Tag Archives: when bad things happen

May 4; Momentary, Light Affliction

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Psalm 44, 60, 108, 124; 2 Samuel 8:9-14, 23:18-19; I Chronicles 11:20-21, 18:9-13

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why aren’t all Christians living long and healthy lives in the lap of luxury? Does God abandon His people, even those who love and obey Him? Are there times God goes on vacation, or sleeps, and isn’t aware of what His children are going through? It may seem that way to some.

It seemed that way to David. But we are wrong to judge God according to how we feel. We are to trust Him for who HE IS.

If Jesus had gone to the cross in order to make our lives comfortable, bad things would never happen to Christians. Do you think that was Jesus’ motivating factor for enduring the awful beatings and painful death? When He was hanging there, do you think He thought, “Well, at least Suzie will get that job promotion in 2019, and Johnny will get that house on the ocean, and Ellen won’t get cancer?” Was His goal to make His children healthy, wealthy, successful, and happy?

Of course not!

Then why do we get upset with God when we go through hard times? He never said we wouldn’t. Why do we blame God for a cancer diagnosis, or the loss of a job? If anything, Jesus promised life would be hard for us. Do we think He was talking about everyone BUT us?

David gives us a bit of insight as to why God allows those hard times, unfair treatment, suffering. “Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Psalm 44:22)

Jesus died on the cross to save sinners. And His power can be seen in the lives of His children, even when those children struggle. Maybe especially when His children struggle.

Consider what Paul had to say on the subject. Take a minute and read 2 Corinthians 4. Paul, who suffered more than most of us, considered the beatings, imprisonment, exhaustion, and persecution, “momentary, light affliction…” for the privilege of knowing Christ. Wow.

God doesn’t want us to love Him because He can make us comfortable. God wants us to love Him because HE IS. And God wants to reveal Himself through each of us in a way that will draw people to Him. Is how you are going through those devastating circumstances making people want God in their lives, too?

I’m sure we all know people who are living this truth. I have a friend whose husband was paralyzed years ago in a motorcycle accident. The faith and love of God in this couple is powerful. I have another friend whose husband had a debilitating stroke a year ago. She shines Jesus every day. There is a blogger friend of mine who has lived with ALS for 20 years. He continues to minister to people all over the world in Jesus’ name. Real life people, struggling in this lifetime, and still allowing God to use them for His glory.

Are you struggling? I pray you can embrace the struggle. James tells us to consider it joy when we face trials. Can you do that? Understand that God wants to show off in our circumstances. He wants everyone around you to see His strength and power and love through you. What we are facing is momentary and light if we know Jesus as our Savior. Because we have an eternity with God to look forward to.

And we have the privilege of being His light to a very dark world. Even in our struggles. What are you willing to endure for His sake? What was Jesus willing to endure for yours?

 

I Kings 20-22; What We Deserve

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Israel’s King Ahab was evil. His wife, Jezebel wasn’t much better. “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife.” (21:25) That’s quite the legacy.

They put a hit out on a guy so they could steal his vineyard. They blatantly worshiped idols. They were evil, and they encouraged evil in Israel. Doesn’t it seem fitting that these two receive their just desserts? Like leprosy or something?

However, God sent a prophet to Israel’s king and told him God was going to help Israel defeat their enemy. Wait. What? God was going to make this evil king successful?

Like it or not, that’s exactly what happened. Israel went to war with the Arameans and soundly beat them. Twice! Why would God give this rotten guy these victories? That’s just not how it’s supposed to happen. It’s just not right when evil people succeed.

Later on, after Naboth is murdered by order of Jezebel, God prompted Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him he was going to die. His whole family was going to die for Ahab’s sin. From what I know of Elijah, that is probably one message he was more than happy to pass on to King Ahab. And it’s probably a message all of us think was long over due.

How did Ahab receive this message? He tore his clothes, he fasted, he put on sackcloth. And God noticed. 21:28 tells us God saw that Ahab humbled himself before Him. And for the next three years, Israel was free from war with the Arameans. Neither Ahab nor Jezebel died. Once again, this evil king seems to have gotten away with something. Ugh.

Well, old Ahab seemed to have gotten pretty comfortable in those three years of peace. Eventually he defied God again, and this time it cost him, and Jezebel, their lives.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure God out, isn’t it? It just seems obvious that good people should have good things happen to them and bad people should suffer. But if you’ve lived more than ten minutes on this planet, you know that just isn’t how things go.

In 20:13, before Ahab fought any battle with the Arameans, God explained Himself. It’s something I think all of us need to take notice of.

I will give it (the battle)  into your hand today, and then you will know I AM the Lord.

I am reminded that God is not willing that anyone die without him. That includes the terrorist, the child molester, or the neighbor who dumps their yard waste into your yard. (Ok. That last one was a personal note to self)

Your idea of justice isn’t the same as God’s. Your idea of justice is immediate, sometimes emotional, and certainly limited to this lifetime. God’s idea of justice is patient, loving, and eternal. Everything good that happens to a bad person happens to reveal God to them, just like the good things Ahab experienced revealed God to him.

And here’s something we don’t like to think about. Anything good that happens to you… anything good… is God’s grace. I don’t care how good you think you are, you don’t deserve one moment of the blessings that are yours every day. You are a sinner. You deserve God’s wrath as much as that drug dealer or rapist you read about on the news. If you got what you deserved, well, let’s just say I’m glad none of us get what we deserve in this lifetime.

God is full of grace. Every moment of every day He is working in my life and yours to reveal Himself. Sometimes He does it with victories in battle. Sometimes He does it with hardship and pain. But in and through everything that happens, there is one underlying reason: God.

God wants us to know Him. God wants us to love Him, to worship Him, to rest in Him.

The next time you secretly hope someone gets what you think they deserve, pray instead that they receive what Jesus died to give them. Not because they deserve it. But because God does.

Righteous Judge, I have to confess that sometimes I am frustrated that sinners seem to prosper and Christians don’t. I seem to have my own sense of fairness, and wonder why You don’t share my insight. I’m sorry about that. When you told us not to judge, lest we be judged, I think you were talking along these lines. I don’t want to judge You for working in ways I don’t understand. Help me to deal with the sin of my own life, as you reveal it to me, and allow You deal with the sin in others’ lives as You see fit. And, Lord, let me never forget how blessed I am that You don’t give me what I deserve.

 

2 Samuel 22-24; Blessed

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I wrestled a bit with 22:21-25 this morning, because David is indicating God has rewarded him for good behavior. Clean hands, David? I seem to remember something about a girl named Bathsheba. Check under your fingernails, my friend. I’m not so sure they’re as clean as you’d like to think.

But there are other places in Scripture that equate righteous living with blessing: I Samuel 26:23, I Kings 8:32, Psalm 24, Proverbs 11 are just a few.

Then you have Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:10, 23 that tell us none of us can claim righteousness. Besides, life itself tells us good things don’t always happen just to good people.

I just watched a YouTube video from Nabeel Qureshi, a young man dying of cancer. If you don’t know him, I encourage you to check him out. A former Muslim, he gave his heart to the Lord and has had a fruitful ministry sharing Jesus. It would seem he should have many more years to talk about his Savior, yet unless God performs a miracle, Nabeel’s life on this earth is at an end.

The recent hurricanes that have and are causing destruction in this part of the world are not just picking out criminals and atheists to hit. And I’m sure you could come up with examples in your own life when good Christian people are hit with hardships. So where does David get off talking about how God has blessed him for following the rules?

He was forgiven.

David was not delusional. How did God reward him for obedience? I found the answer when I read on.

God had shown Himself as faithful, blameless, pure, shrewd, saving. “You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.”

Those are the real blessings of a right relationship with God. God may choose to miraculously heal Nabeel at the eleventh hour. He may choose to spare my home from Hurricane Irma. But the reality is Nabeel will die some day. My house will crumble and fall some day. Neither are going to last forever.

I have the same assurance David had in that I know God blesses His people with Himself. We can stand before him righteous, blameless, pure, holy when we allow Jesus to clothe us with His own. So, with David, I can say:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior, from violent men (and storms) you save me. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (even Irma regardless of the outcome)

Yes, I am blessed.

 

 

November 18 – Seeing God

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Acts 7-8

Bad things happen. People get sick, some die. Wars and terrorism are in the news all the time. Tragedy strikes across the world, and in our own homes. Life isn’t fair.

So where is God in all of this?

When Stephen was being pummeled by rocks, he “gazed intently into heaven.” He was dying a painful death. His world was as out of control as is ours. But Stephen saw what I pray we all can see. That is Jesus, seated next to God the Father in all His glory.

Stephen didn’t focus on the stones being thrown at him, or even on the people trying to kill him. His attention was on God.

I’m not going to question God about why bad things happen. He’s already made that perfectly clear in His Word. What I want to see is Jesus, ready and willing to heal our land and our lives if we only humble ourselves and let Him.

It’s not God causing bad things to happen. He didn’t force any of those people to pick up rocks and hurl them at Stephen that day. He doesn’t force anyone to be a terrorist, or an abortionist, and He doesn’t implant cancer cells in people’s bodies to make them suffer.

Bad things happen as a result of living in a fallen world. It’s mankind’s disobedience that has taken God out of the picture and we are left with the consequences.

So where is God when tragedy strikes? Right there, waiting and willing to draw us to Himself, to comfort and strengthen, and ultimately to take us to be with Him forever. If we, like Stephen, gaze intently into heaven, into the eyes of our Savior, it’s God who gives us everything we need in the midst of the heartache and pain.

Circumstances might not change, but we might. Our hearts might be broken, but our hearts might also be healed by an encounter with the Savior, and other hearts might be healed as well because of our testimony. What Satan intends for evil, God can use for good in and through us. No matter what is happening, God wants to give His children everything we need for this life and eternity.

He wants to give us Himself. And if you think that’s not enough, dear one, you are wrong. It’s everything.

 

October 25 – Why Me?

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Luke 10-11; Jon 10:22-42

I’ve shared with you that I had to evacuate my home during Hurricane Matthew recently. It was an odd feeling, backing out of my drive, watching the garage door close, and not knowing what I’d find when I returned. I paused before driving away and looked at the house I’d bought only a month before. Would it even be there two days from now?

I sat there for a moment and thought of my piano, pictures of loved ones, things with value only to me for their sentimental importance. I prayed, “It’s all Yours anyway, Lord. Take care of Your stuff.” And He did.

The next Sunday my church family greeted each other with praise on our lips. The island had been spared from devastation. Many trees miraculously fell between houses instead of on them. Flooding was minimal. We were all sharing our stories of how God had intervened on our behalf.

But one woman, a dear lady who is usually quick to praise the Lord, didn’t join in. I asked her how her house fared and she said, “Not so good.” The trees in her yard had not missed her house. She had major damage from the same storm I and others had escaped.

That morning our pastor spoke to us about that very thing. The knowledge that our island was spared from the worst of the storm should drive us to our knees in humility. The people of Haiti had a different outcome. The Carolina coast was devastated by that storm. Lives were lost. Homes destroyed. Families uprooted.

Did all those people forget to pray? Did God answer our prayers because we are so special? Was this God’s punishment toward everybody else, including my friend?

I am not ashamed to praise God for sparing my home. He did that. I rejoice in that. But I didn’t deserve it. The goodness of God was shown in the fact that all of us were’t wiped out in the storm. I don’t want to miss that example of God’s goodness. Even my friend, who is in the process of putting her house back together, is able to thank God. She rejoices in how He is working in her life through this ordeal.

The question when bad things happen isn’t “Why me?” We are sinful people. We have rejected God, and even those of us who have accepted God’s grace continue to fail Him. We shouldn’t expect good things to happen to us, if we think we ought to get what we deserve.

The question should be, “Why NOT me?” And the answer is God. We don’t deserve God’s mercy. But He is merciful anyway. We don’t deserve His protection, but He still protects us. We deserve His wrath, but He forgives us when we ask.

Dear God, I want to be able to recognize Your goodness in all things. I want to see Your hand as You answer prayer, as You work miraculously in my life, as You are faithful in all circumstances. I am humbled by Your care. I feel like Paul who called himself a wretched man, chief of sinners. Why me, Lord? Why are You so good to me? I want to live a grateful life. I want to serve You just because You love me so much. Help me to see Your love in everything that happens to me today. And may I live today with praise on my lips.