Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? (Part 1)

There Are No Accidents

Did you ever wonder why things seem to go wrong in your life? Sometimes it is easy to become frustrated in your walk with Christ, especially when nothing seems to be going right. In the next few posts, I want to look at why bad things happen to good people, and maybe we can begin to clear up some of the confusion.

The first thing that we have to establish before we can clear up anything is this: there are no accidents. What do I mean? Nothing happens by chance. We live in a world of struggle and warfare. God and satan are battling for control. From our perspective, it might appear that they want control of the earth, but they want control of you. They both want your affection, your devotion, your attention and your will. This may seem unfair, especially in our society of “self-actualization” but fundamentally, this control is how we were designed to live. I will discuss this in another series. For the moment, let us agree that we are the focus of this conflict, and at any given point in time, we will fall into one of these spheres of control.

Why is this important? It puts things in focus. If we let ourselves lose sight of the fact that our lives are continuously under these influences, single events can feel random. We may begin to feel like the victim of circumstance, an unfortunate casualty in the parade of time. If we keep in the forefront of our mind that nothing we face in life is random, nothing “just happens,” we understand the position we hold in this conflict. No, we can’t control what happens to us or those we love. We can’t prevent the pain. But if we understand there is a purpose behind the things going on, we can control who wins the conflict for our souls. There is an adversary who wants to destroy you. But there is also a Savior who is working for you if you trust Him and let Him have your focus.

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.

1 Peter 1:7-9