Why bad things happen to good people

Over the years, I have had people come to me and suggest that the reason that someone is going through a difficulty or a tragedy is due to (a) God’s punishment; (b) God’s displeasure; or (c) God removing His protection.

It’s natural that we should try to figure out why bad things are happening to normally good people. We become disturbed when we see suffering for no apparent reason. Sometimes we are simply trying to make sense out of the senseless.

There are those, however, who have a darker motive. These people seek to obtain justification for their own position, claiming that the unpleasantness that other certain persons are enduring is due to God punishing them, being displeased, or abandoning them.

Such were the “friends” of Job of Old Testament fame. After offering suggestions about how Job brought all his tragedy on himself, God vindicated Job and exposed the foolishness of his “friends.”

Suppose, for example, that someone has opposed me in my life and ministry. Then suppose that this person gets cancer or has a car wreck. Am I to rejoice, believing that God had punished them and vindicated me? No! Far from it! Even if they have made themselves my enemy, I am to pray for them, bless them, stand with them, and intercede to God for them. Any other response is petty, selfish, stupid, and downright diabolical.

To paraphrase a bumper sticker from years ago, sometimes “stuff happens.” Frankly, we do not know why something is happening to someone. Why? Because we are not God.

There were two rules I was taught when I entered the ministry: (1) There is a God. (2) You are not Him. Some things will become clear with the passage of time and other things will always remain a mystery.

This is not to say that people do not reap what they sow. I still, however, need to watch my mouth and guard my attitude.

One of the reasons that I try not to make too many judgments these days is fear. Yep, fear. I really do believe in sowing and reaping — what you give is what you get. If I sow mercy, I receive mercy; sow judgment, receive judgment; sow condemnation, receive condemnation. It’s really quite simple.

Jesus taught, “Judge not, that you be not judged (Matthew 7:1 NKJV). St. Luke records an expanded version of this teaching: “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37 NKJV).”

There are too many people sowing too many words about tragedies and circumstances they know nothing about. If I make judgments and come to conclusions about why good people are suffering, then I open myself to the same type of judgment when something terrible befalls me or those I love. “And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant’” (Luke 9:22a NKJV).

It doesn’t help, of course, to ask, “Why?” We almost never get an answer to that question. A better question to ask would be, “What do I do now?” People who persist in asking “why” run the risk of ending their lives full of bitterness, unforgiveness, and pain. On the other hand, those who seriously address the second question often take positive steps, draw near to God, and emerge victorious, even from the most horrible of situations.

I have a friend, a clergyman, whose spouse suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Who sinned, the man or his wife? I have another pastor friend whose child was killed in an accident. Who sinned, the pastor or his child? There is yet another minister friend who is suffering from unknown causes — has he brought this on himself and is being judged or abandoned by God? What foolish speculation!

“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:1-3 NKJV).

It may not be a totally satisfying answer, but it is enough. God, it seems, knows what we do not and we must trust that He is truthful when He says, “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB).

In the meantime, I think I will just keep my mouth shut.