Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?

Samantha over at Carry Your Candle asked, "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" Well, it wasn't actually her question. It was a question from a coworker. I'm afraid my answer wasn't particularly helpful, but she did make me think. What would I say in the same situation?

To me, the answer to the question is the opening line for presenting the Gospel. You see, I believe the question perfectly illustrates our sin condition by being so wrong-headed. The Bible says that "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23), that "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). You see, human beings, by nature, are hostile to God and have decided in each and every case, "I will be like the Most High" -- "I will be God in my life." In some cases, God has intervened and changed people, but this is the standard human condition. Despite the arrogance and affront to God, we have come to believe that we are valuable beings, worthy of being treated well. No one ever asks, "Why does God allow the sun to come up each morning?" or "Why does God let me have food and clothing and shelter?" or "Why are babies born healthy?" Those are requirements of God. We are entitled to them. How dare I even suggest otherwise? But if we actually understood that we were enemies of God, creatures of His who are anxious to overthrow Him and seize control, these would be more of the questions we'd be asking.

Somehow along the way we've replaced the Creator with the Creature. We've elevated ourselves to a position that puts God under obligation to us. He owes us pleasant circumstances and happiness. We've overstepped our bounds and exceeded our charter.

It's a funny thing, though, thinking about "creatures". Very few people would complain if you chose to step on a scorpion before it could sting you. Very few people would raise a protest if you got out the ant spray and killed off thousands of ants who were going to invade your home. They're creatures. They don't have the value of humans. And, at our level, this is absolutely true. Biblically we were made in the image of God and, as image bearers, are required to respect one another. But God isn't under the same obligation. He made the "picture". He formed the creatures that we are. And, as the Artist, the Maker, He is perfectly right in doing whatever He wants with us. He owes us nothing.

So, imagine yourself a tinkerer or inventor. You make a fine toy or robotic servant or some such. One day your creation goes awry. It turns on you. It refuses to follow orders. In fact, it becomes hostile, attempting to take over your house and do you harm. What do you do? Well, of course, you don't do anything painful to it. It is your creation. You are not allowed to cause anything unpleasant to happen to it. You are only allowed to do "nice" things to it. Right? Of course not. You attempt to correct the situation or you simply destroy it. It's your creation. You have that right.

I find the question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen?", wrong-headed. It assumes that God is not allowed to do that. It assumes, instead, that God is required somehow to only allow good things to happen. If bad things happen, He has done something wrong. Nonsense! This reflects a failure to comprehend our sin condition, our rebellion, our true state. The real question is "Why does God ever allow good things to happen? Why does He allow me to live? Why does He let me take a single breath? Why do so many good things happen to people who deserve nothing but wrath?"

You see, once we begin to grasp that, we begin to be ready to hear the Gospel. The Good News is only as good as the bad news. The bad news is God would be perfectly just and right to snuff us out of existence. The bad news is that our sin deserves His wrath. Once we get that, then the answer He has provided in His Son becomes very, very good news indeed. So why does God allow bad things to happen? Well, for multiple reasons, I'm sure (Asking why God does anything is dangerous at best.), but one of them is to remind us of what we deserve and to remind us of His grace and mercy in not allowing the immediate termination of our existence altogether. It makes the Good News really, really good.