"Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People?" 5/19/2024

Introduction

We’re going to be jumping around in the Bible a bit today. We’re going to look at a type of question that Christians get asked often.

How many of us have been asked or heard some else being asked something like “Why did God let my grandma die?” or “Why is God letting my friend struggle so much when she’s such a good person?” Another way they ask is “Why did God let COVID happen?” or “Why did God let Biden get elected?” or “Why did God let Trump get elected?”

The summary of those different questions is basically “Why does God let bad things happen to good people” and “Why does God let good things happen to bad people?”

We hear these questions or statements used by nonbelievers frequently when they’re confronted with the question of if they believe in God. They say things like “I wouldn’t want to believe in a god that lets…” and fill in the blank with some tragic situation like children starving, or disease something like that.

We’re going to look at some aspects of that question: Why does God let bad things happen to good people?

Who Are the Good People?

That’s a starting point for answering the question. The question is based on a false premise: that there are good people.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

The question is wrong in it’s basis. The Bible clearly states, in both the Old and New Testaments, that there are no “good” people.

Sure, our own personal opinions and the opinions of society establish that some people are “good.” We see that fall apart all the time though.

Think of all these teachers that everyone looked at as “good” that end up having physical relationship with a student. Think about how the Catholic priests were always elevated and seen as good, if not holy. Then the truth comes out that they were molesting their altar boys.

Think about in your own life, what things have you done that prove you aren’t a good person? What are the things you think and do that nobody knows about, but if they found out, you would be ruined? You would no longer be thought of as a “good person.”

Now, there have been some people who the Bible said were good or righteous. I think of Job. If we look in chapter 1 and verse 1 of Job, it says Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

Yet, we know God allowed Satan to make Job suffer. What was the purpose in that? What did God get out of it and what did Job get out of it?

God, of course, was proven right when he pointed out Job’s righteousness to Satan. We know that God blessed Job after these trials and gave him twice what he had before.

Job 42:12–13 “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.” Job 42:16–17 “After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days.”

Perspective

Next, we have to look at the perspective of the person asking the question. If you’ll remember in our Answers in Genesis lessons, we talked about a person’s worldview. Where is the person coming from who is asking the question?

Everyone in this room should be looking at the world through the lens of the Bible. Our Biblical worldview will shape the question and the answers to the question.

However, the person who is an atheist and is asking why God lets bad things happen is coming from a wordly view.

What’s one huge difference between a Biblical worldview and an atheistic worldview? There are actually many differences, but the one I want to talk about is the length of that view. The atheist worldview stops at death. They see nothing beyond that last breath they take. The Christian worldview should be looking ahead to eternity after we take our last breath.

This world is not the end for us. This world is all there is to the atheist.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

If we are doing what we’re supposed to do as followers of Jesus, our inward selves, our heart and soul, should be renewed daily. The promise of eternity with the Lord should renew us and revive us each and every day. Paul talks about our “light affliction which is but for a moment.” Whatever trouble we’re going through at a particular moment in our lives pales in comparison to the affliction of an eternity without God, an eternity in Hell.

That’s what keeps us going…the promise of eternal life. So, we know that though God may allow bad things to happen to us or to “good people”, we know it is temporal. It is very temporary. Even if it’s death, to a Christian, that’s just a blink of the eye. Then we’re with the Lord. That should comfort us.

If someone is looking at things from an atheist worldview, they aren’t going to have that comfort. They aren’t going to be able to see the pain and misery that happen in this world as temporary. Death is the end of the line for the atheist. They don’t believe they’re going to wake up anywhere, whether that be Heaven or Hell. The “bad thing” that might happen to the “good person” can be the final thing in an atheist’s mind. We know better.

Bad Things Can Be Good Things

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

We, as Christians, recognize that God’s ways are so much higher than ours. We don’t even try to explain why some things happen. I can’t explain why Carolyn Campbell is gone. I can’t explain why Barb O’Connor is gone. I’m not even going to try. Though we don’t like it, we have to accept that it was God’s will that He called them both home…too soon by our standards, but right on time by God’s calendar.

We can look in the Bible for examples of what we would consider to be a bad thing happening, that resulted in good things later on.

Let’s turn to Genesis 50:19–21 “And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.”

Joseph’s brothers hated him when they were younger, so much so that they sold him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt. God blessed Joseph and allowed him to be placed in a position of power and authority. Eventually, he was able to help his family survive a famine through that position of authority…the very same family that sold him into slavery in the first place.

Now, we would all agree that being sold into slavery is a bad thing, right? We would all agree that its a pretty rotten thing to do to your little brother, right? God allowed them to do that though.

What if God hadn’t allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery? We can’t know for sure, but I can speculate that he would have remained working with the family and lived a pretty unremarkable life. The the famine would come. It’s likely that Joseph and his whole family would have starved to death.

God worked that “bad thing” done to Joseph by his brothers into something good…something that likely saved them all from starving to death.

Bad Things Prepare Us

Sometimes bad things happen to prepare us for something in the future. We could make a huge list of bad things that we’ve experienced that somehow came into play later in life.

2 Corinthians 1:3–5 “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”

That says that God comforts us in our tribulation, in our difficulty, in our depression, in our misery. How can we experience that comfort from God if we never face those tribulations? If we never face any adversity or hard times in our lives, it will be much more difficult to comfort and advise someone else who’s going through a hard time. However, if God has allowed some struggle, some grief, some pain in our lives we can be equipped to help others in their hard times.

Again, His ways are higher than ours. We can’t know what He’s preparing us for when He allows us to be tested or allows us to struggle. Those with battle scars can help others go through their own battles. If you’re going into a battle or a fight, who do you want going in with you…the guy who’s never had to fight, or the guy that been in battle and has the scars to prove it?

The Worst Happened to the Best

Jesus was the only truly righteous and perfect individual ever. There is no one that can measure up to who He was.

There is also no “bad thing” that can measure up to what Jesus endured on the cross. Even putting the physical torture aside, the fact that He had to bear God the Father turning away from Him as He bore our sins is more painful than anything we as humans can ever bear. Yes, the thought of God turning away from us is painful. However, we haven’t been beside God since before time existed. Jesus has been with the Father for eternity past…and then God had to turn away from Him. That’s true pain.

1 Peter 2:20–23 “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”

Jesus suffered that horrible torture and death for our sins and did not complain. He actually asked God to forgive those who were persecuting Him. Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do...”

Conclusion: God allows things to happen for a reason.

God allows things to happen for a reason. It isn’t always up to us to understand that reason. In fact, its pretty rare that we understand the reason behind our pain and suffering or the pain and the suffering of others.

Our job isn’t to understand it, but to understand that God is just and good, loving and merciful. Psalm 135:3 “Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: Sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.”

Bad things are going to happen to each and every one of us. Even if we don’t understand, our reaction should be to trust God and His will…not to doubt Him or His goodness.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.”

So, what’s the answer to the big question from the start of the lesson? “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?” I don’t know the answer other than He has His reasons.