4 Reasons God Permitted You to Get Hurt By Someone

Job 1:12

Here are 4 possible reasons for why God permitted you to get hurt by someone.

Also, I’m offering 3 scholarships (first come, first serve), to those who are interested in my relationship training courses at AGW University. Click here to learn more.

1. God Permitted You to Get Hurt Because He Permits Us to Possess the Necessary Qualities for True Love

So many of our questions that start with “Why did God . . .” often come back to love.

Please don’t mishear my real point. I’m not saying that everything bad that happens is a direct expression of God’s love. There are countless things that have happened throughout human history that God hates. That’s what sin is. Sin hurts the sinner and the sinned against. God hates sin.

Rather, I’m saying the prerequisites for love to actually occur cause certain elements to be present that also allow for the possibility of bad things happening too. In other words, for true love to occur amongst humans, choice must be possible. If people only had the choice to love, that would not be real choice. Thus, real free will must be present for real love to be possible. This leads to the possibility of bad choices being made as well.

Thus, God permitted you getting hurt in the past because he has created a world where love is possible. While this existence truly is painful because humans have misused the privilege to choose good or bad, this pain is worth the cost that is required for love.

No one paid a more painful cost for love to exist that Christ himself (Revelation 1:5).

2. God Permitted You to Get Hurt So You Would See Only He Can Protect You

When you study the Scriptures in regard to spiritual attacks, there are so many references to God permitting the devil to do his work (Job 1:12, 2:6).

For example, when Jesus was approached by the demon possessed man, the legion of demons in the man begged Jesus not to cast them into torment. Instead, they asked to be sent into a herd of pigs. Mark 5:13 (NIV) states, “[Jesus] gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs.”

Why did Jesus do this? And why does the Bible give us these glimpses behind the spiritual veil where demons are gaining permission from God to do their evil work? Mark 5 doesn’t explicitly tell us why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs. However, I think it’s safe to infer that one reason Jesus allowed this was so that we had visible evidence that God is in control and even demons can only do what he permits.   

When you realize that God must permit bad things to happen for them to happen, you also must realize he alone is the one who can offer us protection from bad things and protection through bad things.

When we apply these principles to this question about, “Why did God permit you to get hurt by someone?”, we can say he could have allowed this to increase your diligence to depend on him for protection. Even when bad things happen, God is able to protect us through the dark journey.

As Psalm 23:4 states, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

3. God Could Have Permitted You to Get Hurt If You Ignored His Warning Signs

Sometimes you got hurt because someone else made a really hurtful decision. At other times, however, we played a more direct role in our own demise. None of us should point the finger at others and claim they hurt themselves through their own bad choice. We should, however, look at ourselves with a critical lens to examine what mistakes we may have made so we can learn and mature.

Proverbs 19:2-3 states, “Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.”

It is always wrong for us to blame God. God is never the problem. God is always the solution. When you are blaming God, usually that means you are unwilling to admit your own mistakes in ignoring God’s warnings (Proverbs 19:3).

4. God Permitted You to Get Hurt So He Could Produce More Good Than If You Didn’t Get Hurt

In the end, we must always trust God’s power to bring about his will even through the bad things that happen (Genesis 50:20). As A.W. Tozer wrote:

It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. God actually rises up storms of conflict in relationships at times in order to accomplish that deeper work in our character. We cannot love our enemies in our own strength. This is graduate-level grace. Are you willing to enter this school? Are you willing to take the test? If you pass, you can expect to be elevated to a new level in the Kingdom. For He brings us through these tests as preparation for greater use in the Kingdom. You must pass the test first.”

Never turn your back on God during the storm. To see the good God wants to produce through this harm you experienced, you must remain faithful to the end (John 11:40).

Lastly, I’m offering 3 scholarships (first come, first serve), to those who are interested in my relationship training courses at AGW University. Click here to learn more.