Why is there Evil and suffering?
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4. Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People? Lee Strobel Explains - Bing video
5. https://peacewithgod.net/why-does-god-allow-evil/?outreach=LP-topics-questions
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In this essay I will offer a brief and general explanation as to "Why bad things happen to good people." It is a question that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time. If you have heard of Job in the Bible, we know by God's own testimony that Job was a righteous man. His three friends however refused to believe that Job was suffering innocently, surely he must be hiding some great and gross sin to warrant such severe suffering! Their argument was that Job's suffering must be "payback" for his sins. They could not believe that God would let someone suffer so if he were a good man. To accept such a theory would mean that God was essentially an abusive Heavenly Father. Well, let me start at the beginning.
THE TRUTH ABOUT EVIL
When God created the heavens and the earth along with all the plants, animals and Adam and Eve, He created two very special trees also. These two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, were place in the center of the Garden of Eden. They stood out prominently from all the trees. God attached a single commandment concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adan and Eve were not allowed to eat of this tree and if they disobeyed they would die, {Genesis #3}. Adam and Eve did eat of the forbidden tree and their eyes were opened, the Bible tells us, to now know good and evil. They knew immediately that they has sinned! Sin had now been introduced to the human race and the next event that we read about is Cain killing his own brother Abel. By the time we get get to Genesis chapter six, the whole human race was so corrupt and wicked that God destroyed everyone and everything, except Noah and his family, with a world wide flood. God had seen, and records for us, that "the imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." God goes on to say that "the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence." Evil had become a way of life for mankind. God judged those people and started the human race over again through Noah and his three sons and their wives. God knew, however, that the seed of sin was carried through the flood in the hearts of Noah and his family.
THE TARGET OF EVIL
Since "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God" {Romans 3:23} and "For as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for all have sinned" {Romans 5:12}, everyone of us has the seed of sin in our heart. Everyone of us has sinned and are just as capable as any other person of committing any and many acts of evil. We may not like to view it as such but sin is sin. Sin always effects other people because we can never sin in a vacuum. This is where the answer to our question begins to emerge. Most people have heard of or would recognize John 3:16. Verse 19 says, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." The New Testament gives us some additional insight into Cain and Abel whom I mentioned earlier. First John 3:11-12 says "For this is the message that we have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Not as Cain who was of the Wicked One and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous" This is what we need to understand, evil persecutes good, evil people persecute good people. Now evil is not above attacking evil also, and there are many illustrations and examples of that in life and history, but evil's main target is good! Evil views good as the enemy! The tree of the knowledge of good and evil distinguishes between good and evil. In the Lord's prayer we are taught to pray that the Lord would "deliver us from evil."
THE TRAGEDY OF EVIL
Not all evil comes directly from some other person's hand or even from the demons that walk among us. Much of what we would definitely would call evil appears to be completely random; sickness, loss of a loved one, a pet, natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes earthquakes and accidents of all types. The list would go on and on. Some times it would seem as if we were just in the wrong place and the wrong time, and then tragedy strikes! All evil seems senseless but especially when it would appear that it could have been avoided or shouldn't have happened at all! That's when we ask, "why didn't God protect me?" Let me say first that many times God does protect us. How many "close calls" can we remember happening to us or other people? Even if we are not talking about "close calls", we wouldn't know God protected us because nothing happened! God can and does, at other times, supernaturally protect us Daniel in the lion's den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Think also of Jonah being swallowed by a whale for three days and nights, typifying the three days and nights Jesus Christ was in the tomb. Other times, evil seems to boldly stalk and attack us. How, on earth, do we answer or explain that? The answer is as follows.
THE TRIUMPH OVER EVIL
The answer is individual, not universal. There is no "one size fits all" answer. The reason bad things have happened to me may well be and probably are different from why they happened to you. Of course the explanation could be the same as well. What God is doing in my life at any given time is probably not the same thing He is doing in your life at that same time.God permits certain things to happen so that we have access to the same results and the same power. The Bible tells us in First Peter 5:10 "The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered awhile, make you perfect stablish, strengthen, settle you" What God can do, if we trust Him, will be to bring about results that defy the very evil that befell us and produce an outcome that glorifies and God and satisfies the questions in our hearts as to why these things happened. Romans 8:28 says "And we know that all things work together for good to them tat love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" Remember that they crucified Jesus Christ whom the Bible says: "Who went about doing good, healing all those that were oppressed by the devil" Another classic illustration is that of Joseph. Briefly, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. In slavery, he was falsely accused of a crime and was thrown into prison. In prison he interpreted a dream for Pharaoh's Butler and when it came true, Joseph only asked that he speak to Pharaoh about his situation The Butler forgot. Later Pharaoh dreamed a and it stirred the Butler's memory. Joseph was released and elevated in the land of Egypt to essentially the Prime Minister of Egypt. A famine hit the the area and in the course of time, Joseph's brothers, who sold him into slavery, came down into Egypt to buy food. Upon being reunited with his brothers, Joseph makes this statement, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive" God will overrule men, demons and evil events and bring such a blessing out of it that the results will satisfy our hearts questions! Let me suggest at least three outcomes from evil events that can mock the very evil that befell us.
1. Salvation
Salvation is the greatest possible outcome of any tragedy if the people involved have never been Born Again. If your searching and seeking has brought you here, you have been presented withe fact that God loves you so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord to die on Calvary's cross to pay the price for your sins! If this tragedy has brought you to sincerely ask for God's mercy and help, and He will help you, then the first good is beginning to emerge! "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be save" {Please see the essay on salvation}
2. Solace
The second thing God wants you to experience through this is peace!!! God is the God of all comfort the Bible tells us. No matter what has happened, is happening or will happen in the future, God will "extend peace like a river" God offers us the "peace of God that passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" I cannot explain how powerful the peace of God is because it passes our ability to explain or understand it! No matter what the source of the evil is, "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" {Romans 16:20}
3 Service
The third outcome is service. There are other people out there suffering just as you are and I have. Once we have experienced the victory that God gives we will want to share it with others, to pass it on to be a help for those with same questions we have today. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Who comforteth us in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God" God will first give you the victory over evil and send peace lie a river so we can tell the next person how faithful God was to us and assure them that He will be just as faithful to them! God wants to demonstrate His power and His glory in your life as well as mine. He is seeking to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards Him!
As I said, there is no universal answer to this question about evil and bad experiences, but there is an individual answer. An answer that God has tailored just for you. You can experience the Lord and find peace while at the same time preparing yourself to be a blessing to other people with the the same questions down the road! May God bless you in your search.
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