Bad Things and Good People

I generally try to write upbeat things for praising God on Sundays. This may seem like I missed that mark. I don't think so. When you're done reading it, see if you don't agree.

The oh-so-common question hangs out there all the time: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" My canned answer is, I believe, true -- "They don't. There are no good people." -- but I have to admit that it's unsatisfying. I mean, aren't Christians "justified" -- declared righteous? Sure, Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone" but it's also true that "For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). "Okay ... sure ... we are not good, but we are declared good, so, Stan, how about a genuine answer?" Can we actually provide an answer to the question? I think so.

First, I need to be careful here. God has specific reasons for specific things and I would not want to try to delve into His specific ideas because, well, He hasn't seen fit to share them with me. So I won't be doing specifics. On the other hand, the Bible is not mute on the subject. So let's go with what we can know. We know, for instance, that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. It naturally follows, then, that "bad things" are not, in the final analysis, bad. So remember that what we're talking about is the unpleasant, the uncomfortable, the painful -- suffering -- but not bad. Still, what's good about suffering? Well, here's a list of things I found in my Bible. You check yours and see if you have any of these, too.

1. Suffering unites sufferers. That is, when you suffer and I suffer we share a sort of brotherhood. Well, let's read it from Peter: "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world" (1 Peter 5:8-9). There is, then, a general unity in shared pain. That is true both for shared trials among fellow Christians as well as the special connection it makes between believers and Christ when we share in the same sort of trials as Christ.

2. Suffering for Christ is a promised gift. Paul says, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake" (Phil 1:29).

3. Your individual troubles provide a platform from which you can comfort others. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too" (2 Cor 1:3-5).

4. Suffering tests (tries and proves) the genuineness of your faith. Proven faith results in praise and glory to Christ. All good stuff. Peter wrote, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith -- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:6-7). Note, by the way, that Peter believed that faith needed to be tested and that trials were necessary.

5. Trials of various kinds produce patience and patience produces the completed Christian. Suffering, then, is the necessary process of perfecting believers. James put it this way: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).

6. In the afflictions that we bear, though brief in terms of time, we are prepared for eternal glory. Paul wrote, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen" (2 Cor 4:17-18).

There you go. There are some genuine answers to the question. They are good things. Suffering is a promised gift from God that unites believers with believers and believers with Christ. They prepare us for specialized ways of comforting those who follow in the same trials. They prove faith and glorify Christ. They produce patience, ultimately ending with perfection. They serve as temporal preparations for eternal glory. And that's just the broad spectrum ideas. You can find more, I'm sure. There are more specifics, more personal notes, even more Scriptures, I'm quite sure. Look for yourself. One thing that we cannot conclude, however, is that bad things actually happen to good people. It is certain that unpleasant things happen to justified people, but no one but God is genuinely good in themselves and God works all things together for good, so the unpleasant isn't bad. So if all the unpleasant things in life are actually good for those who love God, I think that's a very good reason to praise God.