One of the fairest questions we human beings can ask ourselves is: why do bad things happen to good people?
We would certainly like to think that ‘bad’ things should only happen to ‘bad’ people.
It also seems unfair that ‘bad’ things should happen to ‘good’ people.
But what does the Bible say about this subject?
That’s what I’d like to share with you today.
Perhaps a more realistic question to your circumstance would be, why is something bad happening to me if I am a good person?
To answer those questions, I want to invite you to read this short bible text with me.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what we should ask, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groans.
But he who examines the hearts knows what the intention of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Now, we know that God disposes of all things for the good of those who love Him, that is, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
For those whom he knew before, he also predestined them to be made according to the image of his Son,so that he may be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8: 26 – 29
Dear friend, the first thing I would like to clarify is that God does not cause bad things in your life.
Unfortunately we live in a world weakened by sin.
A world where people do what they shouldn’t and that ends up affecting others.
A world where sin has brought disease and all kinds of calamities.
It is because of our own decisions, the decisions of others, or because of the situation of this planet that bad things happen to us.
As long as we are on this earth, we are not going to be exempt from this.
But I want to remind you that regardless of your suffering, or no matter what you are going through or have lived; Jesus, God Himself, also lived it out of love for you.
Jesus also knew the pain and suffering while he was on this earth, and he looks at you with sympathy and love.
Jesus suffers with you when you suffer and suffered with you at the terrible time when whatever happened to you happened to you.
God’s response to human suffering is not indifference, God’s response to human suffering is to have come to this earth to suffer with us.
After this first preamble, I want to give you some context.
In chapter eight of the book of Romans, which is the chapter where today’s bible fragment is, we are presented with very relevant ideas for considering the dilemma of why bad things happen to good people.
The apostle Paul, who wrote it, was a good and just man who served God.
However, he had to suffer many calamities and problems.
He lost friends and family, he was whipped, publicly shamed, he was imprisoned, he suffered shipwrecks, he had to flee because he was going to be killed, he was finally sentenced to death for serving God.
Terrible things happened.
Now, that same character, having all these things in his mind, this servant of God in a few verses before the bible verses we will study today, tells us that we have hope in the midst of our difficulties.
That hope is that all these things are going to end because we have the certainty of eternal life in Jesus.
That was what kept Paul in good spirits and helped him keep moving forward.
That blessed hope of redemption.
It is a gift from God, which you too can receive today if you have not done so before.
Now, after that little context, let’s go back to the question that interests us, why do bad things happen to good people according to the Bible?
We have already answered that bad things happen because of sin, but now we will go a little further.
Well, to that point, I would like to make three observations on the basis of today’s Bible text.
#1 God never promised a life without problems
The first is that the goal of living on this earth as children of God, who have accepted Jesus as our lord and savior, is not to live a life full of absolute comfort and without problems.
The goal is to “be made according to the image of Jesus.”
God wants to give us the opportunity to develop the full potential he has put in us.
That full potential is reached by imitating the best example, Jesus.
In order to be like Jesus, we need to heal and change things that are in our way of being and thinking, as a result of how weakened we are by sin.
#2 Difficult circumstances make us Christlike
The second point I would like to make is that God often allows the difficult circumstances that happen to us because they help us get closer to Christ-likeness.
They help us form a character more and more similar to that of Jesus.
Although at the moment, what happens seems to be completely bad, we must remember “that all things work for good for the children of God”.
That is, although we cannot see and understand it, the fact that God allows it is because in the end something good is going to come out of there for us to develop our full potential.
#3 We don’t have the full picture
The third point I would like to make is that it is only natural that we cannot understand this.
It is only natural that we ask God that things be different.
Let them be the way we think they should be.
And it is also natural that when He does not respond to us as we want, then we become disappointed or even angry with Him.
Sadly, the response of some people is to turn away from God, we think he is unfair to us.
But I want to remind you that this is not the case.
When you are thinking that God is unjust to you, He is actually being infinitely good.
It’s just that you can’t understand it yet.
Although God does not produce the evil that happens to us, if he allows it, it is because he can use it for our good, even if we cannot see or understand it at the moment.
If we could see what God sees, if we had the full picture, we would ask for what suits us and not just what we want at the moment.
We are a work in progress in the hands of a God of love.
Although we cannot understand the way God is doing things, we can trust that for him, we are his masterpiece and that he is the main interested in that his creation succeed.
Conclusion
Dear friend, the answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people according to the Bible, is that God loves his children so much that as a good father he doesn’t always give us what we want, because we don’t always know what’s right for us.
He does know, so he gives us what we need.
In the midst of our sufferings, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us so that God may work in our lives what suits us best, in order to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
So that we can develop our full potential.
In the end, we must believe and trust that God is good, that God loves us, that God cares about us individually as his children.
And in that consciousness, to find our patience and hope to face the pain that sin causes us.
Remember that if we are patient, we will soon be able to see a new dawn.
God bless you.
I hope these words are a blessing to your life.
Are you going through a difficult situation? Would you like to share it? What is your opinion on the subject or circumstance you are going through? Let us know in the comments.
Blessings and a hug.
