains evil (Romans 13:1–4), and yet keep your heart from revenge, for “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay” (Romans 12:19). “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). The weapons of our warfare are not worldly (2 Corinthians 10:4). Keep your conscience clean; keep your speech seasoned with grace and truth (Colossians 4:6). The Judge of all the earth will do what is right (Genesis 18:25).

Continue the witness that hatred tried to silence. The King Himself said, “This good news of the Kingdom will be proclaimed in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). “Always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Honor the fallen by contending for life, marriage, truth, and liberty under God, and above all by heralding the reign of Christ. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Choosing Jehovah’s Rule Today

Tragedy forces a decision. “Choose life … by loving Jehovah your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20). “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Turn from the world that is “passing away along with its desires” (1 John 2:17). Take refuge in the King whose Kingdom will fill the earth. “Kiss the Son … Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2:12). “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). That is where comfort begins to settle in the soul—not because we pretend evil is good, but because we know Jehovah did not author it, we know why He permits it for a time, and we know what He has promised to do about it forever.

Understanding Romans 8:28 in the Midst of Tragedy

Romans 8:28 is one of the most quoted verses in all of Scripture, yet also one of the most misinterpreted, especially in times of tragedy. Paul writes: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” When a devastating loss strikes, this passage is sometimes used in a way that distorts God’s character rather than magnifies it. A biblically grounded reading, however, provides both clarity and real comfort.

The Common Misinterpretation

The common misinterpretation of Romans 8:28 is that it teaches everything that happens, even the most horrific event, was arranged by God and is itself “good.” People may suggest that God directly caused a murder, a disaster, or an injustice in order to bring about some hidden blessing. This interpretation implies that evil events are intrinsically good because they are part of God’s plan. Yet such a reading collides head-on with the testimony of Scripture. James 1:13 is explicit: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” Job 34:10 agrees: “Far be it from God that He should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that He should do wrong.” To call the evil itself “good” is to misrepresent the holy character of Jehovah.

The Correct Understanding

Paul is not saying that everything that occurs is good. He is teaching that Jehovah, without ever being the source of evil, sovereignly orchestrates even the most grievous realities of a fallen world so that they serve His redemptive purpose for those who love Him. The wording matters: “all things work together for good” does not mean “all things are good.” The tragedy remains tragic. It is the overruling providence of God that bends even tragedy into the service of His saving plan. As Joseph told his brothers who had betrayed him: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50:20). Their actions were wicked; Jehovah’s response was wise and sovereign.

The Context of Romans 8

Romans 8 provides the setting for this promise. Verses 18–22 describe a creation that has been “subjected to futility,” groaning and in bondage to corruption. Evil and suffering are the result of humanity’s fall, not the direct authorship of Jehovah. Verses 23–25 remind us that believers also groan, waiting for the redemption of their bodies at the resurrection. In the meantime, we endure weakness, yet verses 26–27 assure us that the Spirit helps and intercedes in accordance with God’s will. Then comes the promise of verse 28—that amid this broken world, Jehovah is weaving all things toward the ultimate good of His people.

What is that “good”? Verse 29 defines it: “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The good promised is not earthly comfort or the absence of sorrow, but transformation into Christ’s likeness. The process often unfolds in the crucible of pain, but it is pain redeemed, never pain wasted. Verse 30 completes the golden chain: those justified will surely be glorified. Nothing—not suffering, not persecution, not death—can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38–39).

Comfort From the Correct Reading

Therefore, Romans 8:28 is not a call to re-label evil as good, nor a denial of the harshness of tragedy. It is a call to trust Jehovah’s faithfulness. When murderers act, when accidents strike, when disease claims life, these things are still evil. Yet Jehovah bends them, without endorsing them, to serve His eternal purpose of conforming His people to Christ and securing their place in His Kingdom. As Psalm 119:50 declares: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has given me life.” The comfort of Romans 8:28 lies in knowing that tragedy is not the end of the story. Evil does not have the final word. The God who raised Jesus from the dead will work even this together for the everlasting good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

You May Also Enjoy

About the Author

CLICK LINKED IMAGE TO VISIT ONLINE STORE

CLICK TO SCROLL THROUGH OUR BOOKS