So let’s get to the question. Why does such a loving God
allow all these “bad” things to happen? The first thing you need to do is get
yourself out of the way of His thinking. What I am trying to say is; it’s not
all about you. (pause for effect…) Second, you need to understand that there
are many things that bring about perceived “bad” events. I am going to focus on
some of the things that contribute to the “bad” things that happen.
Let me start by planting a phrase in your head that I
will explain at the end; God did not plan sin, but he has a plan for it. (Let
that sink in.)
So…perceived
“bad” events can be brought about by and for many different reasons. Some of
these reasons include; perception, discipline, consequence and position. Stay
with me while I spend some time explaining these concepts. I am sure there are
some great theologians out there that have a more extensive list, but these are
the ones that cover most of the circumstances in our lives.
Perception
Sometimes an event that we perceive as a “bad” event is
just a problem of distorted perception. There are countless testimonies of
people who have avoided tragic events through the intervention of God bringing
on “bad” events in their lives. Stories of being stuck in traffic, that causes
you to miss a flight, that crashes. Stories of lost keys that cause you to be
late for work while also missing a huge accident that you could have been
involved in, had you been on time. Stories of not getting the mate that you so
desperately wanted God to put you with, only for God to bring you someone
better. Garth Brooks sang a song with the line; “some of God’s greatest gifts
are unanswered prayers.” So some of our “bad” things; come from God intervening
in our lives and we just having a wrong perception.
Discipline
We also have to remember that Jesus set the example as he
referred to God as Father and instructed us in how to pray…to our Father. As
our Father, a father who truly loves us and wants to see us grow and mature,
God is not afraid to discipline his children. Discipline not as an owner beats
a dog; but discipline as a loving Father who corrects his children so that they
may grow. In the ESV translation, the word “discipline” appears 42 times all in
reference to God correcting our actions or behaviors.
My son, do not
despise the LORD's discipline
or
be weary of his reproof,
for
the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as
a father the son in whom he delights.
(Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV)
Whoever loves
discipline loves knowledge,
but
he who hates reproof is stupid. (Proverbs
12:1 ESV)
Whoever spares the
rod hates his son,
but
he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (Proverbs 13:24 ESV)
Those whom I love,
I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:19 ESV)
It is for
discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son
is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without
discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and
we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits
and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them,
but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the
moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields
the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews
12:7-11 ESV)
So
understand that even though we may not be happy with our circumstances, we must
know that God may be disciplining us to grow us, to shape us, to mature us and
to refine us…all because he loves us.
Consequence
This is the one that gets everyone a little upset. But
let me see if I can give you a little milk to help rinse this down. For
starters you have to understand that the greatest gift God gave to all of us is
the gift of free will. God does not make us do anything, we have a choice. Now
along with that gift come’s some strings. We need to understand that choice
comes hand in hand with the concept of consequence. Every choice yields a
consequence; good choices yield good consequences, bad choices yield bad
consequences. If you have sex outside of marriage and end up with a child you
didn’t want or plan for, you cannot blame God. If you kill someone while
driving drunk, you cannot blame God for being in jail. If you are in financial
shambles because you cannot manage your money, you cannot blame God.
Now the second part of this consequence concept is the
understanding that we also sometimes suffer the consequences of others. If your
boss cannot manage his money, he may have to close his business and lay you
off; you have unfortunately suffered the consequences of a poor boss. God will
not take away the free will of your boss just to protect your job. But He will
find you another one.
If
you are raised in foster care because your parents didn’t want you; you have
suffered the consequences of your parent’s poor judgment. God will not take
away your parents free will just to keep you from being born into a difficult
circumstance; but He will help you through it and if you let Him, use your
circumstances to bless you and bless others.
If
a drunk driver kills a family member of yours. God will not take away the free
will of the drunk driver to protect your family; but if you let Him, He can and
will bring you through it, He will bless you and use you to bless others
through the trials that we endure.
God gave us free will. With free will comes sin. When we
sin, we not only hurt God, we not only hurt ourselves, but we affect those
around us. Why does God allow this to happen? The only way to stop it is to
remove free will and God loves us all too much to do that.
Position
If you had a hard time taking in the consequence concept;
this one will also take you to task. One of the things that we can easily
forget, especially when we are in times of trials or hurts, is our position.
God created the universe. Nothing exists that was not created by God;
everything that exists only exists because God made it so. We exist only
because God says so. Bill Cosby made the comment referring to his kids; “I
brought you into this world and I can take you out!” It’s a funny statement,
but when referring to God it is eternally true.
The story of Job is complicated for many. But what you
need to understand is that Job did not “deserve” anything that happened to him.
God counted him as righteous. God allowed the devil to put Job through
trials for the sole reason of bringing God glory through Job’s faithfulness.
The story finishes with Job being rewarded with ten times of what the devil
took away from him. Now it is easy to sit back and say that God is
unreasonable, selfish, mean spirited and self-serving. But let me let God
answer that with the same way he answered Job when he asked God the same
question (please read carefully):
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and
said:
“Who
is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Dress
for action like a man;
I
will question you, and you make it known to me.
“Where
were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell
me, if you have understanding.
Who
determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or
who stretched the line upon it?
On
what were its bases sunk,
or
who laid its cornerstone,
when
the morning stars sang together
and
all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or
who shut in the sea with doors
when
it burst out from the womb,
when
I made clouds its garment
and
thick darkness its swaddling band,
and
prescribed limits for it
and
set bars and doors,
and
said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and
here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
“Have
you commanded the morning since your days began,
and
caused the dawn to know its place,
that
it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and
the wicked be shaken out of it?
It
is changed like clay under the seal,
and
its features stand out like a garment.
From
the wicked their light is withheld,
and
their uplifted arm is broken.
“Have
you entered into the springs of the sea,
or
walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have
the gates of death been revealed to you,
or
have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have
you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare,
if you know all this.
“Where
is the way to the dwelling of light,
and
where is the place of darkness,
that
you may take it to its territory
and
that you may discern the paths to its home?
You
know, for you were born then,
and
the number of your days is great!
“Have
you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or
have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
which
I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for
the day of battle and war?
What
is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
or
where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
“Who
has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
and
a way for the thunderbolt,
to
bring rain on a land where no man is,
on
the desert in which there is no man,
to
satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and
to make the ground sprout with grass?
“Has
the rain a father,
or
who has begotten the drops of dew?
From
whose womb did the ice come forth,
and
who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
The
waters become hard like stone,
and
the face of the deep is frozen.
“Can
you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or
loose the cords of Orion?
Can
you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or
can you guide the Bear with its children?
Do
you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can
you establish their rule on the earth?
“Can
you lift up your voice to the clouds,
that
a flood of waters may cover you?
Can
you send forth lightnings, that they may go
and
say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who
has put wisdom in the inward parts
or
given understanding to the mind?
Who
can number the clouds by wisdom?
Or
who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
when
the dust runs into a mass
and
the clods stick fast together?
“Can
you hunt the prey for the lion,
or
satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when
they crouch in their dens
or
lie in wait in their thicket?
Who
provides for the raven its prey,
when
its young ones cry to God for help,
and
wander about for lack of food?
“Do
you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do
you observe the calving of the does?
+ Can
you number the months that they fulfill,
and
do you know the time when they give birth,
when
they crouch, bring forth their offspring,
and
are delivered of their young?
Their
young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
they
go out and do not return to them.
“Who
has let the wild donkey go free?
Who
has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
to
whom I have given the arid plain for his home
and
the salt land for his dwelling place?
He
scorns the tumult of the city;
he
hears not the shouts of the driver.
He
ranges the mountains as his pasture,
and
he searches after every green thing.
“Is
the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will
he spend the night at your manger?
Can
you bind him in the furrow with ropes,
or
will he harrow the valleys after you?
Will
you depend on him because his strength is great,
and
will you leave to him your labor?
Do
you have faith in him that he will return your grain
and
gather it to your threshing floor?
“The
wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
but
are they the pinions and plumage of love?
For
she leaves her eggs to the earth
and
lets them be warmed on the ground,
forgetting
that a foot may crush them
and
that the wild beast may trample them.
She
deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
though
her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
because
God has made her forget wisdom
and
given her no share in understanding.
When
she rouses herself to flee,
she
laughs at the horse and his rider.
“Do
you give the horse his might?
Do
you clothe his neck with a mane?
Do
you make him leap like the locust?
His
majestic snorting is terrifying.
He
paws in the valley and exults in his strength;
he
goes out to meet the weapons.
He
laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
he
does not turn back from the sword.
Upon
him rattle the quiver,
the
flashing spear, and the javelin.With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;
he
cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
When
the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’
He
smells the battle from afar,
the
thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
“Is
it by your understanding that the hawk soars
and
spreads his wings toward the south?
Is
it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and
makes his nest on high?
On
the rock he dwells and makes his home,
on
the rocky crag and stronghold.
From
there he spies out the prey;
his
eyes behold it from far away.
His
young ones suck up blood,
and
where the slain are, there is he.”
And
the LORD said to Job:
“Shall
a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He
who argues with God, let him answer it.”
(Job
38:1-40:2 ESV)
Enough said; we need to
understand our place. We need to understand that God is the almighty and He
will be glorified. I would like to leave one more story to illustrate our place
in and under the creation of the great “I AM”:
As he passed by, he
saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned,
this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not
that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be
displayed in him.(John 9:1-3 ESV)
We
have to understand our place that we are all part of God’s creation and that we
will not understand all that God does or God allows; but we are all His
creation and a part of His creation. Now this brings me back to the statement I
made in the beginning. God did not plan sin, but he has a plan for it. In the
beginning, God created everything and found it to be good. God’s plan was for
perfection and for use to reside in the Garden of Eden with Him for
eternity. He did not plan for Adam and Eve to sin against Him, but he had a
plan for it; our redemption through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ. God
does not plan sin, He does not desire for us to hurt and it was not in his plan
for evil to have such an influence in this world. But He has a plan for it; if
we will place our faith, our trust and our lives in the one true living God
through His son Jesus Christ.
I
pray that we all come to a place in our relationship with our Heavenly Father,
through Jesus Christ, of understanding that our hurts and pains are a result of
sin and not a result of God. I pray that we come to know that our Heavenly
Father has such a desire to either take the burden of our pains, or use them. All
so that He may be glorified. In Him being glorified through us, He promises
that our rewards will be great in Heaven.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you
meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith
produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you
may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.(James 1:2-4 ESV)
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast
under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,
which God has promised to those who love him.(James 1:12 ESV)
May
our glorious Father guide you, bless you and keep you!
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