Why Do Bad Things Happen to the World and to the Child of God?

This post is further to yesterday's post entitled "Downhearted but why, and then an answer.  Lately I have read quite a few posts at Wordpress asking the question If God is a God of love, why does he allow bad things to happen?  I believe that these notes from the sermon by Paul Dowling provide the answer, why bad things happen to those in the world, and to the child of God.

Why do Bad Things Happen?

Job 1:1-12 

At some time in their life everyone has wondered,  "why do bad things happen to good people?"  Why was the missionary Amy Carmichael, who was doing her best to obey God, who did so much good work for the Lord, why was she confined to her bed in agony for the last 20 years of her life?  Why do bad things happen to good people.   Why is there so much suffering?

Some people in this world take the question further and they say "if God is the God of love why all the human misery".  Why..  For anyone who would ask that question, it is quite easy to answer although most people who ask that question do not want to know the answer.   If God is a God of love, the word if,  that is a sign of doubt and unbelief.  There is no doubt about it, the bible says that God is love, there is no "if" about it.  If there is doubt, there is no belief in the first place.  We need to remember that God is not a God of love only, love is not his only attribute. There is more to God than 1 John 4.

If you know your bibles you do know that God did not create the world the way it is now. Genesis 1:31 "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good...."  The world is the way it is now with all its suffering and misery because of human free will.  In the garden of Eden, when there was free will that was not under bondage to sin,  Eve first, and then her husband Adam, used that free will to believe the serpent's lie and be disobedient to God's command and that is how sin entered into this world..  That caused the fall,  but God did not create the world the way it is now.  

Why are there starving people in the world?  Is it God's fault? No it's not, there are starving people in the world because of human greed.  There is more than enough food in this world to feed everybody but the problem is not in the amount of food.  Some countries are hoarding food and won't give it to those who are starving.  The problem is human greed.  It's not God's problem, it is human caused problem.

Why all the wars? That is easily answered because humans fight.  Why so much murder and killing? It's because of human aggression, this goes back to Cain murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8 "And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.").   It's human's fault, not Gods.  Why do so many humans die from simply cured illnesses in the poorer countries of this world. Why do thousands of poor people die? It's because they can't have operations because there are no surgeons but we can have cosmetic surgery to improve our looks. That is how arrogant many people are in the western world, so don't blame God.

Why do triple heart by-pass patients have to wait such a long time for their operation which is life-threatening, but if you pay some money you can have the surgery in a matter of weeks? Because money talks louder than human need.  You can blame God but most of the human suffering in this world is caused by human greed.  So put the blame where it belongs.

If you don't believe in God how can you blame God?   A far more important and honest question is in the bible, in the book of Job.  That is, why do God's people sometimes suffer for no apparent reason.  


Job the man:  V1 Job lived in the land of Uz, we do know from V3 that it was in the east.  Job is thought to be the oldest book in the bible.  There is no reference to it in any other book in scripture.   Job was a spiritual man.  V1, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil."  he was perfect, upright, he feared God, he shunned evil and he offered burnt offerings, a general offering for sin.  How did Job know how to offer sacrifices?  He knew in the same way as Abel knew how to offer sin offerings in the book of Genesis.   Word of mouth, godly parents teaching their children what God wants.

V2-3 He was a family man: he had a wife, 7 sons and 3 daughters.  He was a man who was rich with possessions: 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses (donkeys).  He also had many servants.  These things were the status symbols in the days of Job.   But Job was a burdened man.  V4-5 "And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.  Thus did Job continually."  This spiritual man was worried about his children,  he offered sacrifices for them just in case they had sinned.  He wanted his family to be more godly.  This man was the greatest of all the men in the east. (V3)

The unseen world:  V6 "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them."  There is a world that we don't see so that is why we don't think about it.  The plane of God, angels, spirits.  When you see the phrase "sons of God" in the book of Job it always means angels and Satan presented himself with them before God.  The adversary, the enemy.  This section teaches us that what happens in this spirit world affects what happens in the physical world.  These two worlds are not separate, they are intertwined.  V6-12 we see that Satan sometimes comes to earth, travels around and sees God's people. V7 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."  And it teaches us that Satan suspects God's people of hypocrisy V11. "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." He suspects their faith and we see that Satan wants to hurt God's people and make them  curse God.  We can see not only what Satan is but what he does and how he thinks about you and me.  But we can also see that God questions Satan V8 "And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" God sees his people as well and he knows the spiritual state of his people.  God protects his people, their houses, their family, their work V10 "Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he that on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in all the land."  And we see that Satan cannot touch God's people without God's permission. V11,12 "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand.  So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD".  Satan is subject to God's permit in relation to God's people.  We learn that sometimes God gives Satan permission to afflict his people to prove that his people don't just love him when things are going well.  To prove that they don't just love him for material blessings, but God's people love him in the sunshine and in the storm.  The book of Job is about the storm bearing upon the life of a godly person.  The book of Job is all about a disagreement  between God and Satan about Job's faith.  A battle ensured that affected Job's life and his family but all the time Job was unaware of what was happening, and always wondering Why? Lord, why? 

The Storm breaks V13-19:  One day Job's sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house (V13) and a messenger came and told Job that his oxen and asses were taken away by the Sabeans, and his servants were dead and that only he had escaped to tell Job, and then another messenger came and told him that the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up his sheep and the servants and only he had escaped to come and tell Job.  Then another messenger came and told Job that the Chaldeans came and all his camels were taken away and his servants killed and only he had escaped to come and tell Job.  All Job's wealth was gone. And then another messenger came and told Job that all his children were killed while they were in the eldest brother's house when a great wind  came up and smote the four corners of the house causing it to collapse and only he had escaped to come and tell Job.  Why Lord?  How would you react?  

Job's reaction: V20-22 "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."   Job arose, tore his clothes, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped the Lord.  Job was grief stricken, but he worshipped the LORD.   Job is saying that the LORD has a right to take back that which was always his.  Job did not sin with his mouth, and in so doing Job proved that his faith in God did not depend upon material prosperity and it didn't depend on God's protection because even when the storm broke on his life, he still believed and his faith defeated the devil.  And the devil had to go back to God for more permission and more power.

Does your faith shine in the darkness? or does it depend on the light?  Does your faith show in the storms of life? or only in the good weather.  Are you a prosperity Christian or do you believe the bible.

Acts 14:22"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

Job tells us something about our faith.  Our faith as God's people should not be dependent on the good times, a fair weather faith.  Our faith doesn't depend on any of those things, but it is dependent on Christ. 

Habbakuk 3:17 "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

______________________________
The above notes were made by myself from the sermon by Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) at Sermon Audio

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=615081530194