The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry; Psalm 34:15

After reading this verse I am left with an honest question: if he sees and hears the cries of the righteous, why do bad things still happen to them? Can’t He stop it from happening? I have two answers, a long and short one. First, I don’t know why that happens. And secondly, I REALLY don’t know why that happens.

Based on this verse alone, you would think that nothing bad happens to those who are righteous, but you and I both know that it’s not the world we live in. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. If you said, “it’s not fair” I’d agree with you completely. I’m certain there’s at least a dozen or more theological answers that explain why these bad things happen. But ultimately we have to answer the question ourselves. It’s not fair or just or right.

Sometimes He intervenes, but often He doesn’t. I have no explanation for when that happens or why. God obviously has an infinitely larger picture of the world than we do. And yes those events work together for the person’s good (Romans 8:28) but that’s sidestepping the question a bit.

The only plausible response to this is the Russian proverb I am fond of quoting: “God see everything and waits.” Does it explain the atrocities that happen against people? Absolutely not nor is it intended to do so. So, in a literal sense of the verse, yes He hears and sees, and I will add “He waits.” Essentially as a Believer it takes faith to believe that in the midst of bad things happening all around us.

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own –James Russell Lowell