Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
Chuck Sligh
January 17, 2010
TEXT: Turn to Habakkuk 1 (the fifth to the last book in the Old Testament)
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – There was a couple in the church I pastored in Wiesbaden, Germany. They were faithful to the Lord; faithful to services of the church; faithful in their giving; and they served as the youth leaders in our church. They were also great encouragers for Susan and me—truly godly saints. When they returned to Texas, in both churches they were in, they were just as faithful in church, in service, in giving and to the ministry of encouragement. They are still choice servants of the Lord.
But a few years ago their second daughter was in a serious school bus accident in which she received third degree burns over most of her lower body, and many other serious injuries for which she was still receiving treatment for 13 years later. Then, 5 years ago, their youngest daughter was killed in a tragic car wreck. In addition to these horrific tragedies, they both buried parents whome they loved dearly.
That had them and many other people struggling with one of the most perplexing questions a Christian will ever face—the question of suffering in the life of God’s people.
This past week we watched with horror at the unimaginable suffering of the people in Haiti, which raises the inevitable question of “Why does a God of love allow suffering.” That’s certainly an important question, but that’s not really the focus of my sermon today. Today I want us to think not about the PHILOSOPHICAL issue of suffering per se, but the more PERSONAL issue to us who are saved of why God allows His people to suffer.
Habakkuk struggled with this puzzling enigma in our text (EXPAND AS LED):
Habakkuk 1:1-4 – “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear! even cry out to you of violence, and you wilt not save! 3 Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are those who raise up strife and contention. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment [i.e., “justice”] never goes forth: for the wicked compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.”
Habakkuk 1:13 – “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity: why do you idly look on them who deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours the man who is more righteous than he?”
Habakkuk was puzzled and disturbed because of the suffering of God’s people, while evil people prospered and conquered. Consider with me the following thoughts about this passage:
I. NOTE FIRST, HABAKKUK’S QUESTION.
His question was this: Why do the righteous suffer? or phrased another way, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is an age-old question that has befuddled believers since the beginning of time.
1. The oldest book in the Bible, Job, addresses this very question.
In Job 5:7, Job said “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” He would know—for he suffered great trials of affliction himself.
But the enigma was that Job was a GOOD man. Job 1:1 says “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect [i.e., justified before God] and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.”
And yet—upright, righteous Job was not exempt from trials, even while the wicked seemed to be prospering. The question “Why?” is found 16 times in Job, and most of the book is an attempt to wrestle with this question: Why do the good people suffer?
2. The mighty warrior Gideon asked the same question.
He witnessed great destruction upon Israel by the Midianites, who were prospering in every way. Judges 6 tells how the Midianites defeated the Israelites, and destroyed their towns and their crops and their livestock, so that they were living in caves. Judges 6:6 says, “And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.” As Gideon surveyed the Midianites’ prosperity in contrast to the impoverishment of God’s people in Israel, he asked “…Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then has all this befallen us? and where are all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.” (Judges 6:13)
Maybe you too have thought that God had forsaken you. You see, Gideon, like you and I, struggled with the question of “Why do good people suffer?”
Or maybe you’ve framed the question more personally and asked, “Lord, why ME?”
II. CONSIDER SECONDLY GOD’S ANSWER TO HABAKKUK’S QUESTION.
Habakkuk 2:2-4 – “And the LORD answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is puffed up; it is not upright within him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
Look again at verse 3: The explanation for suffering in the life of believers, “…is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
In other words, God says that the last chapter has not been written, the last act has not yet been played out. In the end every WRONG will be made right, every SIN will be judged, every GOOD PERSON will be vindicated, and justice WILL, in the end, be served.
God said that the comprehension of the “whys and wherefores” will come LATER—maybe not even in this life. “In the end it shall speak…,” says Habakkuk… “In the end it shall speak…”—but be assured that it “shall not lie…It WILL surely come.”
The key for Habakkuk, and you, and me is FAITH – verse 4 – “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
In essence God says, “In the end you’ll find out what my plan was, but for now, here’s what you’ve got to do: You have to TRUST me; to HAVE FAITH in me.” You see, only God knows the complete picture, and you and I can’t see what God can see, and God says, “I see the big picture. I know what I’m doing. Trust me.”
Illus. – I think of a TAPESTRY: If you watched a tapestry maker, from the back you would not be able to discern any pattern of order to what he was doing. But once he’s finished, you can turn it over to see a beautiful image. But it’s not until it’s FINISHED that you can see the full image. You have to trust the tapestry maker to know what he’s doing.
Illus. – Trials in believers’ lives are like a PUZZLE: A puzzle puzzling…until all the pieces fit together. Only when it’s completely finished can you get the whole picture. Then it’s no longer puzzling—it’s a beautiful picture.
Illus. – Think about a railroad train rounding a bend: We in the passenger cars cannot see around the bend. But the ENGINEER in the engine CAN. In time, we too will round the bend, and THEN we’ll be able to see what the engineer could see all along.
Illus. – It’s like going home from your house at night: You say, “Chuck, you better spend the night. It’s DARK outside.”
“Well that’s no problem,” I say, “I’ve got headlights on my car.”
“But Chuck, those headlights don’t shine all the way home.”
I think to myself: Well, YOU’RE not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
So I say, “Well, of course they will. All I have to do is turn the headlights on.”
“But,” you say, “Chuck, they only shine 100 yards ahead. How will you possibly get the rest of the way home in this pitch dark?”
Now I’m thinking, You must have gotten into the gene pool when the life guard wasn’t looking, and I say, “Well, silly, don’t you know how headlights work? You drive the first 100 yards with the lights on, and when you get to the end of the 100 yards, they’ll shine the next 100 yards and will keep on doing that all the way home.”
Folks, when bad things happen to you…
--You’ve got to wait till God finishes His tapestry to see the wonder He’s accomplishing in your life.
--You’ve got to wait till He puts in the last piece of the puzzle, and THEN you’ll see the whole picture.
--You’ve got to trust the engineer to know what He’s doing and where He’s going in your life, and by faith trust Him around the bend.
--You’ve got to trust God one day at a time. He’ll not shine the headlights too far ahead, or you would be too afraid. If you had even an inkling of what was ahead, you’d say, “No way, Jose.” So just trust Him the first 100 yards, and when He guides you that far, then just trust Him the next 100 yards, and keep on living the life of the faith walk until you get understanding either here on in heaven.
III. THIRD, CONSIDER WITH ME THREE REASONS FOR SUFFERING.
1. The first reason for suffering is what I might call CROWNING suffering.
These are bad things God allows in order to reveal Himself and accomplish some larger good that supersedes or overcomes the bad.
An illustration of this is found in John 9:1-3 – “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, ‘Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?’ 3 Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made mainfest in him.” – Jesus said this man was afflicted so that God would be displayed in him.
Other examples in the Bible include LAZARUS, whom Jesus could have healed, but He allowed to die so he could raise Him from the dead and JOB, who also was afflicted to allow God to accomplish a larger purpose in his life.
Illus. – Imagine the following scenario: Three little boys walk into a large electrical compound in Okinawa when the workmen momentarily walks to his truck to get some tools. One of those boys touches a live wire and is instantly electrocuted to death. The parents are beside themselves with grief. They had never sought God in their lives, but one thing they did know about God was that little ones, like their dead son, before the age of accountability go to heaven. For the first time in their lives, this dad and mom sought the Lord, which culminated a month later in their salvation.
That little boy was my older brother and I was one of those three boys. Because of my brother’s death, my parents came to faith in Christ and later became missionaries after retiring from the Air Force. God used my parents to reach hundreds of military members in churches they served in in Okinawa, Puerto Rico, Panama, and mainland Japan. The end result of one tragic, sad, horrible PHYSICAL DEATH led to hundreds coming to ETERNAL LIFE.
2. The second reason for suffering is what we might call CORRECTIVE suffering.
Corrective suffering is tribulation or affliction God allows in our lives to chasten us for unforsaken sin in order to turn us back to Him.
Turn with me to Hebrews 12…While you’re turning there let me read to you Psalm 119:67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”
Now note the following verses in Hebrews 12 (EXPAND AS LED):
Hebrews 12:5-7 – “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as unto children, My son, despise not the chastening [discipline] of the Lord, nor be weary when you are rebuked by him: 6 For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son he receives. 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father does notchasten?”
Hebrews 12:11 – “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby.”
Illus. – In the city of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the broken end of a high voltage wire was lying on the pavement, along which the engineer was walking, unaware of the fact that he was about to be FRIED! A worker saw the danger and yelled to warn him, but his voice was drowned by the noise around. Picking up a stone, he threw it as hard as he could and hit the engineer on the chest.
Angry, the engineer looked up—but just as he did, he saw the wire just as he was about to step upon it.
Tearfully, he thanked the worker for saving his life. The stone hurt, but the high voltage wire would have hurt MUCH more. It was a loving act of CONCERN that motivated the worker to throw the stone at the engineer.
And when the Lord brings trials into our lives, we often get angry at God for throwing rocks at us. What we ought to do is have the attitude of the engineer and rejoice and be thankful for a God who loves His children too much to let them hurt themselves by going astray.
Let me briefly share how to respond to God’s discipline from Hebrews 12:5-11:
a. First, don’t despise it – Hebrews 12:5 – “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, …”
b. Second, don’t give up or get discouraged when it happens – Hebrews 12:5b – “…nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”
Illus. – In a testimony meeting in Tennessee years ago, a lady got up and said that she was always blessed by the words, “And it came to pass.” – She said, “When I’m upset by troubles, I go to the Bible, and I never get far before I read, ‘It came to pass.’ And I say, ‘Bless the Lord, it didn’t come to stay—it came to pass!”
Well, she didn’t have her rules of Bible interpretation quite right, but she did have a bit of godly wisdom! When God disciplines His children, believe me, it WILL pass! So DON’T FAINT; don’t’ give up; don’t quit!
c. Third, endure it – Hebrews 12:7 – “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”
You CAN endure any trial—in God’s power, that is. Someone beautifully said: “No physician ever weighed out medicine to his patient with half so much care and exactness as God weighs out to us every trial. Not one grain too much does He ever permit to be put in the scale.” So just endure it. God’s medicine is always for your own good – “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
3. The third reason for suffering is what I might call CONSTRUCTIVE suffering.
Sometimes God allows trials and suffering in our lives for no other reason than simply to build godly character in us. There may be no glaring sin in your life; you may be living for God and being faithful to the best of your ability…and yet, God knows you need to mature and grow in faith and character.
Look what James 1:2-4 says: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [and remember that this word also is translated “testings”]; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
(SHOW VIDEO “Tested and Tried” found on PowerPointSermons.com)
CONCLUSION
So what should you do when bad things happen to you? Let me give you a short acronym that spells “PET” to help you remember what to do the next time you go through a trial:
P-ray – Philippians 4:6 – “Be careful [i.e., anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
E-ndure – James 5:10-11 – “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
T-rust – Habakkuk 2:4 – “…but the just shall live by his faith.”
Illus. – In closing let me share this illustration with you – The Duke of Wellington led the English forces against the armies of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.News of this historic battle came by sailing vessel to the south coast of England, and from there it was flag-signaled overland toward London. Atop Winchester Cathedral, the flag-signaler began to spell out the awaited message.
Just then, a dense fog began to settle down just as the words “Wellington defeated…” were deciphered. The flag messages could no longer be seen, and heartbreaking news of Wellington’s defeat spread throughout London.
But before long, the fog lifted and again the message atop the cathedral was visible. This time it spelled out the complete message of the battle: “Wellington defeated…the enemy!”
As you look through the fog of suffering, whether your own, or someone you know, you may only see pain, sorrow, discouragement; and brokenness. But SOMEDAY the fog will lift.
“…at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.…but the just shall live by his faith.”
(If interested in the PowerPoint used in this sermon, you may request it from me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.)
