"The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater. No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater." - Brennan Manning
"It is easier to gaze into the sun, than into the face of the mystery of God. Such is its beauty and its radiance." - Hildegard Of Bingen
With deepest regards to Martin Luther, today I would like to visit one of the puzzles of Christian theology, represented in this famous syllogism.
1) God is omnipotent and omniscient.
2) God is perfectly good.
3) Bad things happen to good people.
At the outset, we must acknowledge three things, 1) This is a mystery that has withstood centuries of thought and investigation, it cannot be fully explored in a blog post. 2) That human beings, who are not eternal, infinite, or omniscient, cannot expect to fully understand God’s purposes and ways. 3) It is arguably impossible for human beings to even properly evaluate what is good and bad in regard to their life experiences.
That sounds ridiculous but bear with me for a moment. I'll bet you are familiar with the Chinese proverb regarding the farmer and his son. The farmer had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
A few days later, the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out, “Your horse has returned, and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
Later that week, the farmer’s son was trying to break one of the mares and she threw him to the ground, breaking his leg. The villagers cried, “Your son broke his leg, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
A few weeks later, soldiers from the national army marched through town, recruiting all the able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the farmer’s son, still recovering from his injury. Friends shouted, “Your boy is spared, what tremendous luck!” To which the farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.”
The moral of this story, is, of course, that no event, in and of itself, can truly be judged as good or bad, lucky or unlucky, fortunate or unfortunate, but that only time will tell the whole story. We lack the wisdom and knowledge to view events through the microsom of centuries, not just the miniscule years of our own lives. But let's listen to the words of someone who experienced some of the most horrific suffering of our generation, Corrie Ten Boom.
You might remember her story, the ten Boom family were Dutch Christians who helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust of WWII. When their home was raided after an informant tipped off the Nazis of their activities, the entire family was imprisoned. Corrie and her sister were sent to a notorious Nazi concentration camp. She was miraculously released from prison just days after her sister had died there. God brought incredible beauty and healing through her difficult experiences, and her words still have great relevance and impact in our world today:
“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”
“In darkness God’s truth shines most clear.”
“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.”
"Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only he can see."
So how did Corrie withstand her horrible trials and survive with a faith that was unshakeable?
She trusted in the goodness and character of God.
She understand the gulf between her own understanding and the ways of God, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)
That kind of faith is only possible with a mind that has been filled with the Word of God.
For instance, let's take a quick overview of the book of Job. In the book of Job we see the question proposed by Job, his wife, and his friends, "Why are these bad things happening to a good person?"
Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1), yet he suffered in ways that are almost beyond belief. God allowed Satan to do everything he wanted to Job except kill him, and Satan did his worst. What was Job’s reaction? “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15). “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). Job did not understand why God had allowed the things He did, but he knew God was good and therefore continued to trust in Him. Ultimately, that should be our reaction as well.
Part of our issue understanding this theology is that sometimes were not even asking the right questions. For example, when we use the term, "good people", we are immediately in error with Scripture. As hard as it is to acknowledge, we must remember that there are no “good” people, in the absolute sense of the word. All of us are tainted by and infected with sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8). As Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19). All of us feel the effects of sin in one way or another. Sometimes it’s our own personal sin; other times, it’s the sins of others. We live in a fallen world, and we experience the effects of the fall. One of those effects is injustice and seemingly senseless suffering.
When wondering why God would allow bad things to happen to good people, it’s also necessary to weigh the temporal versus the eternal:
1) Bad things may happen to good people in this world, but this world is not the end. Christians have an eternal perspective: “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18). We will have a reward some day, and it will be glorious.
2) Bad things happen to good people, but God promises to use those bad things for an ultimate, lasting good. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). When Joseph, innocent of wrongdoing, finally came through his horrific sufferings, he was able to see God’s good plan in it all (see Genesis 50:19–21). Much of our growth as Christians occur when we are dealing with the reality of our own suffering, painful as it is.
3) Bad things happen to good people, but those bad things equip believers for deeper ministry. “Praise be to . . . the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5). Those with battle scars can better help those going through the battles which ultimately grows the Kingdom of God.
4) Bad things happen to good people, and the worst things happened to the best Person. Jesus was the only truly Righteous One, yet He suffered more than we can imagine. We follow in His footsteps: “If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:20–23). Jesus is no stranger to pain.
Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Despite the sinful nature of the people of this world, God still loves us. Jesus loved us enough to die to take the penalty for our sins (Romans 6:23). If we receive Jesus Christ as Savior (John 3:16; Romans 10:9), we will be forgiven and promised an eternal home in heaven (Romans 8:1).
At the intersection of suffering awaits two futures - one with God and one without. When you listen to people discuss their understanding and/or experiences with God, it is astounding how many times a significant event occurred in their life where they interpreted God's lack of response for apathy or even a basis for believing that He doesn't exist. At that crucial moments in our lives, we all have to decide, do we trust in the character of God, or do we trust in our own abilities? Faith is required to overcome our emotional responses.
Whether or not we understand His reasons, and there will always come a moment in our lives where we won't, we must remember that God is good, just, loving, and merciful (Psalm 135:3). Often, bad things happen to us that we simply cannot understand. Instead of doubting God’s goodness, our reaction should be to trust Him. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6). We walk by faith, not by sight, trusting in the One who loves us the most and desires our presence with Him, forever.
