Understanding Both Good And Bad Series

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Understanding Both Good and Bad

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckxJooHDCwc&t=11s

In another one of my 2 a.m. morning routine, which seems to be when God wants to give me something to share, I read from evangelist Philip N. from Kenya how we are to consider the good times while at the same time understand the bad, because life is made up of both.

Boy, does that resonate.

25 years ago, when I lost just about everything, with the exception of my faith, it seemed like the “bad” was winning. I remember seeing a card at Hallmark with a stick figure of a person holding an umbrella with a little rain falling, and it said, “In every life a little rain must fall.”

But when I opened up the card, the stick figure was trying to hold onto the umbrella as a gale force storm came. And it then said, “But who ordered the deluge?”

And the answer is the Lord, but let me say this in advance, not to harm or to do damage, but to get our attention, like an alarm clock ringing that now is the time to wake up.

This whole idea about understanding both the good and the bad that comes in this life is brought out quite succulently by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:14.

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14 NKJV)

The New Living Translation says, “Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14 NLT)

Having both the good and the bad is a part of the faith journey we are on.

Unfortunately, most people, Christians included, don’t think so. We want to be comforted and assured that everything is going to be alright, and that everything is going to turn out okay, that is, we want the times both now and ahead of us to be good times, not bad.

But life is made up of both good and bad, and that’s because of Adam and Eve’s sin, where Satan tempted them to eat from the tree of good and evil, with the promise that they would be like God, knowing the difference.

But there was nothing good about what came, because through it we are all under sin’s curse to this day, which is death (Romans 6:23).

This is something Eve knew very well even before Satan’s temptation. It was the Lord who told them not to eat of the tree of good and evil, lest they would die. She even told Satan that very thing.

Eve said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (Genesis 3:2-3 NKJV)

But Satan is a deceiver and convinced her that it wouldn’t be the case and that God knew it. He said that God knew they would be just like Him if they ate it.

Satan said, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5 NKJV)

Well, I think it’s safe to say that there was nothing good that came out of that encounter, because the sin nature is now a part of humanity’s DNA. And therefore, the bad days are just as prevalent in our lives as the good days, and we must accept both and learn how we can manage our days with both of them playing a key role.

However, thinking that life should only be good times without the bad is immature and quite foolish. Job actually addresses this to his wife who told him to curse God and die seeing the trouble and the affliction that came upon him, when prior, he was blessed beyond measure.

Job said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10 NKJV)

Therefore, since we must have both good and bad times, we need to learn how to respond the right way to each.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 tells us that when times are good, we must be glad, filled with joy, and celebrate, because we never know when things are going to turn around. So enjoy the good times while they last.

However, when the bad times come, we are to carefully consider them, not celebrate them, because they are usually painful, physically and/or emotionally.