Have you ever wondered, “If God loves us, why do bad things happen?”
That’s pretty much the age-old question that keeps everyone awake at night.
The truth is when bad things happen, many people lose their faith. It makes God seem indifferent.
While the question doesn’t have one rock-solid answer that will make everything better, I believe this article will give you some reasonable approaches from a Biblical standpoint.
I’ve been there. Some terrible things have happened in my life, and my faith has been shaken.
But I can say that I’ve kept the faith and found my comfort in the Lord and the Scriptures.
Let’s get to the best answers to this question.
Preliminaries to the Question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
First, let’s prepare ourselves to understand the question better.
Great questions and a complete comprehension of them make for great answers!
Most of us would agree as to what “bad things” represent.
These are awful events that we just can’t understand. It’s so unfortunate that we can’t wrap our minds around them.
For example, why does God allow bad things to happen to children? They’re innocent!
Why does God let bad things happen, like cancer?
Have you ever had a loved one who seemed never to do anything wrong but later received a bad report of cancer?
Maybe we had to watch them suffer until their last day. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
But enough about that. What I wanted to focus on is this:
What do we mean by “good people?”
It’s important to remember that even if we think of ourselves or loved ones as “good,” we should understand how the Bible sees all of us.
Sure, people might seem “good” to us. They’d never hurt a fly. They give their heart and soul. They give and never ask.
I once heard of a woman who was struck by a vehicle and killed when she got out of her car to help someone who was stranded on the side of the road.
She kept blankets and supplies in her car if she needed to help someone on the road. This is a true story.
I also think of my father. He’s a good man who did his best to raise us. He lives a quiet, hard-working life and contributes much to the world.
These are “good” people in my eyes. They don’t deserve pain and suffering.
But the Bible says this:
Romans 3:10-12
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Even if we think someone is good…
Even if we have a concept of what “good” is that we know is right…
As Paul said, even “if I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body…”
Isn’t it possible that God has a different perspective on things?
I’m not saying that, in reality, these people are evil and deserve what they get because the Bible says no one is good.
I’m saying that by human standards, yes, they’re good. But we should also strive to see things from a Godly perspective.
We say, “They’re good.” But God says, “They are fallen and need my grace.”
In God’s eyes, no one is good until they receive His Son, Jesus. Then, the blood over their lives makes them worthy.
It’s the only thing that makes them worthy, perhaps not in people’s eyes, but in the eyes of the one who really matters—God.
This should reveal to us the importance of coming to God in this life instead of merely striving for good deeds in society.
But still, bad things are bad things. And in our natural minds, we’ll always ask, “Why?”
People do bad things, and even nature, neutral and emotionless, does things to our world, our lives, and our bodies that seem unfair and evil.
Biblical Answers to the Question, “Why Does God Allow Suffering?”
Here are my best approaches to the question of suffering in our world and why God seems to allow it.
Answer 1: We live in a fallen world.
Why do bad things happen? Because the world is not perfect.
It began when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit. When they did, creation fell.
Before the fall, the world and people were perfect. There was no suffering, no cancer, and people were not designed to do bad things to each other.
Here is a quote from one of my favorite authors that explains this well:
I happened to see Larry King interview Billy Graham shortly after the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. I had read an article the previous month about violent video games and their effects on the minds of children, desensitizing them to the act of killing. Larry King asked Billy Graham what was wrong with the world, and how such a thing as Columbine could happen. I knew, because Billy Graham was an educated man, he had read the same article I had read, and I began calculating his answer for him, that violence begets violence, that we live in a culture desensitized to the beauty of human life and the sanctity of creation. But Billy Graham did not blame video games. Billy Graham looked Larry King in the eye and said, “Thousands of years ago, a young couple in love lived in a garden called Eden, and God placed a tree in the Garden and told them not to eat from the tree…” And I knew in my soul he was right.
Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What, page 93.
Christ has raised us up to restore things. We should make earth as it is in heaven.
Answer 2: God is actually not in control.
We often can’t understand that evil would happen, especially if an all-loving God is in control.
But again, what do we mean by “in control?”
“Control” means that we can manipulate things, but the definition always suggests that we are actively doing so.
You see, I’m not so sure that God is in complete control.
I know that might sound blasphemous, so let me soften it:
He doesn’t have “complete control by human standards,” but it’s not because He can’t or because He is not powerful enough to be in control.
But it’s because He has chosen not to be.
God has the ability to control (and maybe, sometimes, He does), but that doesn’t mean that He usually will.
Doesn’t God give us free will and a measure of control? If we have even a tiny bit of free will and control in earthly matters, then He doesn’t have “complete” control.
Look at it like this:
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
God does not want anyone to die without Him.
However, people do die.
So, if He did have complete control, no one would perish.
No one would suffer, and bad things wouldn’t happen because He is ultimate love.
Does love control? In a relationship, if one person controls the other, that’s not love.
Love allows. Love gives free will.
If God were in complete control, a person’s step would supernaturally pull back as they mistakenly walked out in front of a car, sparing their life.
No one would perish.
I like to say it like this: God is not in control, but He is in charge.
We cannot say that everyone has free will, yet also say that God controls everything.
He didn’t control that drunk driver who killed a loved one. He didn’t cause that murder.
On the contrary, I think that it’s almost blasphemous to say that God did control these things, as if He was the cause of this evil.
We soften these issues because we believe in ultimate sovereignty by saying, “Everything happens for a reason” or that “God works in mysterious ways.”
But no, He wasn’t the cause of these things.
Answer 3: People aren’t being saved, and Christians aren’t rising up.
God allows free will; because of this, some people never come to Him despite His clear evidence and constant callings.
This answer kind of throws the ball back into our court.
When people aren’t saved, they don’t follow the Holy Spirit. This could cause them to do bad things.
But it’s not only that. It’s Christians.
Christians are probably not rising as much to take their place in the world and make it a better place.
And much of it stems from wrong beliefs, which could be solved by learning biblical doctrine.
We shouldn’t just “be nice people” and quietly believe things. It’s much more than that.
We should have an active faith. It requires actual hours and effort to build the kingdom of God.
Would the drunk driver have done that horrible act if a Christian had reached them with the Gospel, befriended them, and shown them love?
Things to Remember When Bad Things Happen
1. This world is not the end.
Something tragic could have happened, and a loved one could have passed on.
Maybe it’s you. Perhaps the next life is right around the corner.
I can’t pretend even to know what you’re going through.
But I can say this: If you’re a Christian, you know this world is not the end. This is the life that we’re just passing through.
We believe in an eternal life with Jesus after this. It’s the “real” life.
2. Bad things refine character.
Romans 5:3-5
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
A trial produces good things in you. Even if you don’t feel it, it’s strengthening your faith.
We tend only to see the bad in an evil situation. But we must remember that this empowers our very soul.
3. All things will work out for the better.
That might sound like “positivity talk,” but it’s actually Bible talk:
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Notice, it is God who works them out.
This means that anything bad that happens to you will be corrected for the good.
We might be in a bad situation, but God is in the passenger seat, and He’ll reroute us if we go down a wrong path.
4. Everyone, “good” and “bad,” goes through hard times.
Being “good,” by human standards or God’s, does not exempt us from rain.
Matthew 5:45
… For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The sun rises and sets on us all.
There’s no plainer way to put it. Bad things are just going to happen to everyone.
So, take comfort in knowing that it’s not just you.
5. The enemy does work at times to oppress us.
I don’t think that it’s always the devil causing bad things.
But we should remember that he does work at times to oppress us.
In other words, he has a little stick and tries to poke at us sometimes.
All you have to do is rebuke him back to where he came from.
And remember, it’s just a little stick.
6. You have protection if you’re in God.
Believers have an “unfair advantage” in this life.
Not everyone has the blessings, benefits, and protection from God.
To a certain extent, we should believe that God will fight for us. We have a hedge of protection around us.
“Touch not my anointed.”
Yes, it could rain on us. But we’re also instructed to believe His word, which says that God protects us from harm.
And in this life, I have seen protection from God on many occasions.
7. You have power and are called to fight against the evil.
Remember, you have power!
Don’t accept the bad situations, but refuse to let it have power over you and your thoughts.
If evil does poke its head out, rebuke it in Jesus’ name and keep the faith.
Conclusion
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