Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

The answer to that is simple – and very hard. The simple answer is, “Because there’s evil in the world.” What adds complication is why there is evil in the world. God wants us to love Him. If there’s no free will, love doesn’t exist. If there is free will, the possibility of someone making the wrong choice exists. And that’s what happened with Adam and Eve. Don’t get bogged down on blaming one or the other. I’ll get into that in another post. So there’s a choice for everyone to make – God, or not. That sums up life. Choose God, or choose not God. On another level, the Bible teaches that it rains on the good and the wicked. Never mind if “rain” has a good or bad connotation, it’s the same lesson. God lets the good and the wicked both prosper or languish. So inevitably, bad things will happen to good people. “But why?” Again, it boils down to this: God wants you to love Him with your whole heart. The sad truth is that if God always gave good things to His people and always gave bad things to His enemies, his followers would turn into a pack of mercenaries. They’d only love him BECAUSE of the earthly benefits, not for an eternal reward of being with Him. Think about it this way: You probably know (or knew) someone who only hangs out with you because of what they can get. If you gave them nothing, they’d vanish like a snowball in July. I’ve known my share of those. When I needed something back, POOF! Gone. God created you so you’d love Him for who He is, not for what He’d give you. If you go through a hard time, you’ll either love Him more . . . or less. He wants you to love Him more. So it rains on both the good and the wicked. Love Him anyway.