Why DOES God let bad things happen?

From Hurricane Katrina and the threat of Hurricane Rita to the everyday rotten things other people do to us, bad things happen to all of us. What is the real reason for that?

It has been my own experience that most of the time we don’t grow in our faith and in our prayer lives and in our witness when everything is going along swimmingly. I’ve spent the last year deeply involved in constant prayer for several serving in the military in a combat zone. I understand now about the attitude of prayer. I understand about turning any thought of someone into a time of prayer for that person and others in the same situation. It is exactly what Paul described in I Thessalonians 5:16-17, Rejoice always; pray without ceasing. I am grateful every day for God’s provision and safe-keeping of those I care about and I am urged to continue praying for them.

Sometimes God lets bad things happen in judgment. Many, many times, in the Old Testament, His judgment came in the form of natural disasters. Sometimes bad things happened so that He might be glorified. How? In His provision during that time of great catastrophe. Sometimes it was to unite His people for His mission. Isn’t it amazing how America came together in the days immediately following September 11 and Hurricane Katrina? But all too soon, we go back to our usual ways – most of us – and start focusing on how “others” didn’t do everything right. Ah, the human spirit. It is amazing, and discouraging. Jonah got some “down time” to do some significant reevaluation about his discrimination and hatred of the citizens of Nineveh during his three days in the belly of a great fish.

And what about when people disappoint us? I think God knows how that feels. I am pretty sure that Jesus suffered loss (Lazarus – Jesus wept. John 11:35), disappointment (the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane - …and found them sleeping from sorrow,… Luke 22:45 and Peter’s denial in Luke 22:33 – 34; 54 - 62) and betrayal (Judas – Luke 22:47 – 48). And that doesn’t even begin to touch the list of times I’ve been a disappointment to Him.

So what is the purpose of the bad occurrences in our lives? To strengthen our faith and make us grow. Sometimes we keep going back into the same circumstances expecting a different outcome each time. Yeah, right. Like that’s going to happen. So God has no choice but to “smack us upside the head”, so to speak. And when we allow ourselves to have our needs met by people or situations, He may choose to remove those people from our sphere either for a time or permanently so that we come to rely on Him instead. Much depends on how willing we are to learn the lessons. When we rebel and refuse to be taught, the lessons may become harder and harder to bear. And when we learn a lesson, but then revert right back to our old ways when a similar situation arises again, He has to go into remedial teaching.

When the temptation comes (and it IS a temptation to be overcome) to say “Why me?” or “This shouldn’t happen to me?” ask instead “Why NOT me? What can I learn and share and grow in so that God is ultimately glorified by my response to the challenge in my path.”

The bottom line is God doesn’t make mistakes. The same God Who allows bad things to happen allows many good things to happen. We take those for granted and never acknowledge them or ask Him why He let something good happen. A friend of mine recently had to go through a week of testing for her not-yet 2-year-old daughter. The things they were testing for were myasthenia gravis and muscular dystrophy. Both are devastating diagnoses especially for your own child. I prayed fervently for them through the testing, sharing with God our heartfelt desires that this precious little girl not have either of those diseases. She doesn’t. She has muscular weakness to be overcome with physical therapy and will still have to go through several eye surgeries to improve the muscle function there, but she is a healthy little girl. As many times as I prayed for God to spare them from the horrible, I have thanked Him for His answer to our prayers.

I have thanked Him over and over for protecting my daughter in her recent car accident. It is a fact that she could have suffered a severe head injury or even died – but for a few inches or if the frame of her car had collapsed further.

The bottom line is how do we spend our time? Do we spend more time lamenting about things that aren’t going right or about thanking God for all the things that are going well? Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

Once upon a time, when I was in college, I was engaged. Of course, I prayed that all would be well between us and we would live happily ever after. When that didn’t happen, I didn’t think to thank God for allowing the breakups (yes, plural – I was a slow learner) that eventually sent me a different direction. But I realize now that I am so much more grateful for the husband God gave me a couple of years later – after I’d come to the realization that I didn’t have to have a man in my life to be content. Contentment was centered on the Lord. So I’m glad God didn’t choose to answer that first prayer. I have a wonderful husband, not without faults, but I probably have a few more than he does, and my life is what God wanted it to be for me. He saw the bigger picture about what I needed in a husband. I didn’t have a clue.

So to those who are hurting in trying times, be encouraged that God is working in you. Allow Him to show you the lessons He wants you to learn, and learn them and act upon them daily from this point on. Maybe then, you’ll be spared some of the same disappointments you’ve already suffered. But, beware, that doesn’t mean there won’t be others, but at least you can look forward to a new and different trial next time.