Why Do Bad Things Happen?

by Brian Bill
Published October 2, 2007

I used to enjoy watching Home Improvement. One of the best parts of the show was at the end when they would run the bloopers from that particular episode. There’s something very funny about watching other people mess up. But let’s face it; real-life problems are nothing to laugh at, especially when they happen to you. Like “bloopers,” I imagine that some pretty awful things have made an unwelcome entry on the screen of your life.

If you’re not going through a hard time right now, just wait -- you will. That’s the nature of living in a world like ours. Pain is guaranteed for anyone who takes on the task of living. Some of you are in the furnace of suffering right now. Others of you have just come out, and the rest of us will be there sooner or later.

Going through bad times begs a couple questions, “What have I done to deserve this kind of treatment?” “Why does God allow this to happen?” And so we wonder. Did God just make a blooper? Is this all a big cosmic mistake?

This is the most commonly asked question about God and has been referred to as the “Achilles Heel” of Christianity. George Barna, the public-opinion pollster, conducted a national survey in which he polled adults: “If you could ask God one question, what would you ask?” The top response was, “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?”

This is not just an intellectual issue to be debated in sterile academic arenas: it’s an intensely personal matter that can leave us with spiritual vertigo. One writer referred to the problem of pain as the “the question mark that turns like a fishhook in the human heart.”

The Bible helps us see that there are at least four reasons why bad things happen.

1. Our Personal Sin. This explains why there is so much moral evil in the world. God gave Adam and Eve some moral parameters and very clearly told them what they could and could not do. But they chose to defy and disobey His standards. Ever since that day, everyone has been born with that same ability to make choices, and with the same rebellious bent for sin. When sinful people make bad decisions, God allows them to play out; and sometimes those consequences result in some bad things happening to you, and to others.

2. Corporate Sin. The second cause of bad things has to do with natural evil. The Bible teaches that this is the result of our corporate sin. We live in a disease and death environment. Before Adam and Eve exercised their free will and rebelled against God, there were no earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, natural disasters or diseases.

When Adam and Eve told God to take a hike, He partially honored their request. Nature began to revolt. The earth was cursed. Genetic breakdown and diseases were unleashed to do their work of destruction. Pain and death became a part of the human experience.

3. Satanic Influences. Many bad things are the result of the devil’s destructive designs. Satan is ultimately behind all the hatred, war, oppression, and evil in the world. He works behind the scenes to inflame our passions and to prompt us to make bad choices. He’s out to spoil God’s world in every possible way he can. Jesus referred to him as a murderer in John 8:44.

4. God’s Providence. The fourth factor may be difficult for you to swallow. God is in control. He allows suffering. And, He’s a good God even when bad things happen. That goes right to the heart of the question, doesn’t it? If God is good, why does He allow evil? I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t fully understand this one but I know that God is good and I know that bad things happen. It’s all part of His plan somehow.

There must be some reasons behind why God permits things to happen in our lives. The Bible speaks of at least four good things that can come out of bad things.

First, Hard Times Can Stretch Us. If you think about it, we can only learn qualities like patience and endurance if we go through some difficulties (James 1:2-4).

Second, Hard Times Can Equip Us. Another reason we go through difficulties is so God can have the opportunity to comfort us. Then we, in turn, can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Third, Hard Times Can Teach Us. God may use the bad things you are experiencing to teach you something that He can’t get through to you in any other way (Hebrews 12:10).

Finally, Hard Times Can Reach Us. It was C.S. Lewis who said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures; speaks in our conscience; but shouts in our pains. It’s His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” God can use the hard times to get our attention, to help eternal realities break through. In the thirteenth chapter of Luke, after bringing up those who were wiped out while they were worshipping and those who were killed in a construction accident, Jesus gives His answer to the question, “Why Do Bad Things Happen?” His reply is surprising and quite strong. He says it twice in five verses: “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Here we see the heart of Jesus. He longs for us to change by repenting of the way we’ve been living. We think that we somehow deserve good things, that God owes us an easy life. Then, when things go wrong, we wig out because it wasn’t supposed to happen that way. Instead of wondering why bad things happen, Jesus reminds us that we are fallen individuals, living in a fallen word. We should be amazed and thankful that we are given another day to live, that we’re not killed or involved in a fatal accident. While there’s still time, Jesus calls us to repentance.

When I was 18 years old, I was living a pretty wild life. I thought I was invincible. At the end of my senior year of high school I was out swimming with some buddies. We were having a blast. That is, until one of my friends drowned right before my eyes. Then, a year later, the girl I was dating broke up with me. I went into a tailspin and began to drink more than I ever had before. My emptiness was like a hollow pit in my stomach. It was shortly after that, due to the influence of my college roommate, that I started reading the Bible and eventually asked Christ to be my Forgiver and Leader.

I often wonder if my friend would not have drowned, and if my girlfriend had not broken up with me, whether I would have become a Christian. I really believe that God used these “bad things” to reach me. I wasn’t listening when everything was going great. God needed to knock out some of the props in my life.

What’s your response to the bad things that happen in your life? God is no stranger to your pain. The great news of the Bible is that God is a suffering God. Jesus Christ died a horrible death on a rough cross to provide you with the ultimate solution for sin, suffering and death. No, he won’t take away all your pain, or protect you from bad things, but He does want to walk with you through them.

Sometimes we choose to believe because of what we see, often we believe in spite of what we can see. As I look at the world around me, many things remain mysterious and unanswerable. But if there is no God, or if He is not good, then nothing at all makes sense.

If you are hurting today, you may feel like you’re at the end of your rope. I pray that you will hang on to the Lord. If you turn away from him, things will only get worse. And that will be a blooper you don’t want to make.

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