I love when things make sense. This week brought a reoccurring message through several resources, and a little more clarity about life when things don’t add up.
I’m an avid reader. I’m talking one to two books per week. I have my favorite authors and I know what to expect. But lately I’ve been branching out and the last book I read fell solidly into the dark fantasy realm. This author, Rebecca P. Minor, is the founder of the RealmMakers Conference I will be attending this week, and I signed up to read her novel along with other writers in the RealmSphere. You can check out her book here: The Rending Cauldron. (I must note that RealmMakers was created to give Christian writers of speculative fiction a place to be unapologetic for their love of God and their freedom to be creative.)
This was a hard genre for me to read — I like my rose-colored glasses. The characters in this story struggle to hold onto faith in the face of impossible situations with the Maker’s seeming absence. The questions that it stirred up about why good people go through bad (read horrific) things, beg an answer from a good God.
How does one understand the “why” of when bad things happen to good people? Well, the funny thing is, God provided some answers in Sunday’s sermon. For one, Pastor Seth turned it around, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” I’ll go into more of that, but I’ll mention something that was brought up in conversation at Bible study — we are raised to believe good work deserves good reward and bad behavior deserves punishment. Okay, let’s look at some scriptures.
About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”
Luke 13:1-5 MSG
Pastor pointed out how Jesus responded to the people thinking tragedy was a consequence of greater sinfulness, Jesus tells them, “Not at all.” The consequence for all sin is death and Jesus Christ is the only redemption.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 NIV
And here:
All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
Romans 3:23 CEV
And this is where we should ask the question about why good things happen to us at all.
Do the riches of his extraordinary kindness make you take him for granted and despise him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding he has been to you? Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance?
Romans 2:4 TPT
This scripture talks again about our need to repent of our sins or as phrased in the passage from Luke, turn to God. Often I think of repentance as to stop doing bad things and start doing good things. But is that what it really means?Repentance is a turning. We are turning away from a life lived by our own desires and turning to the one who gives eternal life in exchange.
In the following passage Jesus responds to a rich man who calls him Good Teacher, searching for the formula for getting into heaven. Jesus response is preceded by pointing to the goodness of God. Note he is not denying his own goodness as part of the God-head. I feel he is directing this man to think differently. To think past his own behavior and look to God as the ultimate source of goodness.
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.”
Mark 10:18 CSB
God is the source for every good thing. There is no shadow or darkness in him.
Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].
James 1:16-17 AMP
In this statement I can’t conceive that God is the source of bad things happening. Pastor put it something like this: it can’t be because he doesn’t love or care about us that bad things happen. So to have faith in God’s goodness we have to look outside our training to equate good works with good reward and bad behavior with punishment. Check out this verse:
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”
Isaiah 55:8 NLT
When we put God in a box of our own creation, we can only grasp a part, our view is not only limited but biased to our experiences. We can’t make sense of what seems senseless. But God is good and loving. His word tells us just how much. By my own experience, I know this. So when something really bad happens, our first response shouldn’t be why God would allow it to happen, but to thank him for his presence beside us and in us as we face troubles together. There is power in his presence to overcome every trial.
“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]
John 16:33 AMP
Grace & Peace,
Sandy
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