Blaming God When Bad Things Happen To Good People

When I was young, I often thought about why God lets bad things happen to good people. I've always been one to be 'over sensitive' to what happens to others. I struggled with this for a long time. That was until I grew to understand the true nature of God and how much He really loves us. As you can tell by reading my blog, I do believe we all have a very important choice... either to accept God's gift of salvation which is through believe in Jesus as God's one and only son who lived, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again who sits at the right had of God and who will one day come again to take us to the home that He is now preparing for those who believe in Him. I am prefacing what I have to say because this only applies to God's own children. If you have not accept God's free gift, then this doesn't apply to you.

I just finished watching a religious program on which a couple shared their story of the loss of their 3 teenage daughters who were killed in a car accident. My heart ached for their story. The girls were all between 12 - 19. And they were killed when they were passing a car head on while they were on their way to their brother's soon to be wife's bridal shower. What a very sad day and a horrendous tragedy this family had to bear... watching their only son get married 3 days later and then burying their only daughters 2 days after that. I have no idea the strength it took that family to go through that. And again, my heart breaks for them.

It's in circumstances like this one or maybe like the one so many people are going through right now of loosing their homes. You might be one of them. They wonder why has God allowed this to happen to me? I've always done everything as I should. I love God, I do what He asks of me, I love my neighbor as myself, I give as I should. And yet tragedy comes... to us all. None of us are exempt.

This is what I've learned...

1. no matter how far away we think God is from us, He is closer to us than our next breath
2. through Jesus, God does know exactly how much our loss hurts... whether it's physical pain (which Jesus endured during the Crucifixion) or the loss of material things (Jesus never had a home) or emotional pain (Jesus' friend Lazarus died) or feeling as if our friends have turned against us (the only true time when Jesus asked His friends to stay and pray with Him, they fell asleep)
3. as hard as it seems when the tragedy happens,"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8: 28)
   
4. it is "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10: 10)
   

For me, the most important of those 4 things that I've learned along my journey in life is the last one... to know where tragedy comes from takes the blame off of God and puts it where it should be... "the thief". You see, God created all of us with a wonderful gift of Free Will. That means we have the ability to choose to make choices. Sometimes we make very good choices, and other times we don't (and then we often pay for the choices we make). Sometimes others in our world make choices and they effect our lives... like the father of 5 who was hit by a drunk driver and killed a few weeks before his sixth child was born. We forget that each of our lives touch others. And our choices really do matter. This is one of the absolute most important goals I had while teaching and raising my own children. We do not walk in this world alone.

But the thing that gives us all hope when we face times of trials is that God will never leave us or forsake us. Even in cases like the one I shared earlier about the girls who were killed in the head on crash... who's choice was it to pass the other car? the sister who was driving chose to pass. And we weren't told about the people in the other car? I wonder what happened to them? Were they killed? or maimed? Yes, it was such a great loss for that family, but NO... God did not cause that accident to happen... it was just that... an accident. And yes, God could have miraculously intervened, but He didn't there was a purpose in the choice the driver made... "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

And this brings me to my final point... not all good people love God. I know many many wonderful, kind and loving people but they don't know/want to know God. And as tragic as it is, things don't work out for their good. I keep them in my prayers as well as my brothers and sisters in Christ who are going through fiery trials. And more so. Because they don't have the answer to that deep and longing question "Why?"

If you're going through something like this... a loss... a sickness... a hurt... pain... or are questioning "Why Me?" turn to the Father, the Giver of Life, the Lord of Salvation and I can guarantee you WILL find your answers. But be prepared, the answer may not be what you want to hear but you can be assured... God will take that loss, that sickness, that hurt, that pain, that tragedy and will turn it for your good and for the good of those that YOU touch. He is the same today as He's always been. And HE LOVES YOU!!!