Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

Speaker A
00:00:01.280 - 00:23:23.600
So recently, I had some good things happen, and then I had some not so good things happen. And we're going to try to tackle the question that a lot of people ask, and that is, why do bad things happen to really good people? I don't get it.

Feeding my faith. Well, God's word is patience. Yeah.

So I'm in Columbus, Ohio, and I was taking courses to be a pastor, and it's the very first day, and we all walk into this big, giant church, and the leader stands up and says, I just need to let you know now that just being a Christian will be putting a bullseye on your back. Being a pastor, it's like, Satan is the worst, you know, mob boss on any mob boss movie.

He's going to go after you, he's going to go after your family. It's not going to be a picnic. And I thought to myself, this is the weirdest recruiting speech I have ever heard.

But what's interesting is life has its ups and it has its downs, and there are times when you feel so blessed. On December 23, after many, many, many, many years, I found myself out of debt. And for me, that is something that was really important.

It's something that was ingrained to me by my dad. And I was doing things. I was pinching pennies any way I could for decades, literally. And then, so I'm feeling really good about life.

I'm like, hey, I'm gonna actually get to keep some of the money that goes into my bank account when I get paid. That's going to be where, in fact, it didn't even hit me until that first paycheck.

And then it just sat there, because usually it's like, all right, well, but, you know, 60% of that's going to go towards paying off the debt. And that wasn't going to happen anymore. And that was on December 23rd. Somewhere around January 12th.

So a little over two weeks, I get a message from a guy. And what was interesting is this was the guy, after 19, 20 years of running my little side hustle, the school of podcasting.

And I always would just, I wasn't incorporated. I wasn't an llc. I would just claim it as additional income and take the hit on the taxes. And he said, dude, that's dumb.

Like, you know, he goes, not that it's going to happen, but if you ever get sued, you want to be incorporated or something so that they can sue the company and not sue you. Which was interesting, because again, two weeks after, I'm feeling on top of the world. He lets me know, I think you're being sued.

And I was at an event, there were probably five lawyers there, and they all said the same thing. Yeah, you are being sued. Yeah, this is a frivolous lawsuit. And I can't really say much about it.

Just to say I feel it was a frivolous lawsuit and they wanted roughly ten grand is what I basically kind of heard. And I could have easily fallen into the trap of, why me? Why is God letting this happen to me? You know, if God loves me, why did he let this happen?

Can I really trust God? When this seems really cruel? And we often look at ourselves and go, because, you know, I'm good people.

I'm kind, I'm compassionate, you know, insert all the adjectives. I'm generous. Maybe even I feel I'm morally upright. But from God's perspective only, he is perfectly good and holy.

And again, you kind of go, so I'm a horrible person. Didn't say that. But here's what I noticed, and this is what jumped out at me.

In Luke 18, verse 19, it says, A certain ruler asked him, now him is Jesus, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus, Jesus answers, why did you call me good? So Jesus, like, hey, easy with the good. Like, hold on.

And he says, no one is good except God alone. So if Jesus is like, hey, let's easy with the compliments, I'm not quite any easy.

All right, maybe the bar for good is much higher than I think it is. And then in Romans 3, 10, 12, it says as it is written. So Paul's kind of summarizing some psalms and some proverbs and such.

He says, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless.

Okay, tell us what you really think, Paul, he goes on, there is no one who does good. Not even one. And so when we think about this in terms of why do bad things happen to good people? Maybe we need to flip that around a bit.

Why does a holy God pour out so much kindness on sinners at all? And I always think of sin like a virus. You know, there ever gets sick and you're like, how did I get sick? I didn't even leave the house. You just did.

You got lucky, right? For whatever reason. And if we go back to Genesis, God knew the paradise he had created. And when sin was unleashed, it was ruined.

You can't put that genie back in the bottle. And so it's weird. We can eat well, we can exercise and die early anyway.

And then we all know that person who's been drinking and smoking since they were little and they lived to be 105. I give you Keith Richards. Right. Like, wait, how does that work? And it's true. A Christian may read the Bible on a daily.

They may pray almost constantly and still have a disappointing life. And sometimes we suffer because of our own sinful or foolish choices. Yep, go ahead, raise your hand. That's me.

And then sometimes we suffer because of other sins against us. Insert maybe not so great lawyers. And sometimes we suffer because creation itself is broken, right?

We end up with like, I haven't seen above freezing in weeks. That's just the way it is. You know, there are disasters, there's decay, all sorts of things that just happen because the world is broken.

But bad things don't mean that God has stopped loving his children. It's just a gentle reminder that we are still outside of Eden and we're waiting for that full restoration.

And one of the things that God has given us is free will. We get to choose to love him if we want to. But you don't have to. I highly recommend that you do. But that comes with responsibility, right?

It's a risk. Loving something is. Is risky. Anytime you've ever said I love you to somebody, you also know that person can rip your heart out.

And much of all the things that we call bad is just the fallout of misused freedom. Right? Because it turns out you don't even have to have a reason to sue someone. You just need enough money to hire a lawyer.

It's sad, but that is, in my opinion, misused freedom. Now, in Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verse 9, it said the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.

Instead, he is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So if you're like, hey, why isn't God, like, just dropping the hammer on this person? That door is closing.

He has said the time of reckoning is coming, but the door is closing slowly. Why? He's given people a chance to repent. As it says there. He doesn't want anyone to perish. He kind of hopes that they'll all come around.

And maybe that's why that door is closing a little slower than we wish. But God can use suffering. And that sounds weird because you're like, why am I suffering at all?

But we can take that particular suffering in Scripture. Well, first of all, Scripture never said Everything is going to be great.

There are some people that just preach kind of the prosperity of the gospel, and they kind of make it sound like God is a vending machine. I can just walk up to and go, God, I think you should give me a million dollars. God, I think you should give me a new Ferrari.

God, I think it's just a vending machine. And that's not biblical. You know what it says in Romans 8, 28 in all things, God works for the good of those who love him.

And that is somewhat comforting. But that is also dependent on how long it's been since the bad thing has happened.

Because I've had people say things to me like that you're having a really bad day, horrible things have happened, and somebody says, hey, God's going to use it for good. And you do kind of lovingly and compassionately want to smack them in the face. Sometimes we're too close.

If we think about Joseph, right, sold by his brothers into slavery and then into prison, I'm pretty sure Joseph wasn't going. Man, I'm so glad I'm in prison. I bet God is going to turn this into good. I would bet that was not what he was thinking.

But later, again, new perspective with time. He says, in Genesis 50, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. And so suffering.

Nobody likes it, but there are things that can come of it. In James 1 and Romans 5, it talks about how suffering can deepen your trust. It can also just mature you.

It's just a lesson that you go through and you come out more mature on the other side. Sometimes suffering, according to Second Corinthians 1, is used to equip us to comfort others with the comfort we received. The church.

I grew up in Split, and I remember being in that business meeting going, wait, a church can't get along. Why would God let this happen? This doesn't make any sense. If Christians can't get along, there's no hope.

And it turns out that the pastor of that church went on to be one of the leading experts in Christian conflict. Why? Because he went through it and he understood it.

So sometimes we go through suffering so we can then later help others who are suffering the same thing. And then sometimes there is suffering to loosen our grip on this world we're just so focused on and instead fix our hope on the coming one.

And that's based on 2 Corinthians 4. God doesn't call evil good, but he is so sovereign and so loving that he can bend even evil towards ultimate good for his children.

But as I said it, there's no line in the Bible that's like, hey, if you do this, all your forget your troubles, come on, get happy. Sign up. Buy one, get one free. No, it's not in there. In fact, Jesus in Matthew 24 has a ton of stuff that's like, hey, kids, you know, sign up. Now.

Listen to this in verse 6. You will hear of wars and rumors of war, but see to it that you are not alarmed.

Remember that the next time you watch the news, because the news sure does want you afraid. Jesus continues on, such things must happen, not might happen not maybe such things must happen. But the end is still to come.

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Yeah, we're just getting started. Wow.

He continues on in verse 12. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

And this is the line, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved, because Satan is just trying to rip that faith out of your hand and out of your heart. Jesus says, stand firm. In verse 21, he says, for then there will be great distress. Not just distress, great distress. Well, how great?

Well, he says, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. So a type of distress like you have never seen and will never see again doesn't sound like a party.

In fact, even when he was being crucified in Luke 23, he's carrying his cross through the crowd, and it says that there are these women crying. And Jesus turned and said to them, daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.

Because Jesus knew worse things were on their way. And when we talk about bad things happening to good people, the worst thing happened to the best person.

The cross is the center of any Christian answer to this question, because Jesus is the only truly righteous, perfectly obedient son. There was that time in the garden where Jesus is like, hey, can you. Can we get me out of this somehow?

And when I was getting sued, I was like, wait, so if I try to fight this, I could probably beat it, but it will cost way more than if I just settle. I'm like, that doesn't seem right. And I don't have that kind of money. No way out of it. You just have to go through it. And that's what Jesus did.

He experienced the betrayal, the injustice, the torture, and the godforsaken Anguish. He went through that ordeal.

And so on the cross, the worst evil ever committed, murdering the sinless Son of God, that became the greatest good in salvation for sinners. And God showed he doesn't just stand at a distance and look at the pain. He actually enters into it, and he bore it for us. Does God care?

I think the cross has already answered that question. And will I trust the God who loved me enough to suffer for me even when I don't understand what is going on now? Yeah, I will.

In Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 6, you've probably heard this one, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Because there are plenty of times when we're like, I don't get it. But it says, in all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight.

In First Peter 21, Paul says to this, you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. So there may be times when you go to Jesus and go, man, I. I don't get it.

This doesn't seem fair that Jesus is going to go, yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Been there, done that. There are things again that we need to remember. Maybe we're not as good as we think.

Not that we're bad, not that we should hate ourselves, but maybe we're not as good as we think we are. And we got to remember the world is deeply fallen. I was in a store this week getting groceries.

And I remember When I was 16, my hair had to stay above my collar. And you watched what you said in front of customers. You were smiling, you were happy, and it was. You were the brand.

And let's just say that is not the case anymore. When my cashier is wearing what appeared to be some sort of bunny ears. And I'm not judging, I'm just saying it's different, right?

Looked like their face fell into a tackle box. And then they're dropping F bombs to their other cashier. Like I'm not even there, not even paying attention to me.

And I was like, oh, wait, is it Halloween again already? Well, things have changed.

And then choosing to love God is to choose hope and to choose the strength to get through those times, because God redeems suffering and he's proved his love. And he did that at the cross. In Psalm 34:18, it says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

And you've probably been there when you hear the phrase crushed in spirit. You feel that. You're like, oh, man. Well, he was there. It's kind of, you know. Again, sometimes they're like, how did this happen?

But here's the Good news.

Revelation 21:3 4 says, and I heard a loud voice from a throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them, Adam and Eve. For a time, we're hanging out with God, and someday you could be right there with them.

It says, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

And for me, the verse that has got me through so many times when I didn't know what was going on. I remember when my mom died. I remember when my dad. I mean, anything you think about, you're like, how am I going to get through this?

And for me, I always go to Jeremiah 29:11, and it says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.

And so I always think about that, that if things are going weird, it's not God's plan that's gone awry, it's sin that's trying to knock me off the path.

And again, I love that one verse that says, but the one who stands firm because Satan is just trying so hard to get you to put down your faith and to just give up on God because things aren't going your way. And as I record this, it's my birthday. And it's weird because the older you get, you feel old when you think about where you've come from.

But the cool thing is the older you get, the shorter the distance to the day where you get to hang out with God. The ones who stand firm to the end will be saved. I hope you found this message useful.

If you feel you know someone who's going through a tough time, they might benefit from hearing this. Send them over to feedingmyfaith.com or you can just go to your phone right now.

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You can buy me a coffee or two or ten, whatever you feel like. I'm Dave Jackson. I help podcasters. It's what I do, and I thank you so much for listening. And I hope you have a stronger walk with God.

Feeding my faith where God's word is made simple.