Saturday, August 30, 2014 [by Keesha Sullivan]
Does God allow “bad” things to happen to “good” people? That is the age-old question. My friends started asking me this question when we were just fifteen years old. My friends had lost parents, sisters, brothers, and friends to murder and disease. In the book of Job, his three friends and acquaintance seemed to think that the answer to this question was a resounding NO.
Job’s acquaintance, Elihu said, “If [people] obey and serve [God], they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge” (Job: 36: 11-12 NIV). He was basically telling Job the only reason that people have trouble in this life is if they disobey God and are “bad” people. He also was saying in so many words, “Job, you are an awful person that is why God is punishing you; stop sinning!”
At 18 years old, Joni Eareckson Tada was invited by her sister to swim in the Chesapeake Bay. She dove into the water and misjudged the shallowness. She suffered a fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical levels and became a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down. She experienced anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and religious doubts. She wondered to herself in the hospital what her purpose was now that she was a quadriplegic.
Can you imagine her friends saying to her during this difficult time, “Joni, you are an awful person that is why God is punishing you; stop sinning!” Instead of condemning her and beating her when she was down, they gave her a verse found in Jeremiah 29:11 that says, “11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for [good] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” As she listened to them speak about this verse, she decided to take the opportunity to read this scripture on her own as well as the verses surrounding it.
As she read this passage, she realized that when God said this he was speaking it to his children who were being dragged away into captivity by the Babylonians. They were going into exile. They were going into slavery. They had decades in front of them of hard, awful suffering. She began to see at that moment that God’s plan for a hopeful future for her was not necessarily jumping up, dancing, kicking, running, or even walking. She realized that Jeremiah 29:11 wasn’t necessarily talking about God not allowing our bodies to be harmed. It wasn’t even necessarily talking about God never allowing harmful circumstances to take place. God was speaking about something so much deeper. He was talking about His plans never harming our soul.
Due to her quadriplegia, she has developed an earnest dependency on God. She has realized her need for God every single moment of the day. As she relies on Him and asks for His help, she receives the sweetest, most precious, most intimate union. She is filled with His laughter and His joy. Her soul has prospered to heights that she had never imagined were attainable.
Elihu , Job’s acquaintance, said one thing that I believe is completely true. In Job 36: 26, Elihu says, “How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.” He basically was saying that God’s knowledge and ways were so far above our knowledge and ways that it was impossible to figure Him out.
I cannot answer the question “Why do “bad” things happen to “good” people?” I don’t know. I cannot tell a person why he or she suffers incredible hardships and trials. I don’t know. I DO know that we can trust God and that He is good. Although He allows “bad” things to happen to “good” people, ultimately He will work it out for His purposes. And His purposes are always, always good.
Everything that He allows to happen in our lives will prosper us. God is good. He allows evil to happen for a greater good. We know that He is in charge and that although we may not understand the things that we are going through currently (or things we have gone through in the past) He is still in control. In Romans 8:28 it says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Although it doesn’t talk about this in the book of Job, I truly believe that after Job’s dreadful suffering that his soul prospered and he enjoyed intimacy with God in a way that He never would have before the trial occurred, much like Joni Eareckson Tada's testimony
Lord, we pray that you would help us trust you more. Help us not to question Your goodness even in the face of horrible turmoil. Help us to remember that You are a good God and that Your plans always prospers us. We need You Lord, and we love you. Amen.
Kenny Sullivan
Grace EFC | Stamford, CT
C: 203-803-7478
O: 203-323-6737 ext. 12
soli Deo gloria
No comments:
Post a Comment