If God is Good Then Why do Bad Things Happen?

Why do we think “God’s Goodness” and “hard times” are mutually exclusive? I know so many people who have recently had BAD things happen.  Not like a flat tire on your vacation bad – more like brain tumors in a mom of 3, sickness with no cure in sight, job loss with no new job on the horizon.  Maybe multiple smaller problems feel like they are slowly tearing you down.  Where is God in all the bad? Does He care?

Here is what I am reminding myself: sin brought death.  God’s best plan was not death and hurt.  God’s plan was no sin and no hurt.  We messed up.  That means sin and death resulted when Adam and Eve thought they had a better way.  God was not taken by surprise when they chose to follow their own way.  God had a fix for the bad choice, and it was, and is, and always has been JESUS!  God sent Jesus, his only son, to fix our mistake.  Here is the Big Idea: We humans sinned and brought all of this hurt on ourselves.  Even though we messed up, God still sent His Son to fix our mess-up.

So, why do we think hard times mean God is not good?  God should be saying to us – “Why did you humans cause all of this bad?  You brought pain into my perfect world that should have been pain free.  Why are you still sinning?  Are you listening my children?  Turn back to my perfect plan!  There is a better way.  Accept Jesus as your savior and get free from your sin and shame.”

“God is Good” and “Life is Hard”.  These terms are not mutually exclusive, but instead these facts work together.  Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  Take heart friends, this life is hard but guess what?  God is good in the hard!  God is good in the midst of the deadline, the delay, the debt, the diagnosis, and even in death.

Are you asking yourself, “why me”?  God is asking you, “Why won’t you trust me?  Trust me with your life and I will give you more life than you can ever imagine.”  Maybe God’s goodness actually equals hard times.  Maybe God is using the hard times to draw you closer to Him.  Let me be clear: God is not the creator of bad – only good.  Satan is the father of lies and sin.  The sin leads to death and hurt, but that is actually what the scripture means when it says that God will work all things unto your good.  It may not feel good, and it may not be good yet.  But God can draw out good from the bad.  God can use the very worst circumstance to bring about the good.

What if right now, God is using the death of a dream to bring you Him?  What if God is using this hard time in your life to bring good – not just good things, but the Best thing – even more than you can ever imagine.