Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People? Series

“Questions For God: Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?”

Introduction:

John was just 31 years old; he was a new father, and a dedicated Christian. He seemed to have everything going for him. John had a great family, a beautiful wife, and he loved them dearly. One day on his way to work John was met head on by a drunk driver who swerved into the opposite lane of traffic; John died instantly leaving a family alone and devastated.

Amy was newly married, and it did not take long until she was pregnant with her first child. Amy was the type of person that everybody loved to be around, she was fun, funny, and sweet. She had everything going for her; she was so excited about having a child. The doctors kept assuring Amy that the baby appeared perfectly healthy. The time came and Amy went into labor. She gave birth to a beautiful daughter, but the only bad thing was the baby was stillborn. This left the new couple devastated.

Sarah was a godly young girl. She was faithful and involved in church. She was a loving mother of three children when she found out she was pregnant again. She prayed and prayed for her baby to be born healthy, but when her son was born he was born with downs syndrome, leaving Sarah devastated.

Jane was in College, she was studying to be a doctor. She had everything going for her. She wasn’t your typical college student. She wasn’t wild and crazy, she was studious and smart. Everyone loved Jane. Jane had never had a boyfriend, in fact she had never kissed a guy, and she was saving herself for her husband. Finally, she met the guy of her dreams, and they were engaged to be married. She was out shopping for her wedding dress, and she was attacked on her way to her car and she was raped. All her innocence that she had been saving for her husband was taken away by some wicked man. This left her and her family devastated.

Ronny was a young preacher with a family. He had a lot of promise, and he had a passion for the Lord. Ronny was only 33 years old. He was in great health; in fact he worked out every day. One day when Ronny was out, he just collapsed and died. No one knows why, his heart just stopped beating, leaving a wife, a family and kids, helpless, unprepared, and devastated.

We all could tell stories like these, couldn’t we? We could all tell stories of bad things happening to good people. No matter how spiritual, or how in tune with God we may be we are all left wondering, why?

We all remember September 11, 2001. Thousands of people went to work like any other day of the week. They all expected to come home to their families when they left. They never got the chance. We remember the scenes of the planes flying into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, killing thousands. People were left without husbands, wives, children and parents. The nation and the world were left devastated, and all asking one question: why?

Do you ever ask the same question? Why do bad things happen to good people? The world would be a much better place if the type of things that happened to the people I mentioned above only happened to the bad people. The sad thing is we live in a world in which we are not immune from the pain of the world.

Text: II Corinthians 11:23-29

I. Reasons

We all want to know why God allows things to happen, especially to those who do not deserve it. Typically when something bad happens we are quick to blame God for the things that are going on in our lives. We assume that God did all this to us. I think it is important to be careful to remember that God does not do things to us; he only allows things to happen to us.

a. Strengthen our Faith

Romans 5:3-4

Some of the things God lets happen to us he allows in order to strengthen our faith. I believe that the times in which we grow and learn the most about God is during our trials and hardships. The scriptures make it clear that the testing of our faith develops perseverance and perseverance develops character. I believe that as we look at the life of Job, we see that in the end he was more mature in his faith than he was before he lost everything. Through Paul’s hardships and difficulties he grew to understand God in a greater way. Sometimes God allows things to happen to us to strengthen our faith produce character in our lives. The Hebrews writer reminds us that God only disciplines those that he loves. Sometimes the bad things that we may hate so much might serve as a way to force us to depend totally on God and to be strengthened in our faith. Perhaps sometimes we receive the testing of our faith, and the tough times that we face knowing and remembering that our faith might be strengthened through our trials.