A question that gets asked frequently is "If God loves us so much, why does He let bad things happen?" or, "Why do bad things always happen to good people?" And since my last article was about God's love for us, that's what I'll be talking about today.
Things happen to us on a daily basis. Wonderful things, negative things, incredible things, and terrible things. The truth is, life is unexpected and short. Now I know I'm kind of being a downer here, but it's true. No matter how good or bad of a person you are, life goes on. Yes, there are consequences, but the ultimate punishment with be given on Judgement Day. The last section of Matthew 5:45 reads "For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Life goes on. Things happen, yes, but do we actually deserve anything in life? Jesus is God's son and is known as the "man of sorrows". If you think you've got it bad, imagine having to leave heaven and come to earth only to teach those who persecute you for trying to help them get to heaven, and then brutally tortured and murder you so that those people who ruthlessly slaughtered you can be saved. If that was Jesus' life, then why do we feel like we deserve better?
"But how can God let these things happen? Why would that be God's will?" Not everything that happens is God's will. Yes He lets it happen, but He isn't responsible for them. It is possible for us to go against God's will, that's what sin is. God lets these things happen because He's not going to just shove us into heaven, but lead us. If we follow or don't follow, that's all on us.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that yes sometimes life is hard. Yes, some people have harder lives than others, but eventually, if we do our best to serve God, 70 years is going to be literally nothing compared to eternity. It's our job to live the right life until death, even though sometimes it can be difficult. But as we read in Hebrews 4:15, we have a high priest who has been on this very earth and has suffered through every temptation, yet remained perfect the whole time, and it's through Him that we can go to God in prayer.
