Wednesday, September 27th, 2023
WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?
I was asked a version of this question yesterday. This is an excerpt from FINDING THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH that Manny explained to Jack when he asked that question.
“In Paradise, Adam and Eve had a tight relationship with God and all things were very good. That’s why it was the safest place on earth. But then came The Fall, The Curse, and Paradise Lost. Death, disease, and destruction settled into the natural world, even for those saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Men and women born-again from being children of Adam and Eve into being children of God are spiritually safe but not physically safe. Death awaits everyone. Diseases ravage bodies. Destruction hits hard through storms, accidents, and wars. In short, Paradise Regained is not the same as the original Paradise. One day it will be so, but not in this world. That’s why it’s the second safest place on earth in the history of mankind. The operative message for the life of a Christian today is given to us by Jesus Himself in the last verse of the 16th chapter of John.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
“The trouble we have comes because we live in a fallen world that’s cursed. We’re saved from the eternal consequences of The Fall. We’re saved into a restored connection and relationship with God. But we’re not saved from the consequences of the evil in this world.
“There are wars, famines, floods, and terrible diseases like cancer. Some bad people do great harm to good people. Some children run away, and some spouses file for divorce. Businesses fail, and jobs are lost. People become addicted to alcohol and drugs and their lives spiral out of control.”
YOU ONLY NEED TO LOOK AT THE WORLD TODAY to see that evil runs rampant throughout it, including the evil of an innocent young child awaiting death in a cancer ward of a hospital. Where does that evil come from? It doesn’t come from God. It comes from Satan. And how did Satan gain a foothold in this world to bring all the misery and disease and death into it? It happened when mankind separated itself from the safety it had at the beginning of creation. It’s the story of Adam and Eve choosing to go their own way and the way of the natural world, where Satan is the ruler, as Scripture tells us. And we are their descendants, and we are just like them. But God, in His mercy and grace, sent His Son, Jesus, to make us right with Him again, as it was in Paradise. So spiritually we can be safe, but we won’t be physically safe until Paradise is fully regained in the world to come.
Now, why does God rescue and heal some people and not others? Is He capricious? I think not. If I could answer that question, I’d be God myself, but I’m not. Only God can answer that question, and He give us glimpses of how He operates when we read Scripture with a searching heart and when we come to Him in the darkness, humble ourselves before Him, and ask with an ear that is more interested in what He speaks to us than our own thoughts or the thoughts of others who think they have the market cornered on explaining what God does and why. I’m not talking about a one-time conversation here. I’m talking about what God says in the book of Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” For David Wilkerson, that was hours each day. That’s why I pay attention to what he said. For me, it’s an hour every morning in communion with Him through reading the Bible and prayer. Yet, I sense that is not enough to understand His ways any more than I do. I need more time with Him. And I’m at a time in my life where I can carve out more time. I must do that.