One big argument that I hear from people who don’t want to believe in a loving God is their belief that if God loves people so much, why do bad things happen to good people.
I understand that there are horrendous things that happen in the world. War, rape, murder — the list goes on and on. I don’t understand why God allows everything to go on, but I do understand this much: God allows things to happen for a reason.
The Bible talks about how our ways are not God’s ways. We like to go through the scenario of, “if I was God I would do things differently.” We some how think that we could do things better than God.
Jim Carrey starred in a movie called “Bruce Almighty.” Carrey played a news reporter who was trying to become an anchorman for a Buffalo News station. He doesn’t get the job and he blames God.
God then gives Carrey his powers to use at his will. Carrey uses God’s powers for his own selfish gain. Then Carrey starts to hear all the people of the earth praying to God, which is his responsibility to hear and answer because he has taken over God’s responsibilities for a time.
Carrey gets frustrated because people continue to bombard him with prayers, and instead of taking time to address each prayer individually, he just says yes to all of them.
By doing this Carrey creates utter chaos and turmoil for the whole city. In the end, God comes and ends up bailing Carrey out. In the end, Carrey is happiest being a field reporter and not an anchorman.
I understand that this is an exaggerated scenario, but I believe that the movie brings out one important point. God does know what he is doing. One other important point was that Carrey was happier where God wanted him, not where he wanted to be.
Even though there are many things that happen that are horrible and that we don’t understand, God is in control and knows what is going on.
In John 16:33, Jesus is talking to the disciples and tells them that he has spoken things to them so that they might have peace in him.
Jesus tells the disciples that they will have hardship, but to trust him because he overcame the world.
How did Jesus overcome the world? He overcame the world by living a perfect life and never succumbing to one temptation. Jesus died on the cross for your sin and mine. Then on the third day he rose from the dead.
Jesus was telling the disciples to trust in him because no one else ever overcame the world and died on the cross for them. Jesus extends that same very thing to you and I.
All of us will experience pain and hardships, some worse than others. But all of us can experience the peace of God and learn about God through those hardships.
No matter the hardship, God has plans for you and those plans are good, even when bad things happen. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 God speaks through Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. And those days when you pray I will listen. You will find me when you seek me if you look for me in earnest.
God is not the author of evil, but he takes those bad things that happen and uses them for good.
In her book “Why?”, Anne Graham Lotz talks about this very thing. Our hardships, tests, and trials are an opportunity for God to really show himself to us. In the book she uses an analogy that I believe really addresses why bad things happen.
Our tests, trials and bad situations are like a fire. We are clay and the Lord is the potter. As we are going through the fire, Jesus is there through it all molding us, holding us through fire. He is making us into a masterpiece.
So I pray that you would allow the Lord to shape and mold you through your hardships and bad things that happen. Because as you go through the fire, the Lord will take you out of it when he sees the glare of his face in you.
E-mail Brad with any comments or questions at: [email protected].