“SUPPOSE it’s all true and you walk up to the pearly gates, and are confronted by God,” asked Irish TV presenter Gay Byrne. “What will Stephen Fry say to him, her, or it?”

“I’d say, bone cancer in children? What’s that about? How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault…why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain?”

Fry’s response is an impassioned and beautifully articulated challenge to the idea of an all-powerful and all-good God. These questions aren’t the sole prerogative of an atheist, however.

Everyone who believes in a loving Creator God should be and often is struggling with the same issues. In fact, we find a very similar point being made by the fictional character Job in the Old Testament, a book written some 2,500 years ago.

God doesn’t offer us a philosophical response. Ultimately, God responds with the gift of his own innocent Son, who spends his life rallying against evil, suffering and injustice, bringing healing and freedom.

We don’t always understand, but the person of faith trusts that God is on our side.