Why do bad things occur to good people?
When my mother was diagnosed with a really aggressive type of cancer before the age of fifty, I never once heard her ask “Why me?”, although I continuously asked, “Why her?”. I never heard her get indignant with God for the situation and disease she had been dealt, and as a substitute, I witnessed her lean in on her faith and her trust within the Lord and His plan. When I sat with a shattered hope for the longer term and a challenged trust in God, my mother sat using this unimaginable trial for a novel opportunity at spiritual growth and trust.
Through treatments and bouts of remission, she didn’t use her hardship as an excuse or as a way to minimize her faith and her belief in good. She used it to refine and strengthen it, even while I used to be silently wondering how God could possibly be so unjust and unfair. How can a plan that results in eternity so early, so soon, be a part of a plan of goodness and of affection? My mother was essentially the most caring, helpful, and faithful woman I’d ever known. My mind couldn’t comprehend how this bad thing, this life-threatening diagnosis, had been given to her– a superb person, a faithful person, a one who made the world a greater place.
For years I threw up a desperate query and prayer to God, “Why, Lord, do bad things occur to good people? Why her, a lady so faithful to your ways– a lady so trusting of your work and your guarantees? Why, Lord? Why?” For years, I felt ignored, never receiving a solution. I kept asking anyway.
Eventually, years after her cancer diagnosis, my mother would die from the disease. She was only 57. Not once in her struggle and her journey toward healing did I witness her questioning God’s justice or his fairness. Not once did I witness her in fear for her future. Not once did I watch her hope dissipate or her strength fade, although all of those things were happening in me. She was the one which had endured the unimaginable, yet through all of it, she was the one which held all of it together– faith, hope, love, trust.
I spotted after she passed that I desired to be like her. I desired to have a trust without borderlines and without invisible partitions built by lack of expertise. I didn’t desire a blind faith, I wanted an unshakeable one. When I felt like God wasn’t answering my questions and prayers quickly enough or in ways in which I could interpret as meant for me, I looked for answers in His word.
I asked, “Why do bad things occur to good people?” and that is what I discovered:
7 Comforting Truths to Remember When Bad Things Happen to Good People
1. No one is exempt from hardship, for we live in a sinful and fallen world.
We is likely to be good, but we should not perfect. In a world where sin and evil are present, we’re liable to the implications of those two things.
“For all have sinned and fall wanting the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23
2. Life will not be fair and it has limits.
We should deal with the everlasting perspective, knowing all people share the identical fate because death is inevitable. Remembering, judgment comes after death, the final word think about deciding who lived as God’s faithful and trusting servants.
“All share a typical destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the great and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those that offer sacrifices and people who don’t.” – Ecclesiastes 9:2
3. There is mystery in God’s ways and we must always trust Him in every part, even in suffering.
Even after we don’t understand, we must imagine and hold fast in His goodness and His sovereignty. The truth is that life holds immense suffering and there is no such thing as a clear “why” on this side of eternity. The entire book of Job shows how God allowed Satan to check Job. Job questioned God’s justice and fairness, and yet, still with no explanation, Job maintained his faith. Job’s circumstances highlight the importance of trusting God, even when suffering is unimaginable to know.
4. Hardship, while not desired or wished for, can result in positive outcomes.
Hardship can result in stronger character and maturity. It can result in greater endurance and hope than we’ve ever held or believed possible. God’s trials, though not understood, can refine our faith and develop spiritual growth, if we allow them to by having a heart open to those transitions.
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we all know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope doesn’t put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” – Romans 5: 3-5
5. Negative events might be used for good.
For all of those who love Him, God is actively involved in each aspect of our lives. God’s work will not be random. It is planned and purposeful, even after we don’t understand. No matter what happens in life, we must always trust Him- all the time. It will not be a straightforward accomplishment, but a noble and worthy one.
“And we all know that in all things God works for the great of those that love him, who’ve been called in line with his purpose.” – Romans 8:28
6. God is on top of things, even when His purpose isn’t all the time clear to us.
He doesn’t promise no hardship, He guarantees that our hardships will likely be used for good. Remembering, good doesn’t mean immediate, but relatively in His timing.
“The Lord works out every part to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.” – Proverbs 16:4
7. There is a time for every part.
There is a time for every part and I’m glad that today, there’s a time for trust– trusting that God is on top of things, and there is no such thing as a one else I trust more with that power.
“Trust within the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your individual understanding. In all of your ways undergo him, and he’ll make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3: 5-6
The common theme I discovered repeatedly throughout the bible is that each good and bad things occur to everyone. No one is exempt from hardship or times of struggle. The glory is present in the hope-filled truth that God ultimately uses the “bad” for lasting good. In life there is no such thing as a definitive distinction between good and bad. Judgement comes at death. It comes after life is lived, which is why we must look beyond the now and strive for an ending in heaven– trusting God’s path for every certainly one of us, even when it’s hard to simply accept or understand. Suffering is a natural a part of life, although we wish this weren’t true. While we glance world wide and check out to define good and bad, holy and evil, there is no such thing as a personal merit system that we’re aware about, nor in control of. On this side of heaven, there are positives and negatives that occur in each certainly one of our lives and our journeys, and there’ll all the time be in line with His plan.
In each life and death, my mother taught me the invaluable lesson to trust God through all of it. She taught me a faith that is likely to be challenged but one that will never falter. She taught me to live righteously and trust God’s plan through all of it– even suffering and even within the midst of a profound and heartbreaking loss. My mother didn’t fear her path because she knew where it might lead. She was capable of trust and see beyond the current life, into an infinite one with the Lord.
Now, every day, I get up in a pursuit to be more like her- to trust wholeheartedly, even when it hurts and particularly when things don’t make sense. I is not going to understand all the “why’s” that my heart holds because I’m not meant to, and that’s difficult, however it’s okay.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/ Blasius Erlinger
