| Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Knowing God”
Our Bible verse for today: “For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:45 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
In our quest to come to a better understanding of God, one of the questions we have to consider is why a good God would allow bad things to happen to good people. It’s an age-old question that humans have been wrestling with for thousands of years.
To a large degree this is a question that cannot be fully answered. There is much about God and His ways that is simply beyond our understanding, But in Matthew 5:45, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes reference to part of the answer. There He alludes to the fact that the world runs on natural laws that impact everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike. In short, stuff happens. It’s simply the way of the world. The sun rises and the sun sets; rain falls, and then it doesn’t; hurricanes happen; volcanoes erupt; disease spreads; people get sick; people die. There are simply natural laws and normal occurrences that govern life in a broken world, and those things affect everyone.
The other reality that must be accepted is that of free will. God created humans with the freedom of choice. He did that so we could choose to love Him and obey Him. Love is not love if it is coerced. Obedience is not obedience if there was no real choice to begin with. In order for us to truly love God, we have to have the ability to not love Him. It’s only when we have a real choice, and we choose Him, that love is truly love.
Of course that means that sometimes people will not choose God and His ways, and that right there is where so much of the pain and suffering arises in our world. It is from people exercising their free will and acting contrary to the way God desires.
It’s true that God could prevent all the bad things from happening. He could stop every hurricane before it forms; He could stamp out every disease before anyone is infected; He could make the rain fall in precisely the exact measure needed – no more and no less. But if He did that then the world would no longer run on natural laws, only on constant divine intervention. He could also intervene and prevent every evil act before anyone gets hurt, but by doing so He would also eliminate free will.
There’s a delicate and intricate balance to God’s creation that includes much beauty and much good, but which also allows for natural occurrences and for human free will. Our task as Christians is to constantly seek His Kingdom and His righteousness as we make our way through this less than perfect world, blessing people as we go and telling them about Jesus.
If you would be interested in doing a deeper study on this fascinating subject, I recommend two books by Philip Yancey, “Where is God when it Hurts?” and “Disappointment with God”.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim |
Oak Hill Baptist Church