Do you think everything happens for a reason?
Apparently, I was asked this question for a reason. The reason, as nearly as I can determine, is that WordPress has a very short memory.
Four months ago, I was asked whether I believe in fate or destiny. I wrote a whole post about it. I considered the question, explained my theology, discussed free will and God’s plan, and brought the whole thing in for what I thought was a reasonably smooth landing.
Now WordPress has returned with the same question wearing clever disguise.
“Do you think everything happens for a reason?” Nice try. I recognize you.
Perhaps WordPress expected me to undergo a major theological transformation between March and July. Maybe I was supposed to wake up one morning, stare dramatically into the distance and announce, “I have reconsidered everything.”
I have not.
I still do not believe every event in life was carefully scripted in advance. I do not believe that every mistake, tragedy, betrayal, illness or badly worded Daily Prompt was deliberately arranged by God because it simply had to happen.
People have free will. We make choices. Other people make choices. Some of those choices are wise and generous. Others are selfish, reckless or so spectacularly foolish that they make you wonder whether free will should require a permit.
Sometimes we suffer because of what we do. Sometimes we suffer because of what someone else does. Sometimes life simply goes sideways because we live in a broken world where plans fail, bodies fail and people occasionally hit “reply all.”
That is why I have always struggled with the phrase “everything happens for a reason.”
It can sound comforting, and most people who say it mean well. They are trying to offer hope when someone loses a job, endures a breakup, receives bad news or finds himself answering the same WordPress question twice before Labor Day.
But the phrase can also make God sound like the author of every painful moment. I do not believe He is.
I do not believe God has to cause suffering before He can use it. He does not need to arrange the disaster in order to enter the wreckage. He does not have to write the worst chapter of our lives before He is able to redeem the story.
That is the distinction that matters to me. Not everything that happens is God’s will. But nothing that happens is beyond His reach.
He can bring wisdom out of failure, compassion out of pain and new direction out of a season that seemed to lead nowhere. He can heal what was wounded, restore what was broken and guide us after we have wandered several exits past where we were supposed to turn.
That does not mean the painful thing had to happen. It means the painful thing does not get the final word.
So my answer is still the same one I gave four months ago. I do not believe in fate. I do not believe every moment was locked into place before we arrived. I believe God has a plan, I believe He gives us the freedom to follow or resist it, and I believe His grace is capable of working through even the messes He did not create.
Apparently, I was asked this same question for a reason. The reason may have been to reinforce an important spiritual truth.
Or WordPress may simply need a better filing system.
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Copyright © 2026 Doug DeBolt.
Free will is an illusion. You think you have but you don’t