Corona Devo 1723

Why do bad things happen?

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

Are any of us really good? 

The answer is simply: Bad things happen.  But God is still good.

There is very often no rhyme or reason to unfair outcomes, no matter how hard we seek to search for significance in them.  

Some things we will not make sense of.

The short (Biblical) answer occurs in Genesis Chapter 3 when Eve was deceived by the serpent and she and her husband Adam willingly took a bite of the fruit that God told them not to.  Sin was born, and we (every person and sinful choice since) have been reaping the negative outcomes ever since.

Sin was born, and so then was brokenness. 

Sometimes we have reason to experience it: We willfully sin and reap the consequence.  

And sometimes there is every logical reason that we should not be afflicted by bad things...and yet we are. 

The answer is simply: Bad things happen.  But God is still good.

~~~

A friend requested prayer from me recently for a new baby born (very) prematurely.  At one-pound and six ounces, this tiny son-of-God was fighting for his new life, and then developed a blood infection.  I paused to center on prayer for this little child, and I lifted him up before the Lord.  

I know that God heard my prayers, just as He hears yours.  

...‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears'...  ~Isaiah 38:5

But even so, the tiny child died and they held sad funeral services last week.

~~~

Why do bad things happen?

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

The answer is simply: Bad things happen.  But God is still good.

~~~

Interestingly (and par-the-course for our Lord), I had just read in the Bible about unfair and unjust things happening to good people.

When the prophet Jeremiah was repeatedly preaching and teaching and warning(!) the people around him to clean-up their (spiritual) lives and return their hearts to God and His ways, no one wanted to hear it.  

No one wanted to listen or put-up-with Jeremiah, but really...they were choosing not to hear and receive God.  It was God's message that Jeremiah brought to the people, not his own.

And while there were few people accepting Jeremiah's message from the Lord, there were even fewer others that had the inclination or guts to follow in Jeremiah's footsteps to speak the word of the Lord to a refusing public.

But there were a couple brave guys, and their names were Uriah and Ahikam.  They were good men, but bad things happened to them anyway.

At this time Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the Lord.  And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.

(21 )When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plan and escaped in fear to Egypt. 

(22) Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah. (23) They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. 

The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.  

(24) Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.  ~Jeremiah 26:20-24

~~~

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

Uriah son of Shemaiah was a good guy.  He was even a God-guy!  Just like Jeremiah, He would not back-down in speaking God's truth to the people.  He was doing everything right in terms of serving the Lord.  

But sin happens.  Injustice occurs.  Bad things happen to good people.  

And King Jehoiakim pursued and sent someone to kill Uriah, and then he did kill Uriah.  

It was not right.  It was not fair.  It should not have happened.  

But the answer is simply: bad things happen, but God is still good.

~~~

What's happening in our lives today?  Is something bad happening even though we have been seeking to be "good"?  

Are we wracking our brains trying to decipher "where we went wrong"?  Well-in many cases, we have not necessarily "went wrong", but life is just occurring, and it can roll-out pretty harshly sometimes.  

If we have been engaged in willful sin--then may God convict us and stop us in our tracks.  But if we are seeking to live as good-guys, and (more importantly) Godly-guys, and yet we've had a heap of hurt dumped on us, then we can find our souls aching with the questions: 

Why do bad things happen?

Why do bad things happen to good people? 

Are any of us really good? 

And the answer is simply: Bad things happen.  But God is still good.

Sometimes there is every logical reason that we should not be afflicted by bad things...and yet we are. 

I know that God hears my prayers today, just as He hears yours.  And even if we do not like the current reality that we are experiencing: take heart: God is still good.

Keep on keeping on today.

Our main goal is His glory, and before we meet Him there (in Glory), we must accept (and endure) that bad things happen, but God is still good.

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com

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