April 6 2018 – Click here to listen
A friend of mine is a Godly woman of prayer and action who has tenaciously fought in Washington D.C. and elsewhere to defend religious liberty and bring about cultural transformation in a variety of ways. She is as devout a person as I know, and I love her like a sister.
I was quite surprised when I recently learned that she has struggled for 30 years with the tragic death of her first husband. Recently she tearfully asked for prayer as she approaches the 30-year anniversary of his passing. She is struggling with understanding why God allows tragic events to unfold. Why must good people suffer?
She mentioned child abuse and rape, violent murders, cancer, and other tragedies. She is currently writing a book and the final chapter is being written concerning addressing this perplexing issue and reconciling this issue once and for all to her satisfaction. She asked for prayer in that regard.
Hmmm . . .
While I have prayed and will continue to do so throughout the week and wish her the best with this endeavor, I am not optimistic. Since the dawn of time people have tried to explain the paradox of why our all-powerful God who is the personification of love allows evil to co-exist with good in His creation. Many books have attempted to explain it, none that I have read have even come close to succeeding. Even the Bible does not give us the answers we are seeking.
It is a mystery. I along with others can speculate, but no definitive answers can be formulated. Personally, I think most of us underestimate the severity of the penalties for sin. God cursed the earth because of our sin and sternly proclaimed that our days would be “short and full of trouble.” God cannot lie and that is one prophecy that no one can deny has been fulfilled.
So, the Bible indicates that sin is inherited.
WHY hasn’t that genetic flaw been corrected by God?
If God loves us so much,
WHY doesn’t He make our lives easier?
Perhaps the most common question is:
WHY do bad things happen to good people?
Why? Why? Why?
Did you ever consider the converse of that last question? Why do good things happen to bad people? You do realize that the Bible states that not one person is good right? Romans 3:10 – As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Eccl. 7:20 – Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. Okay all of us not so good sinful believers were saved by Jesus who suffered horribly. Why?
Most of today’s society doesn’t think they are sinners; believing a little white lie, or perhaps lustful thoughts, or coveting, or maybe fudging on our taxes, or playing golf on the Sabbath, or getting angry, or being selfish is any big deal, But, to our Holy God it is a very big deal. It is so serious in fact that He had to send His perfect Son as a blood sacrifice for those sins in order that we might join Him in everlasting life enjoying His love and peace in a place where evil does not exist.
Why would God save those who defy Him and break His laws, and in some cases curse His name?
Knowing the serious black sins I have committed in my life, I am just as mystified as to why God loves me in spite of my rebellion and sin as I am with understanding why He allows evil to co-exist with good.
Why?
I once read of a college student in a philosophy class that was asked that question, (Why?), on his final exam. It was the only test for the entire course and literally everyone’s grade was contingent upon answering this question for the exam. The students had one hour to give it their best shot.
This student was through in less than a minute. He threw his paper on the professor’s desk and smugly walked out of the room. The rest of the students furiously wrote right up to the final second.
The students gathered in the hall to see the test results posted and could not understand it when they noticed that the student who had finished in less than a minute received the highest grade.
His answer to the question WHY?
“BECAUSE!”
We were created lower than God and He has not elected to explain every jot and tittle to us. If He did so, we probably couldn’t understand anyway. Can anyone legitimately claim to know the mind of God beyond what He has revealed to us via His Holy Word?
We must put some why questions on a back burner to be answered when we spend eternity with Jesus and for now merely accept by faith this verse: Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
When tragedy strikes and Satan plagues me with the “why” questions, I try to remind myself that the Bible makes it quite clear that faith in Jesus Christ does not guarantee a good life, but it does guarantee a perfect eternity. I just hunker down and fight my way through it until the sun shines again.
Romans 5:3
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday!