What do bad things happen to good people?
I know we ask that of ourselves so many times. We are doing our best to live good lives and out of nowhere something bad happens.
I have been swamped with these situations this past week. Let me give you a couple of example.
One of my coworkers has been diagnosed with cancer and given a year to live, he is three years older than I am. Has a wife and a young son, mid forties is way to young to be evaluating the end of your life. We have a mother with a new born son who is in the hospital battling pneumonia. They are running test after test and everyone is scared to death of what they will find. We have another family that is going through a bad situation that just recently came to light. We have another couple who are expecting their first child in a few months who just had to come up with a significant amount of money to cover some dentist bills and a hot water tank that just died.
I won't even get into natural disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, or the mudslides, flooding and other disasters that have ravaged the earth.
So the question is why? Why would GOD allow such things to happen to good people.
I can only say this, I can't see what the future holds, but GOD can. He does not exist in a single space of time but he exist in all times, past, present and future. And the situations that happen in our small point of time affect the situations that happen in the future.
I had a man tell me once of being in Dallas on the outer loop traveling along and finding himself in an exit only lane and unable to get out of it. So you guessed it, he got off on that exit, had to backtrack to get back on the outer loop and added about five minutes to his trip. As he finally got back on the outer loop, a couple of minutes later the traffic came to a standstill and he was caught in a traffic jam. When he finally got to the problem he found out that a plane had crashed on the road trying to land. When he read the reports later he realized that he would have been right in that area of the crash had he not taken the exit by accident.
I know you are thinking that no one lost their life. No child was left fatherless or motherless. No husband lost his wife or vice versa. That seems to be the most tragic thing that can possibly happen. Whether it be from sickness, accident, disaster, the death of a loved one is hard to explain.
So I pondered this and thought, what did GOD feel when his son was dying on the cross? He could have stopped it with a spoken word. He could have changed the scenes that would be played out when JESUS prayed in the garden, "take this bitter cup from me..." So if GOD had changed what would the consequences have been. First we would not have the sacrifice of the perfect lamb to wash away our sin. Secondly, there would be no bruises and stripes to pay for our healing. And thirdly JESUS would not have died and therefore would not have rose from the dead on the third day giving us the hope of a resurrection as well. If JESUS had not have died, he would have continued his earthly ministry and the gospel would have never gone beyond the area of Judea and Jerusalem. JESUS would have lived to a ripe old age I am sure but the promise of healing, resurrection and the sacrifice for sin would have been compromised. Did JESUS suffer while in the hands of the Romans and the Pharisees? You bet he did, and he did not deserve any of it. It is the classic case of bad things happening to good people. But GOD sees ahead of time, and as soon as Christ ascended he was made aware of what his sacrifice meant in the span of time. And because of his sacrifice we who surrender our lives to him are promised of an eternity in his presence, never to face sickness, disaster or death ever again. So yes, bad things do happen to good people, and in many cases even better things happen farther ahead in time because of our trials today. Just remember it is all in GOD'S hands, and he works for the good of those that love him.
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