The magnitude of evil that the world has been forced to witness this week is, to say the least, overwhelming. The most common question I have fielded in these past few days is how God could allow for such an act of terror to take place?

Why God allows evil to exist in the world is a question that no one can answer. It is a mystery. But what we do know is that evil, no matter how sinister or painful it is, will never succeed in separating God from His creation. Job learned this. He literally lost all that he had -- including his land, his home, his money, his reputation and his family. He became angry with God and pleaded for God to reveal why He had brought such terror to Job's life. But ultimately, when the terror that struck Job's life was over, Job learned that God had never left his side. Job learned, as he himself said, "that I spoke of things I did not understand, of things too wonderful for me to know".(Job 42:3)

But what was "too wonderful" for Job to know, has been revealed to you and me. It is the absolute and unyielding love of God, made known to us in Jesus Christ. This single gift has provided all of humanity with the ability to look at evil and ask not, "why has God allowed this to happen," but rather to say with confidence, "thank you God for being with me through such times of pain and evil."

We will never know why evil has been allowed to exist in the world. But we can know that God will never leave our side through it all. It is the Psalmist who best captures this point, when he said; "Even though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me,"(Psalm 23:4)

God is with America today. God is with the victims of these tragic acts of violence. God is with every person who suffers at the hand of evil, exactly as He was with his own son, Jesus Christ, when He too endured the effects of evil and hatred in his own life. What we can all learn from Jesus' ultimate encounter with evil, and his triumph over it through the resurrection, is the same lesson that Job himself learned: God never leaves our side. Never. Though we may walk through valleys of terror and fear, God is always with us, comforting and leading us by his eternal love. It is in this truth that America, and all of the world, can trust.