If God Is God, Why Do Bad Things Happen?

If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve as one of the pastors here at the Worthington Campus alongside Jason Phillips who is our Campus Life pastor. We are so grateful you’re here with us this us today!

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Offering Moment

Halloween on the Green

Transition

Alright, if you have a bible with you, open up with me to the New Testament book of Revelation…chapter 21. t’s the last book in the bible…and if you need help getting there, the table of contents is your friend! No judgment here.

And I’ll say up front that I think today may be a very heavy Sunday for us.

This is the last book of the bible…the last two chapters of the bible. In many ways, this is where God is tying up a lot of the loose ends of the whole story of the bible and the really the human story! And the image I keep seeing in my mind’s eye is like this. Picture pristine diamond…no imperfections, perfectly clear. Beautiful. What do you do with a Diamond like that? You don’t just keep it stored away and hidden. You set it in a ring…it’s worn. It’s enjoyed. It’s displayed.

Well, what I want to do today is explore the setting FOR that diamond.

And what we see is that the story of Revelation actually speaks to one of the deepest, hardest, most painful and most important questions human beings can ask. And this is a question that religious people ask…it’s a question non-religious people ask…no matter what your background is…there is some version of this question you have, are, or will ask in your life. But not only does the story of Revelation address this question, I believe it gives the most satisfying answer to that question out of any other worldview or belief system.

Introduction:

May of 2015 was one of the best months of my life. Courtney and I had just moved in to a new apartment, I had just gotten hired here at our first church in Chicago, and we found out that Courtney was pregnant. And I know it’s a bit cliche, but when I found out we were going to have a baby, in the SAME moment, I was unbelievably excited to be a dad…and utterly terrified about being a parent.

And so we waited a little to say anything to our families about it, and after a couple weeks, we had an appointment at the doctor to check in on our baby…to make sure the hormone levels were right…and that everything else was on track. And I remember vividly, the nurse explaining to us that we would need to come back in a few days because she wasn’t seeing what she needed to see with the ultrasound…but that maybe it was still just a little too early. For the next 4 weeks, we were going into the doctors office every few days so they could check Court’s levels again…and see if there was progress. And we’d get really good news—that things were looking better, and then at the next visit, not-so-good news. Courtney was definitely pregnant…but the doctor couldn’t find our baby’s heart beat.

In July of that year, we lost our baby through a miscarriage.

And the pain of that moment was so deep. When it happened, I remember Courtney and I just sitting together—weeping. And for many months—after that, I would walk in on Courtney crying as she was thinking about it. And there was this strange mix of emotions for us as we were heart-broken..confused…and even angry. I was confused and angry at God…because I wanted to know WHY this happened. I wanted to know HOW he could let this happen.

This morning we’re looking at one of the biggest, and maybe most painful questions people have about God.

“If God is good, then why do bad things happen.”

If God is good, why do bad things still happen?

For many of you, this question is painful…isn’t it? Because there is something going on in your life that you are trying to make sense of. You’re trying reconcile why a God who says he loves you would let you have Cancer…would not let you have kids…would let you watch a loved one die way before you and anyone else was ready.

How do you make sense of a good God that would allow endless violence in our cities to simply continue…or let the terror in places Israel and Gaza go on…to allow a tsunami or hurricane or earthquake take thousands and thousands of lives! How do we make sense of that, right? And so you are asking this question because you have a painfully familiar and personal question…

If God is good…why do bad things still happen?

Friends, this is not a theoretical or philosophical question…it’s a deeply personal one. And it’s important for all of us to wrestle with it…because the reality is, how we make sense of suffering says a lot about how we view God and it makes a HUGE difference for how we endure through suffering. Let me say that again…how we make sense of suffering…how we understand it…how we explain it…how we process it, makes a HUGE difference in how we endure through suffering.

And to guide our conversation today, we’re going to look first at an ancient story from the Old Testament that is wrestling with the same question. We’ll look at the story of Job. His story will be like that “ring” that the diamond of Revelation is set in. And as we’re looking at Job’s story we’re going see four reminders’ that help us begin to make sense of suffering. Because how we make sense of suffering makes a HUGE difference for how we endure through suffering. And my goal is that we walk away today, not just with a better understanding of what God will do at some point in the future, but with a fixed, unshakable hope that we take with us through our suffering.

Let’s pray and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

Reminder # 1: We live in a broken world where suffering is a reality.

Broken World

Like I said, we’re going to be jumping in and out of the story of Job a lot this morning. I promise we will get to Revelation though.

In the beginning of the book of Job, we’re given the first reminder that helps us make sense of suffering so that we can endure through suffering…Here it is: we live in a broken world where suffering is a reality.

Look with me at v.1. (Job 1:1)

Job 1:1 ESV

1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.

Job was a good man. On top of this, Job was incredibly blessed by God with all that he had. 10 grown children…thousands and thousands of livestock, and enough workers to care for all of them. Job was a good man living the good life.

But his life begins to radically unravel in v. 13…where everything good in Job's life comes undone. One day, one of Job’s servant frantically comes up to him explaining that he had just come from the fields where he was working and another group of people had come through—killed all the servants and stole all his donkey’s and oxen. And while he’s being told this, another worker comes up and tells him that another group has raided his fields, killed his workers, and stole his livestock.

This is everything Job owns. Gone. Put this in our world for a moment…his investments have failed. His accounts have been emptied…his life’s work…gone. What would it feel like to have every single safety-net pulled right out from under you all in a matter of minutes? What would you be feeling? What kind of panic would crash over you in this moment? In a matter of moments, Job goes from having everything to having nothing.

And while he’s processing what’s happened, Job see’s one more worker running over to him.

He recognizes this one. This worker came from the house where his son’s and daughters were. And he begins to tell Job, that while his kids were having dinner, the house collapsed…and none of them survived. And if that were’t enough, then Job loses his health as his body is covered with sores.

Three of Job’s friends heard about what happened to him and so they came to be with their friend.. Look with me at chapter Job 2:12-13

Job 2:12–13 ESV

12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Suffering is a Reality

Now, I know we can’t all fully resonate with everything Job experienced, right? But every single one of us has seen real suffering at some point in our lives…whether it happened to us or around us…

But that brings us right back to our question, doesn’t it? If God is good, why do bad things happen…Why is suffering a part of life at all?

In the book of Genesis, we’re given some clarity for why we experience evil and suffering. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve, the first people God created were in a garden. They were given freedom to do what they wanted…but they chose to ignore what God commanded…and were disobedient.

And in the storyline of the bible, Adam and Eve’s choice to go against God, sets off a trajectory in the human experience so that we are now all affected by what they did.

And we now experience suffering for three reasons - MY sin…YOUR sin…and OUR sin.

MY Sin

The first reason I experience suffering is because of MY sin. That is My failure to live the way that God has called me to live--doing what he told us not to AND not doing what he told us to do is what the bible calls sin. Suffering can be the consequence of my sin. We can experience suffering because of our debt...because we can’t really control how much we spend. Your anger issues have consequences on your relationships with friends and family….and we feel the effects of these things, don’t we? It’s MY sin!

YOUR Sin

The second reason is because of ‘your sin’…or because you sin against me. These are things that are done to us. It’s when your spouse goes behind your back to conceal things THEY’VE done. It’s when a coworker selfishly throws YOU under the bus. The bible often describes suffering as something we experience because we are sinned against.

And these first two are pretty easy to see, right? We can see how MY sin and YOUR sin can lead to our suffering...but what about the things that aren’t directly my fault or your fault?

OUR Sin

The third reason I experience suffering is because of OUR sin. See, part of the whole story of the bible is that sin does not just affect you and me individually, but it affects everything...in fact it says that ALL CREATION is under the curse of sin. Everything is affected. The world we live in now, does not function the way God originally created it to. It has, in a sense, been corrupted by sin.

And because we live in world were SIN is now a reality, we live in a world where brokenness, sorrow, and suffering is real! This is the reason we have things like disease, disaster, and death.

But here’s the thing, this is not how God created the world to be…so it might even be helpful to view it this way…as a result of Adam and Eve, the world we now live in is a broken world…and suffering is a part of that brokenness.

Why am I telling you this? Because when we understand that we live in a broken world…that this isn’t the way things are supposed to be…we can begin make sense of suffering!

And, this is the first thing we need to remind ourselves when we ask the question, If God is good, why do bad things happen? That we live in a broken world, and so suffering is a reality.

It’s the reason Job experienced suffering…it is the reason we experience suffering…We live in a broken world, and so suffering is a reality!

Reminder # 2: We won’t always know WHY we experience suffering.

But the story of Job continues. And it’s in this next section of Job’ story that we’re given the second reminder that will help us make sense of suffering so that we can endure through suffering…Here it is: we won’t always know WHY we experience suffering.

Much of what follows this first part of Job’s story is this long conversation that Job has with his three friends as they start looking for an explanation.

Look with me at Job 3, starting at v. 1,

Job 3:1–3 (ESV)

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’

Job starts with mourning over what’s happened to him…and really says that the pain he feels is so deep, that he wished he had never been born! And as he continues to talk with his friends, over the next 35 chapters, Job says he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong…so he can’t really make sense of what’ happened to him!

But his friends, subtly at first, explain that Job must have done something to anger God…otherwise, in their minds, these things wouldn’t have happened to him!

And so they spend a long time going back and forth with each other over this…And eventually Job gets to the point where demands that God either explain why all of these things have happened or just take his life because none of it makes any sense. And you can feel the tension rise in Job’s questions as he cries out to God, with the resounding question WHY?! WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME? Friends, it’s the same question you and I have! GOD, WHY DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN? TO ME? TO THEM? WHY DID YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?

And like I said earlier, how we explain suffering to ourselves says a lot about how we view God, doesn’t it? See, Job’s friends look at God and see him as this hard-lined, black and white Judge. You do bad….and so you get bad…you do good…and so you get good. You reap what you sow…end of story. And so, in their minds, Job must have done something!

And I think if we’re honest, many of us have a really similar view of God… maybe without even realizing it. Isn’t it true, that so often, one of the first things we think in the face of suffering…is that God is punishing me for something.

And just like Jobs friends, we can easily find ourselves not believing in the God of the bible who, yes is pictured as a Judge…but also as a loving father…who slow to anger and abounding in love…grace—as he gives us what we don’t deserve, and mercy—as he doesn’t give us what we do deserve. And instead of believing in that God, we end up believing in something more like Karma, right? That we simply get what’s coming to us. Both the good and the bad. How we explain suffering says a lot about how we view God and some of us walk away thinking that he is cold and cruel and end up wanting nothing to do with him…

Finally, God responds to Job. This is a powerful moment in Job’s story. And to be honest, God’s response is not really what we’d expect.

Turn with me to chapter 38 and look at v. 4…Job 38:4…[Pause]…God responds to Job saying:

Job 38:4–7 (ESV)

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

See, essentially God tells Job, ‘I will answer your questions…when you can answer mine.’ And he begins to ask Job a series of questions…questions that only God himself would know…“

In other words, God reminds Job that he is not God…and so there are things he does not know… there are things he cannot know. And to be sure, this is not God simply saying “I’m God so I can do what ever I want”. See, God is giving Job just a glimpse of his unsearchable power…his unending greatness…and it’s as Job begins to see God for who he is, that he can finally start to trust God with what he does.

But in all of what God says here, there is something missing.

An answer!

God never explains to Job why he experienced the suffering he did.

And yet, God not giving an answer is one of the most profound parts OF this story…

If God really is good, why do bad things still happen?

Friends, in this second part of Jobs story, we are reminded that often times we don’t know! And some of you need to hear this tonight…it’s okay for you to say that! When you are sitting with a friend and they ask you, ‘Why would God allow this to happen…’ As a follower of Jesus, it’s okay for you to say, ‘I don’t know.’

Now, that’s not to say that we never see reasons for our suffering. Sometimes we’re able to see that God was using a very difficult season in our lives to shape us for the next one.

In fact, elsewhere in the bible, in the book of Romans, we are reminded that God is able to use all things in our lives to bring about good, let me show you what Paul says in Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

And praise GOD that’s true!

But we are reminded in the story of Job that we might NEVER really see WHY or HOW God is able to use suffering for good.

Courtney and I still don’t know how God could use our experience for good…we have no idea how that will happen…and you may be in the same exact place! Many of you have some kind of experience that you just don’t know how to make sense of…and maybe you’ve even asked the same question, ‘God, how could you use THIS?!’ HOW?

But friends, just because there is no good that we can conceive of at this point, does not therefore mean that there is no good that God could ever bring from it!

See, in the first part Job’s story we are reminded that bad things happen because we live in a broken world and so suffering is a reality…and the second reminder is we won’t always know why we suffer.

But, those two things by themselves are not enough…because by themselves they don’t offer any hope.

See, by themselves, these two reminders fail to address the deeper question we’re actually asking when we ask, “If God is good, why do bad things happen?” See, deep down, when we experience profound sorrow and suffering, what we really want to know is, ‘Has God forgotten me? Has he abandoned me? [PAUSE] Does God…love me?’

Reminder #3: God is with us even in our suffering.

Friends, this is the 3rd reminder for us tonight that helps us make sense of suffering so that we can endure through suffering: God is with us even in our suffering. And frankly, this is what makes the Christian story utterly unique. Because it is only in the Christian story that God does no simply watch our suffering from afar, but he himself actually steps into the human experience to suffer too! See it is in the person of Jesus, that God—the creator enters into the broken world that we live in. It is Jesus who is the new and better Adam who lived in perfect obedience to all of what God commanded! And yet, on the cross, it is Jesus who experiences cosmic abandonment as He cries out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus is nailed to a cross…dying the death we should have died…in our place, for our sin… and yet Jesus rose again from dead with the promise of hope for us for a new life!

See, the reality is, the Christian story does not offer us any concrete reasons for our suffering…it doesn’t. But what we see in the story of Jesus and the Gospel is that, when we put our faith in what Jesus has done, we can have hope in the midst of suffering because God is with us in our suffering. So He has not forgotten us…God has not abandoned us…God still loves us…In fact it is the story of the cross that confirms God takes our suffering seriously enough that he takes it on himself. Friends, Jesus suffered and died alone so that we wouldn’t have to. Even in our suffering, God is with us.

But even that is not the end of the story.

Reminder #4: God’s plan is to do away with suffering.

When we look at the last part of Job’ story, we’re given the fourth reminder that will help us make sense of suffering…so that we can endure through suffering. And honestly, THIS is where we see the true diamond set in it’s place…the story of revelation is summed up here in this final reminder…the thing we have spent 10 weeks building up to in our series: God’s plan is to one day do away with suffering.

Job’s story ends in an interesting way. Look with me at the end of the book, at chapter 42. After God responds to Job, with all the questions he asks…and even after He’s not given Job an answer…the story ends with all of what Job lost in his suffering being restored to him by God. He is given double of all of what he had before…and so his possessions are restored. He is given 7 sons and 3 daughters…and so his family is restored. And the last thing we are told is that Job lived for many years after this point…and so his health is restored. All of what Job lost in his suffering is restored. God makes things right.

Now, I know the way this ends seems a little too perfect, right? But see, Job’s story is actually a foreshadow of the larger story of the bible and God’s plan to do away with suffering!

And as God worked to restore what Job lost in his suffering, as followers of Jesus, have the same hope and promise now that one day God will also restore all of what we’ve lost in our suffering…that there will be a day when we suffering is no more…and all things are made right. In the last book of the bible, in the book of Revelation, we are given glimpses as to what this restoration will look like. Look with me at Rev. 21:1-4.

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 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.”

Friends, this is the hope we have in Jesus. It’s not simply a message about how to get to Heaven when you die…it is a message about the World Made Right…and the place we find in that world through faith in Jesus. It is the message, that at the end of the day…when all is said and done…for followers of Jesus…we will experience a complete and utter end to all that is wrong…where, as Sam Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings says… “where everything sad will come untrue...”

[EXPAND]

And so now, even through suffering, there is a hope for the day when God will make all thing right…He will restore what is lost…he will do away with suffering once and for all!

This is the Kingdom that Jesus will fully establish here on earth as it is already is in Heaven.

This is what we look forward to.

This is what we fix our hope to.

If God is good, why do bad things happen?

Friends, when we look to the story of Job and the FULL story of Revelation...we get help in answering this question because we are reminded that:

We live in a broken world…and so suffering is a reality.

And we might not always know why we experience suffering.

BUT

The Christian story reminds us endure through suffering that:

In Jesus, God is with us in our suffering.

And that His plan is to one day do away with all suffering!

But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning chapter one of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.