he said to his wife: ‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ From one point of view, knowing this simply makes matters worse, because it presses us to plead the question ‘Why?’ Why should a good God decree or allow such things if he has the power to stop them? But from another point of view it provides us with hope. Because if God is good (and he is) then we can believe that there is some good reason behind what happens, even though it may not be known to us at the time. What is more, if