Where Is My Good God During Bad Times?
September 3, 2026 | ALOCS Women's Bible Study
Difficult seasons can leave us asking questions we never expected to ask: Where is God? Why did He allow this? Why does He intervene in some situations but not others? During our September Women's Bible Study, we created space for those questions while exploring what it means to trust God's character when our circumstances do not make sense.
Through Scripture and honest discussion, we examined the relationship between faith and doubt, why believers still experience hardship, and how biblical figures responded when God did not change their circumstances in the way they expected.
Watch the Bible Study
Watch the full September Women's Bible Study as we explore difficult questions about suffering, doubt, unanswered prayer, and the presence of God during life's hardest seasons.
Faith and Doubt Can Coexist
Difficult circumstances can make God's goodness harder to see, but struggling with doubt does not mean faith has disappeared. In Mark 9:14–29, a father brought his son to Jesus and honestly declared, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
His response reminds us that faith does not require us to hide our questions or pretend uncertainty is absent. We can bring both our belief and our struggle to Jesus, trusting Him with the places where our faith feels tired.
Faith Does Not Promise Exemption from Hardship
Following Christ does not mean we will be exempt from difficult seasons. Scripture prepares us for trials, loss, uncertainty, and seasons when circumstances do not unfold as we hoped.
Jesus tells us that we will experience trouble in this world, while also reminding us that He has overcome the world. Our hardship is not automatically evidence that God has abandoned us. Instead, we are invited to recognize His presence and continue trusting Him even before our circumstances change.
Collateral Damage—and Collateral Faith
Sometimes our pain is connected to someone else's trial. Job's story reminds us that when one person suffers, the people around them can experience loss and disruption too. The study challenged us to consider what it means to become “collateral damage” in another person's story.
But the opposite can also happen: collateral faith. When pain makes it difficult to remember what we know about God, He can use the testimony, encouragement, and faith of people around us to remind us of what is still true. We are not meant to carry difficult seasons alone.
Why Does God Intervene Sometimes—and Not Others?
Scripture gives us examples of miraculous rescue alongside stories where faithful people did not experience the outcome they hoped for. Moses interceded for Israel and God relented from the announced destruction, while judgment came during Noah's generation. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, while John the Baptist was never released from prison.
These differences do not give us a formula for predicting what God will do. Sometimes faithful study and prayer still leave us saying, “I don't know.” We can ask questions and make room for mystery without allowing what we do not understand to redefine God's character.
God Is Good. AND This Is Bad.
Two things can be true at the same time: God is good, and what we are experiencing can genuinely be bad.
Trusting God's goodness does not require us to minimize grief, disappointment, injustice, or pain. Romans 8:28 does not tell us that everything that happens is good; it reminds us that God is able to work through our circumstances for good.
We may experience a mountaintop in one area of life while walking through a valley in another. Our perspective and circumstances may change, but God's character does not. When we cannot understand His hand, we can continue seeking and trusting His face.
In the Valley: Worship. Question. Pray.
What can we do when the answer is delayed, the season is painful, or God's response feels like “no”? Scripture shows us that we do not have to pretend.
Worship. Hannah worshiped through infertility, David after the death of his son, and Paul and Silas while imprisoned.
Question. Job questioned after tremendous loss, Mary spoke honestly to Jesus after Lazarus died, and John the Baptist questioned while sitting in prison.
Pray. Paul prayed about the thorn in his flesh, and Jesus prayed honestly in Gethsemane.
Worship, questions, and prayer are not competing responses. All three can be acts of faith because each keeps us turning toward God in the valley rather than walking away from Him.
Was the Answer Really “No”?
Sometimes what feels like an unanswered prayer may actually be an answer that came differently than we expected. We pray from limited knowledge, while God sees what we cannot.
His answer may be yes, not yet, or not like that. Sometimes grace rather than removal is the answer that carries us through. The study challenged us to ask: Was the answer truly no, or did it come differently than I expected?
Waiting can tempt us to believe God is late or absent, but we should be careful not to hold God to timelines He never promised.
When Pain Becomes Purpose
Pain does not automatically disqualify us from being used by God. While David was running for his life and hiding in the cave of Adullam, hundreds of distressed, indebted, and discontented people gathered around him—and David became their leader while he was still experiencing his own crisis.
Sometimes God uses what He develops in us during difficult seasons to strengthen someone else. The comfort, wisdom, testimony, and compassion formed through our own experiences can become a source of encouragement for others.
What Do We Do While We're In It?
We may not know how long a difficult season will last or when circumstances will change, but we can choose how we respond while we are in it:
Go. Go to the solution, who is Jesus.
Stay. Stay near Him. Do not confuse a delayed fix with an absent God.
Encourage. Allow what God has carried you through to become encouragement for someone else.
We are not promised that every problem will be fixed immediately. We are promised that we do not have to carry our hardship alone.
Reflection Questions
Was the answer truly no—or did it come differently than you expected?
Where have you felt like collateral damage in someone else's story?
Who has carried collateral faith for you when your own faith felt tired?
What pain might God be shaping into purpose?
What would it look like to go to Jesus—not just for an answer, but for His presence?
Final Thought
So where is our good God during hard times? Right here.
He may not fix the situation immediately or answer in the way we predicted, but He remains present. Hard times are real. Grief is real. Doubt can be real. And God's presence is still real.
God is good. God is present. Hard times are real. You are not alone.
Resources
Continue reflecting on this month's study with these resources designed to help you revisit the Scriptures, apply the teaching, and walk through difficult seasons with honesty and faith.
Join Us Next Month
Our Women's Bible Study is open to women ages 16 and older. Join us on the first Thursday of each month as we continue growing together in God's Word.
Visit our Events page for upcoming Bible Studies and registration information.
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