"21 Reasons Bad Things Happen to Good People" #5

First a brief review:
We've been looking at some thoughts from the book "21 Reasons Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Dave Earley. In previous lessons we've seen there are 4 Important Truths regarding this topic of suffering. In order to understand suffering, we MUST remember these truths:
1. God is under no obligation to give us an explanation for suffering.
2. God has given us plenty of explanation if we will only look for it and accept it.
3. God can do more than one good thing through the bad things that happen to us.
4. God knows what it is to suffer, and He knows how to help us in our suffering.


We began this study by my stating Reason #21 first, because I believe it to be basis of ALL suffering.
God created the world good. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." (Genesis 1:1, 31) When God created the world, there were no earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, sickness, murder, suicide or crime. The world God made was very good. It was Paradise.

God created people with the ability to choose. "So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27) Being made in the image of God is what sets people apart from animals. Animals do not have a God-consciousness and cannot make moral choices. Humans can. God gave people the power to choose.

People chose evil. "16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16-17) " 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3:6) God gave Adam and Eve a choice. They chose to disobey. They chose evil.

Their choice brought evil into the world. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all have sinned—" (Romans 5:12). Exercise of free choice in the direction of evil is the basic reason for evil and suffering in the world. When we think of blaming God for the evil in this world, we need to stop and remember that humans introduced evil into the world. Not God.

Their choice has had lasting consequences. Since the Garden of Eden, the choice of Adam and Eve has had lasting implications. First, the world is no longer good. When we human beings (Adam and Eve) told God to shove off, He partially honored our request. Nature began to revolt. The earth was cursed. Genetic breakdown and disease began. Pain and death became part of the human experience. The good creation was marred. We live in an unjust world. We are born into a world made chaotic and unfair by humanity in revolt against its Creator. Second, people are no longer good. Romans 3:10 says, "There is no one righteous, not even one." We need to remember that the blame for the majority of human evil and suffering lies at the feet of human responsibility. We are NOT GOOD. Only Christ was GOOD. We can only become good when we are IN CHRIST.

So far in our study we have looked at the following reasons why bad things happen to good people:
1. To win an unseen victory.
2. To expand our perspective of God.
3. To deepen our humility before God.
4. To produce greater intimacy with God.
5. To prepare us to receive far greater blessings.
6. To position us for higher promotion.
7. To prepare us for the miraculous.
8. To increase the testimony of God.

Tonight, we will explore 4 more reasons.

To Bring Us to Himself
He dreamed of a good life, a good job, and a good family. He was just a few months from retirement in beautiful Philippi. Things had fallen into place and were going his way--until the night all his dreams were shaken and shattered.
Earlier in the day, he had taken into custody two political prisoners. Religious zealots, they had incited a riot. He did not know all the details, but somehow these terrible two claimed to have cast a demon out of a slave girl in the name of Jesus. They had been dragged before the authorities and severely whipped and beaten. That's when they were turned over to him.

He locked them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in stocks. He would sleep soundly tonight. No one could get out of there. Or so he thought.
Unlike most prisoners, moaning and crying, these two crazy men started praying and singing praises to Jesus. They weren't great singers, but their singing was interesting and did sound pretty nice…and harmless--he thought. So he went to sleep.

Suddenly, the ground started pitching and the walls began shaking. An earthquake was taking place right under the cells of those two religious men. Suddenly and miraculously, all the prison doors flew open and all the chains came loose. No one was hurt. How had this happened? What had he done wrong? All the jailor's hopes and dreams were gone, completely gone. Trembling, the jailer knew what he had to do. Allowing prisoners to escape was unacceptable. When he accepted the job, he knew the policy. For a jailer to lose a prisoner was to lose his life. So resolutely he grabbed his sword and drew it out in front of his stomach. One quick plunge and it would be over. Goodbye wife, good-bye kids, good-bye world.

"Stop!" a voice broke his concentration. "Don't harm yourself. We are all here." It was those two men. Stunned, amazed, relieved, overjoyed, afraid--the jailer called for a light. Running into their cell, he found the two men, calm, unhurt, and smiling. Happily, he led these miracle producers out into the room where his family was eagerly gathered. They were confused but relieved. They had assumed that the jailer would have killed himself by now. But there he was, standing before them with the two smiling men.

"Sirs," he asked the men through trembling lips, "what must I do to be saved?"
"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved," one answered. Then gesturing to the man's family, he added, "you and your family." Then the two men taught the jailor and his family the gospel about Jesus Christ. They did believe on the Lord Jesus and were baptized for the remission of their sins (for the full account, read Acts 16:16-40).

One reason these good men, Paul and Silas, suffered was so that they could be in a position to bring the Philippian jailer to faith in Jesus Christ. One reason the jailer lost his dream of sound sleep and a secure jail was so he could have an opportunity to hear the gospel, express faith in Jesus Christ and receive the salvation of his soul.
God turned shattered dreams into something better-- an encounter with Himself. Why does God allow bad things? Sometimes it is so He can do what He knows is best, blessing us with Himself.

Many of people may be brought to salvation in Christ by some bad thing happening to them and God using it to draw them to Him. Then they, too, can be taught the gospel of Christ, believe it and be baptized to receive the salvation of their souls.
"Hebrews 10: 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;"

Are there any comments or questions so far?







To Stretch Us For Greater Growth
Are you suffering? Does affliction seem to come in waves that won't go away? Do you feel like it comes at you from all directions? Take hope. You are not alone. And you are not the first.

A devoted Christian man named Paul endured his own dizzying list of adversities. In fact, his sorrows are so numerous that he views himself as possibly the undisputed champion of pain. Read his testimony slowly, imagining how deeply these things must have hurt:
2 Corinthians 11:23-27 I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

Why would God allow such a good man to suffer so many bad things? In letters to his friends, Paul describes several benefits of suffering that we will discuss. One reason that especially stands out is his dogged insistence that bad is good for us, in the hands of God, because it helps us grow. In fact, it is so good that Paul said he even shouted praises when he was surrounded by troubles!

Romans 5: 3-5 There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Look at the benefits: "passionate patience," "the tempered steel of virtue," and "alert expectancy." Those three add up to personal spiritual growth.
Why do bad things happen to good people? Because in the hands of God, pain can help us grow and forge our character. It all depends upon our faith and trust in God to be doing what is best for us.


Any questions or comments here?



To Remind Us That We Are Not Home Yet
At the time of its creation, the earth was a lush, glorious, tropical garden paradise. All of creation existed in perfect harmony under the rule of God. But because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, planet Earth was placed under a curse. It has been groaning ever since.
Genesis 3:17 "To Adam He said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

At that moment, when mankind lost Paradise, a dark shadow was cast over our planet. Aging, death, and decay of all living creatures began. Thorns and other weeds began to grow. Viruses were born. Plagues were hatched. Mosquitoes became bloodsuckers. Snakes became poisonous, as did some types of ivy. The table was set for the rise of killer storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and droughts.

Since that fateful day in the Garden of Eden, creation has been groaning under the curse as it awaits the coming day of redemption. Paul writes: Romans 8: 18 " I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Notice some of the ugly descriptions Paul chose to depict earth at this time: sufferings, subjected, frustration, decay, groaning, pains. But a better day, a brighter day is approaching. It will be a great day of glory, liberation and glorious freedom. It will be a day when Christ will return to take us to heaven where all the saved will be restored to Paradise.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever."

1 Corinthians 15:20 "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Christ) also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father"

Sometimes we look for deep and complex reasons why bad things happen, when the easiest answer is that bad things happen because we live on a planet that is no longer truly good. Everything on earth is now stained and strained by imperfection. When bad things happen, they remind us that we are not home yet.

The closer we draw to God the more we long to be with Him where He is. Paul spoke of this in 2 Corinthians 5: 6 "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Are there any questions or comments?

To Shape Us More Like Jesus
Most of us can quote Romans 8:28 by heart. It is one of the most encouraging promises ever pledged. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." The almighty God of the universe reassures His people that no matter what things happen, he works every single one of them for out good and his glory. Knowing and believing this enables Christians to live as "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37). It binds us with certainty to the love of Christ no matter what we face. No amount of trouble, trials, or tribulations; no hard times, hunger, homelessness, harshness, or hatred; no type of pain, pressure, or problem is so strong as to separate us from the love of God. Nothing is too complex, overwhelming, pervasive, or powerful to keep God for using it for good. God works all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose!

Therefore, the questions that must be answered when we are suffering are, "What is God's purpose?" and "Who are the called?" Fortunately, we don't have to guess. The answer is in the very next verse: Romans 8: " 29 For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters." In other words, God has known what He was doing all along. From the beginning He decided to shape the character of those who love and obey Him along the same lines as the character of His Son. God knows exactly what He is doing, and He uses all the circumstances in the lives of His people to make us more like Jesus.

God uses the gospel of Christ to call us to Him. Every human being who is taught the gospel has been "called" by God to come to Him. In order to receive salvation, it is then the responsibility of each person to accept that calling by obeying what the gospel of Christ tells them to do.

Paul writes to Christians at Thessalonica that God “CALLED YOU THROUGH OUR GOSPEL” --
2 Thessalonians 2:14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. THE GOSPEL (1 Corinthians 15:1-3) is communicated by “THE WORD OF TRUTH” (Ephesians 1:13), which God designed to PRODUCE FAITH in sincere hearts (Romans 10:17; John 20:30, 31).

1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

Ephesians 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

John 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

These promises are made to CHRISTIANS-- not to those who are not yet Christians. Christians are those "good" people we've been talking about in this series. They are "good" because they have been clothed with Christ's goodness.
Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The first step in receiving the blessings of the gospel is to submit YOUR will to the Will of God.