Why I Don't Lose Hope When Bad Things Happen to Good People
I recently came across a lady on Instagram who seemed to have it all together. She has great fashion, a successful blog, and a beautiful family. From the looks of it, her life is picture perfect. Once I began to read some of her posts, I realized her life was not as perfect as I thought. It turns out that her oldest son, which is still a toddler, is blind. I was astonished when I realized this but encouraged by the way she has kept her faith and doesn't let her family be defined by her son's disability. Seeing this, I began to ponder the question that I get asked all the time; "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" It wasn't until recently that I began to appreciate God allowing bad things to happen to good people, and here are two things I had to do to get to that point.
The first thing we need to realize is God is a good God and only wants good things for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) Job is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it is so real. The book of Job is a story of how God had allowed Satan to do anything to Job as long as he didn't kill him. This may seem a little harsh but before we go questioning God's character, let's look at how Job responded because ultimately, it is how we too should respond when "bad" things happen to us. "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" (Job 13:15) and "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" (Job 1:21). Job honestly did not understand why God had allowed the things He did, but he knew God was good, therefore he continued to trust him and not fear the unknown. How would our overall happiness change if we didn't let our struggles define us and responded to them the way Job did? I also think it is important to take notice that Jesus's only command was to keep Job alive, which tells me that Jesus had full intentions to carry Job through the storm and reveal goodness to him at the end.
The second thing we should do is be humbled by grace and not consider ourselves "good" people. Believe it or not, the Bible is clear that there are no good people because we are all infected with sin. If you don't believe me, check out Romans 3:10-18!! In all honesty, we don't want to get what we deserve. It is only by God's great grace and love that we are alive and free. The question isn't "why do bad things happen to good people", but rather, "why do good things happen to bad people". Romans 5:8 always gets me off my righteous high horse and reminds me of where I really sit with the Father. It says "God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". When I read that, I can't question God for anything that has happened in my life because knowing he died for me while I was sinning helps me understand his love and believe Romans 8:28 which tells me that He is working all things together for my good. I also love the tense of the word demonstrate. It says demonstrates (present tense), not demonstrated (past tense) which reminds me that God is actively loving me, not just once on the cross, or some future version of myself; and that his mercies are new every day!! (Lamentations 3:23)
Once I realize who God is (righteous, loving, merciful), and who I am not (entitled to a good life), fearing the bad things is no longer an option because I realize who is in control. The rest of Roman 8:28 tells us that God is working things together for the good of those who love him. He works things together for good for those of us that love because he knows we are the ones that can trust his love, even in the bad times, because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). A man who loved me enough to die on the cross for me is obviously pretty serious about the relationship and will carry me through my storms and have a plan for why he chose that route.
Because I know God's character and trust him, I can praise him in the harsh storm of growing up without a father, the lady I spoke of earlier can use her son's disability to encourage others, the family that just endured a tragic loss can be comforted in the presence of the Father, and the single mom who just lost hr job can wait in anticipation for the better one that lies around the corner. The bottom line is this; faith in the Father is why I don't lose hope. He is good. I am not. But I am loved and forgiven by him. He gave his own life for me, so I give mine in return to let him use me however he pleases because I love him and want to see his kingdom expand. When you believe those things, you can dance in your storm, trusting that the sunshine is coming, because I promise you, it always does.
The first thing we need to realize is God is a good God and only wants good things for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) Job is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it is so real. The book of Job is a story of how God had allowed Satan to do anything to Job as long as he didn't kill him. This may seem a little harsh but before we go questioning God's character, let's look at how Job responded because ultimately, it is how we too should respond when "bad" things happen to us. "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" (Job 13:15) and "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised" (Job 1:21). Job honestly did not understand why God had allowed the things He did, but he knew God was good, therefore he continued to trust him and not fear the unknown. How would our overall happiness change if we didn't let our struggles define us and responded to them the way Job did? I also think it is important to take notice that Jesus's only command was to keep Job alive, which tells me that Jesus had full intentions to carry Job through the storm and reveal goodness to him at the end.
The second thing we should do is be humbled by grace and not consider ourselves "good" people. Believe it or not, the Bible is clear that there are no good people because we are all infected with sin. If you don't believe me, check out Romans 3:10-18!! In all honesty, we don't want to get what we deserve. It is only by God's great grace and love that we are alive and free. The question isn't "why do bad things happen to good people", but rather, "why do good things happen to bad people". Romans 5:8 always gets me off my righteous high horse and reminds me of where I really sit with the Father. It says "God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". When I read that, I can't question God for anything that has happened in my life because knowing he died for me while I was sinning helps me understand his love and believe Romans 8:28 which tells me that He is working all things together for my good. I also love the tense of the word demonstrate. It says demonstrates (present tense), not demonstrated (past tense) which reminds me that God is actively loving me, not just once on the cross, or some future version of myself; and that his mercies are new every day!! (Lamentations 3:23)
Once I realize who God is (righteous, loving, merciful), and who I am not (entitled to a good life), fearing the bad things is no longer an option because I realize who is in control. The rest of Roman 8:28 tells us that God is working things together for the good of those who love him. He works things together for good for those of us that love because he knows we are the ones that can trust his love, even in the bad times, because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). A man who loved me enough to die on the cross for me is obviously pretty serious about the relationship and will carry me through my storms and have a plan for why he chose that route.
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