Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

March 21, 1999
by J. David Hoke

There is a fundamental question that all of us ask. It is the question "why?" And when it comes to suffering, it is an emphatic question indeed. Why is there pain in the world? Why do tragedies happen? Why do "innocent" people suffer? Why is there war, racism, social injustice, and suffering? And why doesn’t God do something to intervene?

These questions become very real when they are applied to us. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? The truth is that bad things do happen to us even when we do not think we deserve them. This brings us to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

Before we seek to answer that question, consider the presuppositions that lie behind it. Warren Wiersbe claims that there are several assumptions that lie behind our even being able to ask that question. These assumptions reveal our view about the universe. Aldous Huxley wrote, "It is strictly impossible to be a human being and not have views of some kind about the universe at large."

When we ask the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people," we are basically assuming five things. The first is that there are values in life. In other words, there are some "good" things and some "bad" things. How we define what is good and bad is another question altogether. But however we define good and bad, we would rather have the good things happen to us than the bad. The second assumption is that the universe is logical and orderly. We believe in a universe that "makes sense." When some sort of tragedy occurs, we look for some explanation. We believe that there is a cause for things happening in the universe. The third assumption is that people are important. We are fairly unconcerned when bad things happen to ears of corn, or fish, or cows. People are different, in our estimation, from plants and animals, and are more important. The fourth assumption is that we believe life is worth living. If we judged life not to be worth living then why should we bother to ask questions at all? We believe life is worth living otherwise we would just end it all. And finally, the fifth assumption is that we believe we can find answers that will help us in understanding life. These are the assumptions behind the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

The Problem of Suffering

Whatever are our assumptions, the truth is that we all have a problem with suffering. We don’t understand suffering very well. At times we cannot see why suffering should exist at all. We can attempt to avoid the issue altogether, but this gives us little comfort when we visit an Intensive Care Ward or stand beside an open grave.

The reality of tragedy sooner or later will come to us all. It is in those times we find ourselves asking why. And for those of us who believe in a personal God, we find ourselves asking why God doesn’t do something to intervene. This is especially true when the person is a "good" person, or a person who is a believer in God. In any case, we want answers.

There is a classic statement of the problem, which has its basis in the thought of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. The reasoning revolves around whether God is all-powerful and all-good. If God is all-powerful and all-good, then why doesn’t He stop evil? Either God is all-powerful and not all-good, and therefore unwilling to stop evil, or God is all-good but not all-powerful, and therefore unable to stop evil. This is the stuff of sophomore philosophy. It appears logical but it was proposed by one who had already made up his mind that God does not exist. Epicurus believed that the existence of evil in the world was evidence that God did not exist. The tendency is to blame God.

Thomas Hardy wrote these lines in a pessimistic and agnostic poem entitled, "Nature’s Questioning":

We wonder, ever wonder, why we find us here!
Has some Vast Imbecility,
Mighty to build and blend
But impotent to tend,
Framed us in jest, and left us now to hazardry?

But before we blame God, we should ask a more fundamental question. How do we define good? You see, many of us define good in terms of happiness. We want to be comfortable, secure, and enjoy life. We want to earn our living without too many hassles, pay our bills, raise a stable family, and have our share in the "good life." We are not talking about extravagance here. We just want to be happy. It is good to be happy, and anything which disturbs that happiness and discomforts us is bad. But is happiness the goal in life?

Indeed, this brings us to an even more fundamental question. What is the purpose of life? This is the really big question. As a matter of fact, it is a far more important question than the question of why bad things happen to good people. If we know the purpose of life, then we might understand why things happen as they do. Nietzsche, a man definitely not a Christian, wrote, "If we have our own why of life, we shall get along with almost any how." A Roman proverb put it this way, "When the pilot does not know what port he is heading for, no wind is the right wind." Unless we know the purpose of life, we truly grope in the dark. Nothing else will make sense.

But is happiness the purpose of life? I do not believe it is. In fact, there are many people who have made happiness their goal who have ended up miserable. In fact, making happiness your goal in life may cause you to be one of the most selfish people around. You become self-centered as you continually consider how you can make yourself happier. Helen Keller wrote in her journal, "Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." In other words, happiness is not a goal to pursue, but rather a by-product of a life invested in something worthwhile.

Is there a worthy purpose to life? Is life worth living? Some have thought not. Bertrand Russell once called man "a curious accident in a backwater." And the cynical American editor H.L. Mencken called man "a local disease of the cosmos." I do not agree. Despite all of our problems, we were created in the very image of God and have a worthy purpose for living. People are valuable because they are created in the image of God. God gives us our worth.

This brings us back to the question of why God doesn’t intervene. God could intervene. He has the power. But God created all of us with the freedom to choose. He did not make us machines, like robots. He gave us the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. He could have created us without that freedom of choice. But then, would life be worth living? You can go to the store and buy a baby doll that speaks when you pull the string. You pull the string and she says, "I love you." Does that mean anything to you? Is that really love? Certainly not! Love is a choice. We want to hear those words when someone has chosen to say them. Only then do they have real meaning. God created us with the freedom to choose. And the choices we make now impact our lives both today and for the future. Our lives have a purpose, and our choices determine whether we fulfill that purpose.

I read of an epitaph on a tombstone in an old cemetery, which read, "Pause, my friend, as you go by. As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be. Prepare, my friend, to follow me!" Quite a challenge, isn’t it? I also read that someone added this footnote to that epitaph: "To follow you is not my intent, until I know which way you went!" Choices. We are all faced with them. They impact our lives forever. God has given us this freedom.

But sometimes God may have a purpose beyond our hurt and unhappiness. In the Bible we find a story of Joseph. What happened to Joseph could be construed as "bad." He was hated by his brothers. They threw him into a pit and sold him to an Egyptian caravan as a slave. He was torn away from his aged father. While he was in Egypt he was wrongfully accused and thrown into prison where he spent several years. Finally he was elevated to the position of Prime Minister of Egypt. All of this was for the purpose of eventually providing for the needs of his family and the household of Israel. In fact, Joseph said to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is know being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20). God is working out a purpose in all things. It says in Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

The Predicament of Sin

Let me ask you another important question. What would happen if God did right now eradicate all evil? Would that be good? More personally, what would happen to you? You see, there is another reason why God does not intervene and simply wipe all evil from the face of the earth. The problem is our predicament. If God were to eradicate all evil He would have to eradicate us. In asking the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" we must also ask ourselves "Who are these good people?" Are we really totally good?

The answer seems obvious. All of us have done things that are not right. The Bible calls this sin. Sin is defined as falling short of the mark. All of us fall short of the mark. We have done things that are wrong, thought things that are wrong, said things that are wrong. In short, we have sinned. In fact the Bible says that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This is our predicament. It is the predicament of sin.

One of the reasons that suffering is in the world is that sin is in the world. When God created us with the capacity to choose between good and evil, we choose evil. Adam, the first man, chose to disobey God. All of us have ratified that choice.

When Adam sinned, he caused the entire world to come under the effects of sin. We live in an imperfect world, everywhere infected by wrong attitudes, and wrong deeds. Evil is in the world. And none of us are exempt from it. Bad things happen because bad people do bad things. There is also a powerful evil force in the universe. He name is Satan. He is also a creation of God. He was created, like we were, with the freedom to choose. He chose to rebel against God. Thus, he became the evil force behind so much of the wickedness we see in this world. All of us are aware that there is a depth of wickedness which cannot be explained in any other way. There are people who engage in such violent and cruel acts that we must conclude that they are demonic.

At times all of us are touched by the effects of sin. It is nothing unusual really. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow put it this way,

Be still, sad heart! And cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

Things happen to us because we live in an imperfect world. Our challenge is to come to an understanding of how to deal with the trouble that comes our way. Sometimes there are not neat, simple explanations.

The Hindus developed a law of Karma which says that all of the actions in this life are the result of actions of a previous life. The tragedies of life such as blindness, poverty, hunger, and physical deformity are simply the outworking of punishment for evil deeds in a previous existence. It is a neat little explanation, but too neat.

There is a sense in which some suffering can be a judgement or punishment from God. But in every case in Scripture where there was such punishment there was also a warning beforehand. God does not haphazardly punish people. His punishment, or chastening, is designed to draw people out of bad situations. But whatever happens to us, in any case, we do not get what we truly deserve.

The Provision of a Savior

God has not dealt with us according to our iniquities. God has, in fact, provided a Savior for us. Because sin has infected this world, God sent His only Son Jesus to suffer along with us. Jesus came into this world and was tempted in every way as we are. He suffered cruel treatment, mocking, ridicule, rejection, and the scorn of men. He was beaten, bruised, spit upon, and finally nailed to a cruel cross, all for us. Jesus endured the effects of this sinful world to a greater degree than any of us every could. He knows what it’s like to suffer. And He knows how to comfort all of us who suffer.

I suppose the hardest hurdle to overcome is the hurdle of our own lack of understanding. Somehow we think we have to understand the why of everything. Rather, what we really need to do is to trust. We must trust that God is good. We must trust that He is working out His purpose in our lives, even through the darkest difficulties. Sometimes that is a difficult task indeed. When we are in the midst of suffering, it is tempting to rise up in rebellion against God. It is easy to blame Him for our suffering. And sometimes it is hard to believe that He is good. But it is at this point where we must choose. You see, our own reaction to suffering, rather than the suffering itself, may determine whether we experience grace or despair. It has been said that the same sun which melts the butter hardens the clay. Our reaction to suffering may determine the result of suffering. God asks us to trust Him.

The greatest evidence we have that God is good is found in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the Cross for us. There, on the Cross, is the greatest evidence of the pure love of God. While we might not see the details of all God is working out, through the Cross we understand that God will do what is right. In the Cross we come to understand that "In everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." If we can catch a vision of the goodness of God in the Cross, we will be able to trust the Lord in spite of the most difficult times.

The prophet Habakkuk was one who had come to an understanding of the goodness of God. He wrestled with the question of good and evil. His book ends with a tremendous testimony of faith. Listen to the words in Habakkuk 3:17-18,

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

What a testimony to the grace of God! You could put that testimony into modern English this way,

Though the stock market crashes,
and there is no money in the banks;
though the oil wells dry up,
and there is no gas in the car;
though I am fired from my job,
and there is no food in the house;
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my savior!"

You can only come to this kind of attitude about life through knowing Jesus, who will walk with you through the darkest times. I must confess, I do not know how someone without a firm faith in Jesus Christ can endure the trials of this world. Pain and suffering apart from Christ is enough to lead anyone to despair. Without Christ there is no purpose to life. Without the reality of eternity and a home in heaven when you die, life is a futile and vain endeavor. But in Christ, and through Christ, life has meaning. And in Christ even the deepest pit of despair can have meaning. He may not give you all the answers here and now, but He Himself is the answer to life. Jesus is acquainted with grief and sorrow. He endured it. He can give you the grace to endure it and come out on the other side with a life worth living.

Copyright © 1999 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.

This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to J. David Hoke, Pastor, New Horizons Community Church, 2303 Evesham Rd. Voorhees, NJ. 08043.

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