Why would a loving, sovereign God allow bad things to happen to good people?
This is the number one question that keeps hungry souls from running to the open arms of our Heavenly Father. The One who says Heaven throws a party over one lost soul that comes home to him (Luke 15:10).
God Almighty longs for each heart to be with him. Though he absolutely could in his holy power, he will not force himself on the one who rejects him. He patiently, longingly waits and woos. Each of us has to decide whether we will choose to yield to or stiff arm him.
The Father needs us not, but he wants us deeply.
What is the point of what I am saying? How does this relate to the initial question posed --why does a loving God allow bad things happen to good people?
It relates because I am making the effort to preface the more staggering question -- Why did an all sufficient God, the One who needs nothing nor no one, go to such great lengths to rescue us from our hopelessness and stay with us in our pain?
Pause to really ponder this with me. It's staggering when you mull it over! I would never have done this! Would you? Especially considering the fact we had rejected him!
Read it again:
Why would a need-nothing God go to such personal, costly lengths to save us from hopelessness and then stay (he stayed!) with us in the trials we walk through in this life?
Who would ever do that?!
In Genesis 3, sin enters the world via Adam and Eve making the arrogant decision that they knew better than God. If it hadn't been them making that bad decision, it would have been us making that very same one. At that moment, perfect fellowship between humans and God was broken.
Because of his perfection, God couldn't turn his back on this evil and pretend that it never happened. His justice is evidence of his goodness. He had to punish the sin. If he didn't, would he really be good?
Instead of punishing Adam and Eve, you and me, he decided to punish his own Son, Jesus Christ.
This gift of grace came at great personal cost to our Heavenly Father. Outside of the obvious of watching his son die brutally on the cross at Calvary, the Father and the Son had never broken spiritual fellowship with one another until now. They had always been in perfect harmony. When Jesus died on the cross, the Father turned his back on the Son in that moment breaking fellowship; this hurt so much more than the nails driven through Jesus' physical body.
I'm sure you have heard this story, but I am reminding us here that God didn't just skip through a wildflower pasture in his pity to restore us to Himself. It wasn't a nonchalant "oh I guess I'll go save those silly gooses," as he sighed. No! He went to hell and back to restore us to himself. It was so costly!
The costliness of it matters because he did the unfathomable to bring us back together again. God parted the Red Sea, to get to you and me, to restore the opportunity for relationship that we had destroyed.
The jaw dropping parts of all of this is -- He didn't/doesn't need us!
He just wants us.
It would have made total sense for him to hang back in Heaven and never give mankind a second thought. But he didn't do that! He trail-blazed a way back to us when we had spit in his face.
And when Jesus rose from the dead and went back to be with the Father in Heaven, God, in his loving mercy, chose to stay here with us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Why? To help us.
John 14:26-27
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
We are all far too aware (thank you news channels)...It's bad here. Our world is sick! There is so much hurt, evil, brokenness, abuse and fear slithering all around Earth. Our God chose not one to abandon those he loves. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is here with us, in the yuckiness!
So instead of spitting in God's face with our seething arrogance asking why would a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people - A question I have asked many times, sometimes with a fist shake towards Heaven, other times with reverent curiosity - A better, more thought-provoking question would be, why would a need-nothing God, willingly choose to enter my pain after I spit in his face and not leave me here alone and hopeless in the mire?
This makes my heart leap! It's such a refreshing way to consider a hard, honest thought. And it's true. It is true. And the answer is as obvious as it is astounding...
BECAUSE HE LOVES US!
It's just who he is. God is love (1 John 4:16). That's crazy love. That's the most romantic, faithful, not-giving-up, pursuing love I have ever heard about. That's the kind of love that changes people. That's the kind of love that brings REAL hope. That's the kind of love that leads to reckless abandonment of earthly things. That's the kind of love that leads to life and worship.
God loves YOU, friend! If you are in a horrible situation, he is here with you. You are not alone (Joshua 1:9). And not only is he with you, he cares. He cared enough to part the Red Sea to get to you so you might have hope right here, right now, no matter what storm is raging around you. Call out to Him. He wants you to experience his peace. He's near.
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