"How to Understand Bad Things"

Sometimes we must gain a different perspective on difficult happenings. A pastor reports that a woman in his congregation asked him to visit a friend of hers in the hospital.

The pastor chatted with him for a few minutes and I left him a “Steps to Peace With God” booklet and told him he’d be praying for his recovery.

He had been cutting trees for firewood and one landed on top of him. He broke some ribs, punctured a lung, and crushed some vertebrae in his back. He was in a good deal of pain, but mending.

When the pastor said he’d be praying for him, the man commented, “Where was God a few days ago?”

The pastor replied that the very fact he was alive to question God’s existence and care argued that God was there protecting him!

Today, I preach on probably the most difficult subject I have ever had to address.

We read or watch the news and see such terrible things happening in our world everyday like

senseless murder of young people full of promise;

natural disasters that wipe out communities;

children victimized at the hand of deranged criminals.

Today’s sermon is another installment on apologetics, or how to respond to the questions posed by the unbelieving world.

The problem of suffering and evil has long plagued Christians. It is a dilemma that requires faith. As Paul Little states,

“The classic summary pinpoints two sides to this dilemma:

God is all-powerful but not all-good and therefore doesn’t want to stop evil.

God is all-good but unable to stop evil; therefore he is not all-powerful.

The general tendency is to blame God for evil and suffering and to pass on all responsibility for it to Him.”

Today, I’ll offer some observations from the Scriptures, in hopes to give you some understanding of how God and evil coexist.

God is present in the suffering and evil in this world, to give us perspective.

A verse that speaks to this is found in Psalm 46:1

Psalm 46:1 ESV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

It is a great comfort that God promises His presence, even though we encounter various troubles in this life. And we live with the fact that a day is coming when there is the absence of evil and suffering. Revelation 21:2-4

Revelation 21:2–4 ESV

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This is a description of heaven. But while we are on this earth, we must deal with “the former things.”

It was the holocaust survivor and devout Christian, Corrie Tin Boom, who said, in reflection of her time at the Ravensbruck concentration camp:

“There is no pit so deep, that God is not deeper still.”

Our home is problematic. Therefore patience, under-standing and faith are required.

But in the mean time, how are we to understand this dilemma and the place in which we live, where there is an abundance of evil and suffering.

Our Scriptures give us some insight.

First, we live in a world where evil and suffering exist. But this was not always the case.

There was a day when all that God created was good, including our first parents. In Genesis 1:31

Genesis 1:31 ESV

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

But as they succumbed to the temptation instigated by the serpent, we see the effect of their decision, which was death. Romans 5:12

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

That event brought a cataclysmic shift in things. After that choice, we have been subjected to all kinds of pain and heartache. People die prematurely. Tornadoes wipe out whole communities. Hurricanes displace cities. Atomic bombs have been dropped.

Some 2,700 years ago, the Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah, telling them that they would go into a very painful exile for 70 years.

Isaiah’s prophecies were given some 200 years before the exile. God would raise up Nebuchadnezzar to take the nation of Judah into Babylonia, lay seige to Jerusalem and damage the temple.

And yet, God promised in Isaiah 43:2

Isaiah 43:2 ESV

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

70 years later, he would raise up Cyrus to allow God’s people to return to their homeland, rebuild those same walls and reconstruct the temple.

In reflection of this, God states in Isaiah 45:5-7

Isaiah 45:5–7 ESV

5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

The Westminster Confession of Faith was written to explain Christian thought in 17th century England. In chapter three, it says:

The Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter III—Of God’s Eternal Decree

“God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

Satan might assail you. You may be in a predicament because of your own choices. Or you could be subjected to adversity because you live in a fallen world. But over it all, God reigns. Secondly...

It is human nature to assume that all adversity is result of God’s judgment.

Jesus was presented with couple of tragedies in his time and asked to explain their purposes. For one, Pilate had massacred some Galileans. For the other, a tower fell on some seemingly innocent people, killing them. And so Jesus responded: in Luke 13:2-5

Luke 13:2–5 ESV

2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

What was prevalent in rabbinic teaching of Jesus’ day was the idea that you contributed to whatever happened to you, good or bad.

Jesus sets this dilemma straight. While you live on this earth, you are subjected to bad things. You must be ready through repentance and faith. You could meet the Lord at any time, through any set of circumstances. But will you be ready?

But such adversity is not necessarily the result of God’s judgment upon your life.

Another example of this is found in John 9:1-3

John 9:1–3 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

So this man’s blindness occurred so that Jesus would heal him and that God would be glorified in the miracle.

And yet, what purpose does God have in your pain? Is there a spiritual component that He wants you to embrace?

C.S. Lewis, in his book The Problem of Pain, wrote: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Caspar Schwenckfeld, although he withdrew into voluntary exile because of the criticism and persecution he encountered, was known for this coping statement: “Having Christ, I am not sad.” Finally...

God is faithful, despite the trouble you encounter.

Psalm 46:1

Psalm 46:1 ESV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

And then the writer goes into detail about the trouble that he encounters:

Natural disasters,

Wars,

Disease,

Tragedy.

Through it all God is our refuge and strength.

God brings about desolations. And while these things take place around us, we must daily depend upon Him.

Bad things will always happen in this life. But God is the author of good things. And they are far more numerous than the bad things.

We sing in the Doxology:

“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow… .”

James tells us to persevere under trial, that our faith might be tested and that we might mature in our devotion to Christ. James 1:16-17 that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father.

James 1:16–17 ESV

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

When his wife told him to curse God and die (in bitterness), Job took the higher road and said:

Job 2:10 ESV

10 “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

And that we must remain steadfast in our devotion to Him, as Job did, illustrated in Job 13:15:

Job 13:15 ESV

15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him.

One of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.”

In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America.

When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness.

The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”

It is seeing the goodness of God through the trials of life that gives us the grace to press through and press on.

William Cowper was born on November 2, 1731 in Hertfordshire, England. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman and faced personal tragedy early in life with the death of his mother when he was just six years old.

This loss deeply affected him and contributed to his lifelong struggles with mental health, including bouts of depression and anxiety.

And yet, later in life, he came to know the Lord and wrote these words to a hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sov’reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flow’r.

And so, be encouraged. God is shaping your life through blessings and trials to be more like Christ, who also suffered, that you and I would know God and be reconciled to Him.