Why do bad things happen to good people?
Job was a very good man. God described Job as “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8) Yet Job suffered an horrendous time of trials and tribulations. Job was stripped of his wealth, his children died, and his body became covered in boils. Moreover, his hardships were not the product of his own doing.
The Book of Job poses the difficult question: Why do bad things happen to good people?
For many the fact that good people suffer and the wicked prosper is proof of the non-existence of God. For others the suffering of good people causes them to be ambivalent to God. These people choose not to pursue or worship an omnipotent God that would allow undeserved suffering to take place.
In the Book of Job, Job’s companions claim that Job must have done something to warrant his trials and tribulations. The companions confront Job for failing to acknowledge that his sufferings are deserved. Job claims that he has committed no act that warrants his tribulations. In this regard, Job is correct and his accusers are wrong.
The fickle nature of good fortune on earth is not limited to the Book of Job. The prophet Jeremiah wondered “why do the wicked prosper?” (Jeremiah 12:1) Jesus noted that the “rain falls on both the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45)
In his books Where is God When it Hurts and Disappointment with God Christian author Philip Yancey addresses these ancient questions concerning justice and fairness on earth.
According to Yancey the Christian World View can be encapsulated in three part process: 1) Creation is good, 2) Creation has fallen, and 3) God’s Creation will be redeemed. Therefore, there will be tragedy and hardship in this fallen world. However, when bad things happen Christians must remember that our God has the power to redeem.
On April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech University in the United States a disturbed student went on a shooting rampage killing 33 students, staff and faculty. Philip Yancey was asked to give a speech to the mourning University community. At the speech Yancey said the following:
I would like to promise you an end to pain and grief, a guarantee that you will never again hurt as you hurt now. I cannot. I can, however, stand behind the promise that the apostle Paul made in Romans 8, that all things can be redeemed, can work together for your good. In another passage, Paul spells out some of the things he encountered, which included beatings, imprisonment, and shipwreck. As he looked back, he could see that somehow God had redeemed even those crisis events in his life.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us," Paul concluded. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Quoting Romans 8:39) God's love is the foundational truth of the universe.
The ultimate redemption in human history is Christ’s death on the cross.
As Jesus was on the cross he quoted Psalms 22 by calling out “My God My God why have you forsaken me?” On the surface Christ’s death on the cross was an unexplainable injustice. However, Christ’s death is the greatest act of redemption is all of history.
The drama in the Book of Job culminates with the appearance of God as a whirlwind in Chapter 38. Here God answers the ongoing debate as to his justice by saying “who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you and you shall answer me.” Certainly the Book of Job teaches us that we must walk humbly before our God when it comes to issues of justice and fairness.
However, the Book of Job also includes a prophecy regarding the redemptive power of Christ. In the midst of his trials and tribulations Job states “I know that my Redeemer lives.” (Job 19: 26) If Job is the actually the oldest book in the Bible, as many Biblical scholars contend, this statement is arguably the oldest written prophecy of Christ in the Bible.
If we remember that the God speaking from the whirlwind is the same triune God that suffered and died on the cross it should transform our perceptions and understanding. We cannot always know why bad things happen to good people, but we know that our Redeemer lives.
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