Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

Why me though?

Ah, the age old question - "Why do bad things happen to good people?"... I'll admit, I've even asked this question a few times myself. However, as of late I've realized that bad things DON'T happen to good people... bad things happen to BAD PEOPLE (or people that do something bad.) What seems to be bad in a "good" person's life is just a product of what being "good" entails...I put good in quotations because whenever I think about a person being "good" I think of what Jesus said when he was called good...

"Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees and said, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." - Mark 18:9-10

This is an interesting statement made by Jesus because Jesus is God. Maybe Jesus was referring to the fact that the random person knew that He was God. It's kind of like when Peter stated that Jesus was the Messiah... (check out Matthew 16:13-30) With all of that being stated, we can all agree still that Jesus said that "No one is good except God alone." right? #JesusSaidIt...so that means that no one is really good except God am I right? Am I right?

If we look at the life/death of Jesus, one could try to conclude that bad things do indeed happen to good people. Jesus never sinned. Ever. Not even once. He actually came to save the sinners! He healed people left and right, forgave sins, delivered people from evil spirits the whole nine -- yet people constantly tried to kick him out of their towns, they tried to kill him multiple times, and they even sent him to the cross to be crucified... :/ Yet he did NOTHING to deserve this...

WE DID.

Jesus was sent to the earth for US - The sinner, the lost, the sick, the needy, the down and the out. Jesus isn't just a good person, he is THE BEST PERSON TO EVER SET FOOT ON EARTH. The reason he died is because of OUR SINS, not his. He never sinned, so it's impossible for him to die!  Sin is what brings death. (James 1:15) Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins so that we could get closer to God. This is all proved in the well known Bible verse, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16 So to sum it all up for the people that may be new to the faith -- WITHOUT JESUS, WE WOULDN'T BE HERE. Maybe I'll go deeper into the importance of Jesus in another post. However, today we are talking about why bad things happen to "good" people. 

Jesus has to be the most prime example of how "what the enemy plans for evil, God will use for good"...The enemy thought that killing Jesus was going to put an end to all of the saving, healing, deliverance etc...but NOPE that just increased it! Jesus rose on the third day, ultimately proving that He is truly God, He conquered death, the devil is defeated and now anyone that believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life...

...but here was everyone probably thinking "man, why do bad things happen to good people?"

Another situation that's relevant to this topic is the story of Job. Job was a very upright righteous man, however he got in-between a "bet" of sorts between God and the devil. First off, there are two major important keys that you need to grasp from this story in The Bible: 

1. God picked Job

"The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" And Satan answered The Lord, "From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it." So The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil." - Job 1:7-8

2. God knows what He's doing

God is all knowing. He already knew how this whole thing was going to turn out before it even started. The beautiful thing is that He chose Job...what an honor it must be to hear God say "There is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil." What!!! That's the best compliment ever! God knew that Job would come through at the end, and of course He was right! (He had to give Job a little bit of a scolding at the end, but Job never did bow down to the enemy)

Also, in this process Job saw the true colors of his wife that suggested that he should just "curse God and die" (Job 2:9) He learned that his friends weren't really there for him like he thought they were (but Glory be to God He forgave them) and on top of all of that, the Bible says that The Lord blessed the second part of Job's life more than the first! (Job 42:12)

Wow man, bad things happen to good people. (sarcasm)

We have to understand that once we give our lives to God we are in His control. Once we are saved, we are HIS. We have to trust in His plan for our lives and understand that if something is happening it is probably for our good. Before we give our lives to God, our lives are in the hands of the enemy - and he only wants to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10)... so when we finally get freed from the trap of the enemy, God reveals to us the things that the enemy has been trying to use to kill us, steal from us, and destroy in our lives. Sometimes that's the wrong group of friends... Sometimes that's a bad habit like drinking, smoking or lust... Sometimes it might even be family. I was reading The Bible yesterday when I came across what happened with Levi when Jesus called him to become a disciple:

"After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said to him. And he got up and followed him, leaving everything behind." - Luke 5:27-28

He left everything behind to follow Jesus. Literally. We have to do the same thing when we decide to follow Jesus - leave behind the bad habits, the sin, the evil thoughts, the places we use to go that were no good etcetera...

That part is not easy. Plus it keeps happening. God doesn't like things to get in the way of His plans, trust me.

Sometimes we get to a point were absolutely nothing makes sense and we don't understand what's going on at all... However, instead of trusting God through it, we complain and wonder "why me though?"

Here's what we have to remember: If we belong to God we are in good hands. The only good hands actually. Bad things can only happen if we cause them to happen. If we aren't living according to God's will of course God will bring us back to the narrow path. If we sin we will def be punished for it. However, bad things aren't just happening to all the people trying to do good for no reason out here. The devil may be trying to bring bad in your life because he's opposed to the one true living God, but no weapon formed against you shall prosper - I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread - you are more than a conqueror - there is NO condemnation for them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit - I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future - and last but not least, he who endures to the end will be saved. (I challenge you to find the bible verses where all of those affirmations in the green are located and share them in the comment section.)

If you're on God's side you're on the winning team! We don't lose over here! No matter what it seems like!

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" - Romans 8:28

God bless.