Why do bad things happen to good people?
In attempting to answer any of life’s questions you must first make the Word of God to be your final authority – not your opinion, your experience or the experience of others.
Psalms 119:89 NKJV Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.
Then you must establish some things about the character of God.
Malachi 3:6 NKJV “For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Psalms 136:1 NKJV Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
John 10:10 AMPC The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
We must establish that God is good; He is the giver of life and death is not in Him.
Acts 10:38 AMPC How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.
Simply put: God is a good God and the devil is an evil, bad devil.
One of the main reasons that bad things happen to good people is out of simple ignorance of spiritual laws that govern this world and determine the quality of our lives.
Hosea 4:6 NKJV My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Hosea 4:6 MSG My people are ruined because they don’t know what’s right or true…
When you are ignorant of something, you do not know what the right decisions are to make or how to choose God’s way.
When people don’t know what to do, they revert to what they have always done and know what to do.
Deuteronomy 30:19 ERV “Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live.
There are two categories of decisions: ones that lead us towards life and blessing or ones that lead us towards death and cursing.
There is an ignorance of how those laws function and the consequences of breaking those laws. The consequences are the same whether the laws are broken out of a willful decision or ignorance.
The way the enemy is able to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives is because we either make poor decisions out of ignorance or he deceives us into making bad decisions through blinding us from the truth of God’s Word.
(Give the example of gravity and walking off the platform.)
One of those laws is the law of sowing and reaping. If you understand how this law operates and you use it according to the Word of God it will work for you to help you.
Ignorance of this law does not stop it from working in your life, it just means that you may not know why certain things are happening.
Why do good things happen to bad people?
- God’s mercy.
- They act on spiritual laws and receive the results without understanding why but only for a matter of time.
We are not able to truly discern what is in someone’s heart; what they are believing or not believing. We can only base our perspective on what we see from the outside. We cannot see if there are any roadblocks to their belief system being able to work or not. Only God knows that.
Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 29:29 MSG GOD, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are our business. It’s up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this Revelation.
1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Most of these questions have to do with what has happened or is happening in the lives of those around us.
The real question is this: where am I in all of this? Are there things in my life that are happening to me that are not the will of God? You can do something about it. You and God can work together to come out of those situations that are working against you.
Isaiah 61:1 AMPC THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, [Rom 10:15]
Isaiah 61:7 AMPC Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
Once we gain knowledge and repent and make changes in our lives, God’s mercy and grace will step in to undo, correct and restore what the enemy was able to take from us even if it was our fault.
Joel 2:25-26 ERV “I, the Lord, sent my army against you. The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts ate everything you had. But I will pay you back for those years of trouble. (26) Then you will have plenty to eat. You will be full. You will praise the name of the LORD your God. He has done wonderful things for you. My people will never again be ashamed.
Can you lose your salvation?
Whenever you are looking at particular verses in the Bible, you must always look at the context of what is stated and the environment in which it was said to help you get a clear meaning.
John 9:1-7 NKJV Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. (2) And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (3) Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. (4) I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. (5) As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (6) When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. (7) And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.
John 9:22 NKJV His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
When someone was put out of the synagogue, it did not mean you needed to find somewhere else to worship. This meant that you were eternally lost and there was no hope for you.
John 9:30-38 NKJV The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! (31) Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. (32) Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. (33) If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (34) They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out. (35) Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (36) He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” (37) And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” (38) Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
John 10:27-31 NKJV My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (30) I and My Father are one.” (31) Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
Jesus makes it very clear that when you are in His Kingdom, no man can step between you and God and take you out of God’s hand.
There is no one else that can tamper with your salvation. Your salvation is between you and God alone and no one else can interfere with that.
Romans 8:33-39 NKJV Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (34) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written: “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER.” (37) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (38) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul says there is no one that can come between you and the Lord and affect God’s love for you.
However, there are a number of Scriptures that talk about believers who fall away.
The two most prominent places in the Word that discuss this are referring to a very mature believer who falls away NOT someone who just recently received Jesus or the brand new Christian.
There is a huge difference between someone who is struggling who does not have a lot of knowledge of God, has not been taught the Word of God and is new in their faith and someone who ought to know better.
Hebrews 6:1 NKJV Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
Hebrews 6:1 ERV So we should be finished with the beginning lessons about Christ. We should not have to keep going back to where we started. We began our new life by turning away from the evil we did in the past and by believing in God. That’s when we were taught about baptisms, laying hands on people, the resurrection of those who have died, and the final judgment. Now we need to go forward to more mature teaching.
The whole idea of walking with Christ is to grow towards perfection and to rise above sin and not to stay where you are in your walk with the Lord.
Hebrews 6:1-3 NKJV Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (2) of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this we will do if God permits.
There is nowhere in the Bible that teaches us that if you sin as a believer, you lose your salvation.
There is a difference between fellowship and relationship. Your fellowship may be broken because of the sin but your relationship is not broken.
Have you ever had an argument with your spouse or maybe your kid has done something to disobey you as the parent? Your fellowship may be broken at that moment, but your relationship is not.
Naturally speaking, if you stay out of fellowship for a long period of time, you will eventually destroy the relationship.
Hebrews 6:4-5 NKJV For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, (5) and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
These are people who are Born Again, partook of the Holy Spirit, have walked in God’s Word and have even experienced the power of God for you and through you.
Hebrews 6:6 NKJV if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
When these people fall away from God, there is no coming back because they don’t want to come back. They would not repent even if they could.
Why did God cast out the third of the angels that rebelled with Lucifer? Why does that seem harsh? It is because they don’t want to repent and come back. Even if God were to hold His hand out in mercy, they don’t care.
The people that have committed the unpardonable sin don’t care and are not the least bit interested in coming back to God. So if you are thinking that you have gone too far and you are afraid that you have committed the unpardonable sin and are eternally lost, that is a good sign that you have not; simply because you are bothered about it. That is a sign that there is a lot of hope for you.
If a person is troubled about where they are in their relationship with God, it is a good sign that they are not in as bad shape as they think they are.
What are the things that lead to a Christian to walk away from their faith?
Romans 1:20-22 AMPC For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], [Psa 19:1-4] (21) Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. (22) Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].
- People begin to fall when they quit giving God glory.
- People begin to fall when they are no longer thankful.
- People begin to fall when they become vain in their imaginations.
- People begin to fall when they become full of pride.
- People begin to fall when they profess themselves to be wise.
The thing to remember in all of this is that this is a PROCESS and does not happen OVERNIGHT.
Five things that you can do to keep yourself from falling:
- Do not forsake coming to church and being an active part.
Usually when people fall, it is because they are isolated and disconnected from their local church.
- Have a regular time of devotion and prayer and spending time in the Word of God.
- Continually recall God’s goodness and give Him thanks for His goodness in your life.
- Examine yourself before God and make corrections as He brings things to your attention.
There is a difference between self-examination and self-condemnation.
Self-examination is to keep you of trouble. When you hear that you are sorry and no good is condemnation.
- Don’t let pride in your life.
Proverbs 16:18 NKJV Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
When you refuse to become prideful, you will always remain sensitive.