How Can We Affirm the Sovereignty of God When a Child Is Born with Disabilities?

How can Christians claim to believe in God’s sovereignty when a child is born with disabilities? Today, W. Robert Godfrey addresses this weighty question with pastoral sensitivity and biblical encouragement.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we are joined by the chairman of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey. And we’re recording live from Ligonier’s 2024 National Conference. Dr. Godfrey, how can we continue to affirm the sovereignty of God when a child is born with disabilities? Does God make mistakes?

DR. W. ROBERT GODFREY: This is clearly a question asked out of a real-life experience and real-life suffering, and so we want to be very careful about that. I’ve often said one of the frustrations of answering questions at the conference—as much fun as that is—is it’s difficult because some questions are theological in character and can receive a kind of brief theological answer, but some questions are profoundly pastoral in character. And theology is certainly necessary to help with a pastoral answer, but we need to be more sensitive to the emotion behind the question than in a more purely theological question.

The theological side of this question is easy to answer. God is sovereign over all things, and therefore, whatever happens, whether for good or for ill in our lives, God is sovereign in that activity, and He has a positive purpose to bring out of that in the life of His own people. But for the people who have to endure some tragedy, some hardships, some suffering in life, we have to be equally sensitive to the fact that it’s not easy.

Just because God is sovereign doesn’t make our experience easy or an experience that we can immediately or easily embrace. Over time, God will, I think, give us the grace to understand that He is sovereign even in this, to recognize that His sovereignty makes this more bearable, not less bearable—the sufferings we have to endure and the sufferings we have to see in others. We have to see these situations as a calling on our lives to serve God and to try to glorify God.

We as Christians have affirmed the importance of the family. We’ve affirmed the importance of children. We’ve stood against abortion on demand, and this is another way to say, in the presence of a disabled child, “This child, too, for the struggles the child faces, is created in the image of God, is loved by God, is”—if born into a covenant family—“is in covenant with God, and we have a wonderful opportunity to show to the world our ability to love and to embrace the difficulties God brings into our lives to honor Him.”

So, I think that’s the way we have to start to approach this, but I think the Christian community really needs to rally around to recognize the trial and the struggle that a family may be facing, and to try to offer the support and the help and the love that a family needs.