Bad Things Happen to Good People

Recently, a friend asked me how I deal with people who are angry at God for allowing bad things to happen to them.

It's the issue every Christian has struggled with at some time or other in their life. I know I have. When Satan has smashed the door of your life off its hinges and entered like a raging Viking, creating havoc and destruction on every hand, the question is, Why?

Here's what I shared with my friend:

When I counsel people who have been subjected to every form of abuse imaginable, they are often angry with God. I always tell them their feeling is normal, that it's one of the natural states of grief. If they know the story of Job, I tell them Job was angry and confused by what was happening to him, too.

When I read the book of Job, I don't find a patient, docile man enduring his suffering quietly. He even directly questions God to explain to him what's going on, and God patiently listens until Job is finished. Then, in chapter 38, God basically says to Job, "Okay, I've listened to your questions. Now, sit down, and let me ask you some things."

What God does next is to ask questions that no one can answer except God.

God was basically saying, "Even if I explained it to you, Job, you wouldn't be able to understand because my mind is so far above yours."

Job gets the message when, in chapter 42, he basically apologizes. "I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."

So, I say to people, "I can't explain all the ways of God because I don't have the mind of God. But if we love, value, and appreciate God when he blesses us, shouldn't we love, value, and appreciate him when he allows evil to come our way? Can we trust there's a holy purpose to it?”

This is basically Job's message to his wife in chapter two, verse ten, when he says, "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?"

God is not some kind of "Sugar Daddy," only looking to do things for us that make us happy, giving us what we want.

He always does the right thing, even if I don't understand it.

* Taken from The Wit and Wisdom of David Johnson, Volume I1: The Hairy Catfish Caper.