Answer: This is one of the most difficult questions in all of theology. God is eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Why should human beings (not eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent) expect to be able to fully understand God’s ways? The book of Job deals with this issue. God had allowed Satan to do everything he wanted to Job except kill him. What was Job’s reaction? “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15). “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). Job did not understand why God had allowed the things He did, but he knew God was good and therefore continued to trust in Him. Ultimately, that should be our reaction as well.
Why do bad things happen to good people? The biblical answer is there are no “good” people. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that all of us are tainted by and infected with sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 6:23; 1 John 1:8). Romans 3:10-18 could not be clearer about the non-existence of “good” people: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Every human being on this planet deserves to be thrown into hell at this very moment. Every second we spend alive is only by the grace and mercy of God. Even the most terrible misery we could experience on this planet is merciful compared to what we deserve, eternal hell in the lake of fire.
A better question would be “Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people?” Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Despite the evil, wicked, sinful nature of the people of this world, God still loves us. He loved us enough to die to take the penalty for our sins (Romans 6:23). If we receive Jesus Christ as Savior (John 3:16; Romans 10:9), we will be forgiven and promised an eternal home in heaven (Romans 8:1). What we deserve is hell. What we are given is eternal life in heaven if we come to Christ in faith.
Yes, sometimes bad things happen to people who seem undeserving of them. But God allows things to happen for His reasons, whether or not we understand them. Above all, however, we must remember that God is good, just, loving, and merciful. Often things happen to us that we simply cannot understand. However, instead of doubting God's goodness, our reaction should be to trust Him. ”Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
this sure puts a twist on my question, I am going to pray about all this and read and reread this to help me through this difficult time in my life, if its not too much to ask could you keep my family in your prayers? Maybe someday soon I can vent about this whole situation.....but for now I will seek God's counsel.
While I can see what the article says, I do not agree exactly with what was said. Okay, there is no one righteous--no not one. But through Christ, we are looked upon as being righteous and good. But only in Him. We are not perfect. I'm not saying that the article is exactly wrong, but I think it is still valid to ask why do bad things happen to good people. After all, if you are truly trying to follow God and you have put Your trust in Him, you have been forgiven and are righteous through God. And we then expect it to be rosy and be filled with blessings.
ReplyDeleteLook at our Lord. Uh, he was completely sinless. And yet He suffered, didn't He? More than any of us ever will. Why did bad things happen to Him? Because there are bad people and sin in this world. Because what man meant for evil, God meant for good, as Joseph said so long ago.
I think what Job teaches us is that we won't always know the answers here on this earth. There is always a reason for our suffering here on this earth. Even in Hebrews it talks about discipline.
Just my thoughts on it. I do pray for your husband and your situation. May God work it out according to His will.
I have struggled with that question myself. I have a family member who was unscrupulous in a partnership and cost us our entire life savings and retirement. We walked away from the business with nothing. He however has carried on as if nothing ever happened. He is an underhanded manipulative snake who somehow gets away with everything he does. It's very, very hard to take.
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