J has been preaching a wonderful series lately, answering those big questions we all ask ourselves. This last week's was "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I posted the audio of it to my facebook and was asked if I had the written version. With J's permission, I'm posting here, and I pray all who read will be blessed by it.
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Just
over the past week we’ve watched and witnessed a hurricane ravage the city of
Houston and displace thousands, hearing of several deaths. This is after
viewing so many recent shootings, bombings and horrible acts of terrorism
taking place. And we wonder why? There are so many things in life we just don’t
understand, especially the difficult things. Our BIG question for today is one
I hear a lot. It can be phrased in different ways: the most common is, “why do
bad things happen to good people?”
We all
probably know someone; maybe it’s even ourselves, who has or is right now, experiencing
a season of suffering and we are asking why. Why does my family member have to
be sick? Why was my friend taken from life so suddenly without saying goodbye?
Why? As we answer this big question with
a real answer, my prayer is that God will use some principles to help us see
things from a new or different perspective. I am praying that perspective will
provide you with hope during your season of pain, when things seem hopeless. So
why do bad things happen?
If you
were to ask me that question point-blank regarding a specific event, the only
answer I can honestly give is – “I do not know.” I cannot stand in the shoes of God and give a
complete answer. I don’t have God’s
mind. I don’t see with God’s eyes. I Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling
reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything
completely, just as God now knows me completely.” So when asking why a
particular thing happened, we won’t get the full answer in this world. Someday
we’ll see with clarity, but for now things may just be foggy. We can’t
understand everything from our finite perspective. But what I do believe are
there are some general reasons to why there is suffering and I would like to
give you four of them as we continue this morning.
1. Sometimes our suffering is the
result of our own SINFUL CHOICES. If you drink like a fish, you’ll find that alcohol
will damage your liver. If you eat like
a pig, you may end up with a heart problem. If you have a poor work ethic you
may lose your job. These kinds of suffering are things that you really can’t blame
on God. Though many do, they are not His
fault. They are ours. Scripture is very clear about this, Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not
be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to
please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to
please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” We have a
choice and sometimes those choices lead to suffering. A second reason is-
2. Some suffering comes from the
sinful choices of OTHERS.
It’s the drunk driver who kills your family member or friend, or having to go
through divorce after your spouse cheated and abandoned you. An example of this in scripture going all the
way back to the first family, is Cain. Genesis
4:8 “Now Cain said to his brother Abel,
“Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his
brother Abel and killed him.” Cain chose to kill which resulted in
suffering for Abel and their entire family. A third reason is-
3. Some suffering is the result of the DEVIL.
Satan has some limited powers in this world.
The Bible makes it very clear that Satan has come to kill, steal and
destroy. That is his mission. There are
times that Satan, if given permission by God, can afflict suffering on us. We
see this take place in the life of Job. Job 2:7 “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with
painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Satan
can and will be against us, and that of course, can cause suffering. The forth reason is-
4. Natural LAWS of a FALLEN WORLD.
After hearing all that, there is still one question we all ask? Why didn’t God
just create a world free of all tragedy, pain and suffering so none of that
would even happen? Well He actually did.
In the beginning in Genesis 1:31, “God
saw all that he had made, and it was very good….” If God is not the author
of tragedy, pain, death and suffering, then where did it come from? It came
from man. In Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned, the world became contaminated.
Romans 8:19-22 “For the creation waits in
eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation
was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one
who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from
its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of
God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time.” God set up the laws of nature to
run this world. Within those laws, He has given you and I free will. With that
gift of freedom came potential consequences if not handled correctly. And we haven’t handled it correctly –
starting with the one choice with Adam and Eve- thus, we have suffering in the
world we live in today.
Those
are four main reasons, but I would like to offer you one more as to why
suffering takes place that many don’t and cannot see in the midst of suffering.
A fifth reason suffering takes place is- A
greater GOOD comes out of it. Back to Romans 8:18 “For the creation waits in eager expectation
for the children of God to be revealed.”
When you go through a difficult time – remember and read this
verse. God’s word reminds us that the
temporary afflictions we go through are no comparison to what He has in store
for us. A second verse in that same chapter, verse 28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” When you experience something really bad and
ask how in the world could anything good come out of this? That is when God
begins His work. God promises to walk beside us through it. He will bring good if we will only let Him.
Peter Creft – a Boston College professor uses an illustration to teach about
this concept. He says, “Imagine a bear
caught in a trap. A hunter comes along
and decides to free it. So, first, he tries to win the bear’s confidence, by
talking to it and being calm so he can unfasten the bear’s leg from the
trap. But the bear has no idea what is
truly going on. The bear thinks the man
is going to try to harm him. Finally the
hunter shoots the bear with tranquilizers.
The bear thinks this is an attack and the hunter is trying to kill
him. The bear doesn’t realize that this
is being done out of compassion. For the
hunter to get the bear out of the trap, the hunter has to push the bear farther
into the trap to release the pressure of the trap. If the bear was still conscious at this
point, the bear would be convinced the hunter is out to cause even more pain
and harm. But the bear would be wrong.
He reaches this incorrect conclusion because he is not a human
being. Then Professor Creft said this:
How can anyone be certain that that is not an analogy between us and God? I believe that God does the same to us sometimes.
And we can’t comprehend why He does it any more than the bear can understand
the motivation behind the caring hunter. As the bear could have trusted the
hunter, so we can trust God.” Did you know that there are actually some
benefits to suffering? As crazy as that sounds, there actually are. Let me
share with you 3 of them..
1.
God is DISCIPLINING us. That doesn’t sound like a
benefit. But think about it with your
children or grandchildren. You
discipline them. Why? You want them to learn. You want them to be better. Hebrews
12:5-7, 11 “And have you completely
forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses
his son? It says, “My son, do not
make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he
accepts as his son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as
his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?.... “No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained
by it.” We need to realize that pain
and suffering are a tool for us. God uses corrective discipline turn our hearts back to Him, so we can learn. Another benefit-
2. God
is using us to INFLUENCE others. Through pain and suffering, our witness for
God speaks loudly. Remember in the story of Job? God allowed Satan to have his
way with Job, but Job did not curse God. What a witness Job was to Satan, Job’s
“so called” friends and to you and I. Job 19:25 “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the
earth.” That was what Job held on to.
When you are in a season of suffering God can use you to reach people
that you couldn’t reach otherwise. I’ve seen this in my own life firsthand and
in the lives of others. One person in particular is a lady by then name of Joni
Erickson Tada. At the age of 17, she was injured in a diving accident and
paralyzed from the waist down. I think her words are timeless and true after
years of pain and suffering. Listen to
what she has to say about it. VIDEO
CLIP. Here is a woman who has taken her suffering and pain in stride. God
has given her an opportunity to reach more people for the Gospel by the way she
approaches her suffering. She has become a well-known Christian writer,
speaker, and inspiration for millions, all the while pointing people to God.
3. A
third benefit, God is MATURING us. God never promised us that life would be easy. In
fact Jesus even said we would face trouble in this world. But many times, God
is using what we are going through to bring us to maturity in Him and in our
relationships with other people. Joni said this in another interview: “God
permits what He hates to achieve what He loves.” What is PAIN today can produce GROWTH tomorrow. If our goal in this
life is to grow to become like Jesus, and if suffering becomes part of the
recipe to accomplish that, then rather than questioning God, we should thank
God and trust that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,
who have been called according to His purpose.
James puts it this way, James 1:2-4- “2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face
trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith
produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
There is
one last piece to this, and that is the second part of this question “to GOOD
people.” We as humans reason it out in our heads better when bad things happen
to those we consider bad people, but what about the “GOOD” people? Well when we
speak of Good, the only Good is truly God. Therefore we should compare
ourselves not to others, but to God. And when we do that, we see that compared
to him, really none of us are good. . Romans 3:23 says, “ALL (emphasis added) have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The truth is we are all sinners,
and we are all really on a path to hell. But because God loved us so much,
after that original sin took place, He later sent His one and only Son, Jesus
Christ to come, suffer, die, be buried and rise again, so that you and I could
have a way out of this world, a way out of sin, a way to eternal life with Him.
If you’ve never made that decision, I would invite you to do so now. It is only
through Him, that our suffering will one day end. Our invitation time also
provides you the opportunity for support. Maybe you are going through a tough
season and you need someone to talk to or pray with you. Or maybe you feel like
this is place where you find comfort and support and you’d like to take that to
the next level and become a member of this local church body. If you have that or
any other decision on your heart won’t you come forward and share that with us
as we stand and sing our invitation song.
