Trick Question

It’s a simple question, but a tricky one, I’ll admit. When I post my answer to it by Saturday, I’ll address the perspective behind the question itself. Until then, consider,

Why does God allow bad things to happen?

Is There Pain With No Gain?

Recently, a friend that I work with went through a pretty rough ordeal. As he told me about it, I wanted to say something wise that would help him through the moment. I believe that God just wanted me to show compassion, so I offered him a heartfelt, “I’m sorry.”

In the days since then I have been re-evaluating an old standard bit of Christian counsel: “God will use this for good.” The implication is that though one may experience pain or loss, God’s ultimate intention in that pain or loss is for the person’s benefit. The Scripture passage related to this thinking is Romans 8, particularly verse 28, which 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. (KJV)

A major misunderstanding that I notice even here in the Bible Belt is that God is primarily people-focused in what He does. That leads to conclusions like, “God will turn this ordeal around to give you what you wanted in the first place.”

The Bible seems to paint a rather different picture of how God operates. He is unapologetically God-focused in all that He does. His plan is for the earth to be full of His glory, which is another way of saying that Who He Is and What He does will be celebrated in every corner of the world.

Romans 8:28-29 gives us a glimpse into how God will accomplish this. If a person is a lover of God, if their life lines up with His purpose for this world, He will use all of the events of their life - both good and bad - to make them more and more like Jesus. (John the Baptist simplified this process: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”) God’s plan is for the earth to be filled with people like this, and then the earth will be filled with His glory.

It is accurate to say that God can use bad things to good result, but it’s important to remember that He’s not a genie or a vending machine. He’s not looking for the right combination of good deeds, moral living, and church attendance. He wants us to have a purposeful relationship with Him. This is the essence of eternal life.

I think the message of Romans 8:28-29 is that if we are God-focused, then we’ll have God’s help in life. If we’re focused on something other than God, He is not obligated to help us at all. God is not on the hook to turn all negative experiences and events into positives for every person. But He does give His word that, for each of us who live our lives to be pleasing to Him, all things will be used to make us more like Jesus. So even when life may kick us in the teeth , we will still ultimately get everything that God wants for us. We can’t lose anything that really matters. And that is good news.