It never fails in our world today that horrible, horrible things happen to people daily. The majority of those times, those are good people who we would say don't deserve it. That brings about the age old question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The truth is, nobody knows.
A mom driving her kids to daycare before work one morning gets hit by a drunk driver. A police officer trying to protect others at a peaceful protest gets shot just for being a cop. A mother loses her baby in the womb. A father gets killed in an accident doing yard work for his family. A teenager gets shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Seemingly senseless things happen every single day and we constantly ask ourselves, "why", "how could this happen", "why did this happen to them", "why don't we understand" and sometimes even, "Why did God let this happen?"
If God is good, and loves us, His children, so very much, then why does He allow us to be hurt so deeply and to suffer so immensely? If He is omnipotent and wants to protect us, then why does He allow such suffering?
Some have said that God is good, but not omnipotent: He wants to stop our suffering, but simply cannot. Others have said that He is omnipotent but not good: He could stop our suffering, but chooses not to.
The truth is that God is good. John 1:5 tells us, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all". He is also omnipotent. Jeremiah 32:17 says, "Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power and out-stretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for Thee".
But that doesn't answer our question as to why. If God is good and omnipotent and loves us so dearly, why?
We would be naïve to believe that we could understand His plan for us; us as individuals and also us as a world. God gave us the freedom of our own choices and if that choice is to follow Him then we are promised an everlasting Father and an eternity in His kingdom with Him, but that promise does not say we will not experience suffering.
God has set in motion plans that will ultimately bring glory to His kingdom. Plans that will give His children hope and a future. Although those plans may sometimes seem like they aren't doing very much good because of all of the suffering that happens in our world today, we simply just cannot fathom the why of it in God's ultimate plan.
We are called to cry out to God in times of suffering, for He is a God who can do so much more than we could ever imagine! "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us," Ephesians 3:20.
We must remember that when suffering comes upon us that although God might not have a specific "lesson" in mind at the moment, anything that happens to us it ultimately for our good; God always has a purpose in mind, whether we can see it or not. In Romans 8:28 we read, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose".
But not always do we remember the several verses that come after that one, saying that everything God allows to happen to us cannot separate us from His love or from eternal life with Him in Heaven. "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39.
Take a second to think about how amazing the kingdom of Heaven is supposed to be. We have heard it for years in Sunday school class, how great it's supposed to be. It is something that we cannot even fathom with our minds. Now take a second to think about the suffering and pain that people experience in our world today. To people who follow the Lord devoutly. There is no way that the sufferings of our world today are comparable to the greatness of Heaven. In the end, it will all be worth it. Even Romans 8:18 says so, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us".
So when bad things happen to good people there are a few things to remember instead of asking why or even turning our backs on our Beloved Father. We can expect suffering, in our world full of sin there will always be suffering even to people who we don't believe deserve it. We also need to remember that God is in control, all we have to do is look towards Him for understanding, and when we can't have understanding we can look towards Him for peace.
While we can only hope to know and understand God's will, and the unexplainable whys in life, we have a pretty awesome God who knows the answer to all of those and who knows exactly what He's doing.
