Here I am sitting on a plane at a time when I would
generally be getting ready for bed plagued by a question from my sister in-law
earlier in the day. Why do bad things happen to good people? Not an easy
question to resolve in a short amount of time but in my best rambling fashion I
did my best at a semi concise, cohesive answer that most likely left the
listener in much of the same state if not worse than when I started. With a
plethora of time on my hands and a desire to put thoughts on paper I hope to provide
a slightly clearer response to this question.
Before getting started I would like to throw out a
disclaimer of sorts. First, that I have not been through the dire and
distressing times that so many go through in these days. I have not known the
death of close relatives and friends, I have not known deep debilitating
depression, and I am not close to anyone who has battled day and night, month
to month with cancer or another devastating illness. If you have been through
distressing times my heart and love goes out to you. At the very least I know
that it is not easy, that some fight moment by moment to continue and that hope
though not easily found is a fountain of joy when it arrives. I desire that
nothing I write belittles your pain but brings hope in a God that truly is in
control and desires the best for your life.
To answer the question of “Why do bad things happen to good
people?” I believe you must first review your terms closely. I believe the
Bible is the ultimate source of truth and that is the source from which I will
define my terms. In this question I believe it is best to work backwards
through the question addressing the subject first; good people.
Typically the thought process behind the question follows
the logic that there are some people who make an effort to be good. They treat
others fairly well, they give to charity, they go out of their way to help
others, and they live a fairly good life. Most would consent that maybe they
don’t do everything right, they mess up but in the end they are good people who
live honest lives and care about others. First and foremost, regardless of
experience and philosophy the Bible must be the source of truth so we must look
at what does the Bible say on the matter of good people. It doesn’t take much study through the Bible
before we realize that no one is good. Rom 3:23 for all have sinned, David
talking of being sinful in the womb in the Psalms, countless times of men being
left to their own devices only to reject God. I would argue that even the most
upright action from an unbelieving person is at best only in an effort
ultimately to do the right thing for them and not for God revealing the
selfishness of their heart. Hebrews states that without faith nothing is
pleasing to God.
That still leaves the question of why would bad things
happen to people to do believe in God, who do trust and obey and try to live to
the glory of God, people who are not righteous in themselves but are made
righteous through Jesus Christ. Why would bad things happen to them? That leads
us to the next section of the statement. What are the “bad things” that happen
to these good people? This is where I find nowhere to turn but faith and trust
in Jesus Christ because it does not always make sense to me. He ultimately
knows what we need and has our best interest in mind. Romans 8 it says that God
works all things out for good to those who love God and are called according to
His purpose. Verses 29 and 30 go on to explain what that purpose is; to make us
into the likeness of Christ. To make us, like Christ. That is a hard verse to
swallow at times. When you are going through depression, deep loss, or illness
how do you trust that God will work it out for your good? My only answer is
faith in future grace based on past grace. God saved me, He brought me this
far, I know His work is true so I will have faith that He will bring me through
this trail more like Christ than previously. Although the trial may be more
than I can bare, His strength is shown through my weakness. It is not a feeling
at this point, it is not something to be reasoned, it is pure unadulterated
faith that His word is true. I pray that God would bring comfort to anyone
going through a situation like this currently and pray that God would be able
to use you mightily in the future because of it.
The last part of the question is, why. I don’t know that we
will ever fully know the answer to why. Job tried asking that question and
found out that it was too much for him to handle. The God of the universe, who
does all things justly, who holds the earth in his hand is supposed to reduce
the awesome complexity of why this one thing was allowed to happen to you? Can
you imagine all the small details and reasons and unknown situations that lead
up to, and resulted out of each and every decision and situation? First and
foremost I think the answer is who are we to question God, and yet David and
Job did just that. I don’t think it is wrong to ask, and many times God may
provide at least a partial answer. It is when we believe we need, deserve or
have earned an answer that our self-righteousness becomes prominent.
To wrap up my answer to the question: “Why do bad things
happen to good people?” 1) No one is
good except God. 2) God allows bad things for His purposes. Why do bad things happen in general is
another blog post but for now it is enough to say that those bad things are allowed and that God will work it out for good in the lives of Christians. Sometimes the evil prospers, sometimes the righteous
struggle but God holds all things in His hands. That should be comforting to
those who trust in Him. 3) It is not always for us to understand why, but we
can know that God will perfect those who are saved into His likeness.
