Why do bad things happen to good people?

One of the most important questions for mankind to wrestle with is, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

In fact, it is one of those questions that non-Christians pose in their search for meaning and purpose in life. Does the Bible answer that question? Yes it does, in various and sundry ways!

Perhaps the biblical character that comes first to mind when asking this question is Job. He is described as blameless, upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. If ever there were a good man, Job is it! And so, when we read in the pages of Job 1-2 all that happened to Job, we cry out, "Why did all this bad happen to such a good man?"

Forty chapters later, we learn two things. The first is that God is sovereign and His purposes are beyond our understanding. The second is that man is sinful from birth and that good is a very relative term that we throw around too quickly, thus rendering the premise of the question as untrue.

So, is anyone good? The sobering answer is "No." Romans 3:12 declares, "There is no one who does good, not even one." Mankind has always had a difficult time admitting or acknowledging this truth. So, if the premise is flawed, do we still have room to ask such a question?

The answer is "Yes." Come Sunday morning as we delve into purposes of God in allowing bad things to happen to reasonably good people!

Randy