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Why Do Bad Things Happen?
What is God Doing While We Suffer?
Even if suffering and pain are our fault, what is God doing about the problem? Has He washed His hands of the matter and abandoned us to the fate of annihilating ourselves? No. God is gravely concerned about our suffering. In the Bible, the Lord promises to take three separate actions to deal with evil.
First, God tells us that, unlike an overly permissive parent, He will not overlook injustice. Evil people often seem to be winning the day, while good people are crushed in the dust. However, God promises that a day will come when He will judge all people with justice, and all outstanding penalties will be paid.
Second, God promised Adam and Eve and further generations that He would send a Savior to resolve the problem of evil and sin. The Lord fulfilled this promise in the person and ministry of His Son Jesus Christ. This is the central teaching of the whole Bible, and we will consider it in detail later on.
Third, God makes a startling promise in Romans 8:28: “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.” This verse claims that God will take all the events of our lives, even the bad things, the disasters and the trials, and bring good out of them. The disasters and trials do not come from God. They are the result of the sinful choices made by humans. Yet God is so wise and powerful that He can take the bad stuff that happens to us and work it out for our good. Like a master artist, He can take junk and turn it into something beautiful.
This promise sounds almost unbelievable, doesn’t it? Many talk as if their lives were ruled by blind fate, but this is not so. God continues to love us in spite of our disobedience. How does God work this miracle of making things work out for good? That is the subject of the next few sections.
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