When Bad Things Happen

 

Earlier this week around Tuesday, I felt God had given me a vivid picture of what to share on the blog this week.  This morning, my husband's sermon was exactly the topic I had planned to discuss, so I think this blog is for someone out there. My husband asked the question, "Why does bad things happen to good people?" There are multiple answers to this question. If you look at the book of Job, God allowed Satan to test Job so that God received the glory. You may say that this seems harsh, but keep in mind, God protected Job from death and restored Job to even greater than before the testing. He also never left Job's side during the whole encounter. God also reminded Job that He created everything. If He could control the moon and stars in their place, He could make it work out for the good for Job. My daughter's journey to healing inspired so many to turn to God. I watched nurses crying as they heard my daughter sing God's praises. Let's move to the next reason. This is where I got the mental picture I'd like to share. I saw a little boy playing near a creek with his father watching. The father recognized some dangers, but he also didn't want to take the child's freedom to play because it brought the boy such joy. So instead he would call out warnings to his child to be careful, or he may fall and hurt himself. The boy would glance at the father, but eventually, he became so caught up on his surroundings that he stopped listening to the warnings of his father. A little later, he slipped on the wet rocks and skinned his knee. The boy cried out to his dad for help. In his pain, he asked his father why he didn't keep him from falling. His dad listened to his hurt child as he cleaned the wounds and held him until the pain disappeared. You may be saying in your head, "it's not fair to blame the father. He warned the son, but the son wouldn't listen."  The only other option would have been to take the boy's freedom, but that would have made the boy resent the father. Here's how this one relates. God gives us freedom on this earth. He also gives us the Holy Spirit to warn you when things may be bad. It's that feeling that you shouldn't do something or maybe you should. I've heard people say that they were driving and felt like they were supposed to stop at a gas station, only to find out an accident happened. If they hadn't stopped, they would have been in it. However, we sometimes get so caught up in stuff that we don't listen, like the little boy. The Holy Spirit warns, but we either get too busy or just refuse to respond. Then, we find ourselves falling or bad things happening. We get angry at God. Why didn't He stop it? The answer is He tried, but we didn't listen. But here's the amazing thing. He stays with us and comforts us. He pours out grace and cleans our wounds and restores us. Last, we live in a fallen world. If it were perfect we would never want to leave. If we want perfect, then we long for heaven. We may not know why bad things happen until heaven, but we know two things. 1) He doesn't cause the bad things. 2) He is with us the whole time and restores us if we trust Him.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!